La The extraordinary session of the university entrance exams will no longer be held in September in Catalonia. and will now take place in the middle of summer, during the month of July, starting in 2027. With this change, the calendar of the Proves d'Accés a la Universitat (PAU) It will conform to the model that the rest of the Spanish autonomous communities have been applying for years.
The Catalan university authorities have decided structurally modify the PAU calendar This measure aims to ensure that students taking the extraordinary exam session do not start the academic year behind their peers. It will have a particularly noticeable impact on pre-registration, university admissions, and enrollment deadlines at public universities.
2026, the last year with extraordinary university entrance exams in September
El Interuniversity Council of Catalonia (CIC)The Catalan government, which coordinates the Catalan government and the twelve Catalan universities, has confirmed that the 2025-2026 academic year will be the last in which the extraordinary university entrance exams (Selectividad) are held in September. For that year, the PAU of 2026 in ordinary session They will be held from Tuesday, June 9th to Thursday, June 11th, while the extraordinary call It will take place from Wednesday, September 2nd to Friday, September 4th.
Similarly, the dates for the tests have been set for the current course: The regular university entrance exams will take place on June 9, 10 and 11.The extraordinary exam period is scheduled for September 2nd, 3rd, and 4th. These sessions maintain the usual structure of morning and afternoon exams, with breaks in between and the possibility of combining required and optional subjects depending on each student's academic path.
In the last extraordinary September session A total of 8.237 students participated across Catalonia, representing 18,5% of the 44.388 students who had taken the regular June exams. In the Lleida region, approximately 541 students enrolled in September. 22% of the total number of registered students in June between the different courts in the province.
Performance in that extraordinary session was high, although slightly lower than in other areas: among the students from Lleida who took the exam in September, 94,55% of the candidates passed, the lowest success rate of the four Catalan districts, although it is still a very high pass rate.
Furthermore, the CIC has made it clear that for the next immediate editions There will be no changes to the content or marking criteria of the university entrance exams.The recently launched model will continue to be applied, based on a single exam per subject and the choice between different question options, as well as the fact that all exercises are mandatory without the possibility of discarding entire blocks.
From 2027 onwards, the extraordinary call for applications will be held in July.
The calendar change will come in 2027. From that year onwards, the The extraordinary session of the university entrance exams will no longer be held in September and will be brought forward to July.In this way, Catalonia will no longer be the only autonomous community that still held extraordinary university entrance exams in September and will be integrated into the general calendar of the Spanish university system.
The change responds to the will of to standardize academic schedules across territories And with the other educational stages. In primary, secondary, and high school, September resits disappeared years ago, with exams now concentrated in June, and in many university degrees, the second sittings are held in July. The new extraordinary university entrance exam in July in Catalonia aligns with this trend.
This agreement was approved by the CIC Board and presented at the General Conference of the same organization, where representatives of the university system and civil society meet. During the session, it was emphasized that 2026 will be the last year that maintains the September exception and that bringing it forward to summer will facilitate overall planning for universities and students.
The new schedule means that students who need to take the resit exams will do so approximately one month after the regular June session. This implies that The content of the subjects will be much freshersince the time between both calls will be shorter than in the current model, which goes until September.
At the same time, guarantees for students with specific educational support needs will be maintained. As before, They will have an additional 30 minutes per test, in accordance with current regulations on inclusion and attention to diversity in access to university.
Effects of the advance on pre-registration, assignments and enrollment
One of the most significant effects of bringing forward the extraordinary university entrance exams to July will be on the university pre-registration and in the allocation of placesBy closing the tests before August, the Generalitat and the universities will be able to accelerate the management of lists of admitted students and second and third assignments, something that until now was conditioned by the September call.
This readjustment will allow the University registrations can close earlierThis will prevent some of the last-minute chaos that used to occur with the late arrival of September grades. In this way, schools will be able to better organize groups, schedules, and teaching resources before the official start of the academic year.
For students, the benefit is twofold. On the one hand, those who take the extraordinary exam session in July They will know their grades before August They will have ample time to complete the pre-registration process at their leisure and apply for their desired studies. Furthermore, these students will be able to join at the start of classes. at the same time as the rest of my colleagues, usually in mid-September, without late arrivals.
The new scheme will also make it easier for those who wish to pursue their studies at universities in other regions to manage pre-registration outside of Catalonia more calmlysince their grades from the extraordinary session will be available on dates similar to those of students from other territories.
Indirectly, the early start date can also influence academic performance. By shortening the time between the end of the school year and resit exams, it is expected that there will be less loss of study habits and memory of the contentThis could translate into a slight improvement in results for some of the students taking the exam in July.
Detailed schedule of the University Entrance Exams and exam model
Until 2027 arrives, the development of the university entrance exams continues to follow a well-established pattern. ordinary session of Selectivity The exams are spread over three days with morning and afternoon sessions and breaks between exams. Spanish Language and Literature, Catalan Language and Literature, a foreign language, History or History of Philosophy, and Mathematics in its various specializations are combined with a wide range of specialization-specific subjects.
In the case of 2026, for example, the calendar predicts that The tests with Spanish Language and Literature will begin on Tuesday.These are followed by the foreign language exam at midday and various optional subjects in the afternoon, such as Physics, Geography, Geology, or artistic disciplines. On Wednesday, core subjects like History, Mathematics, or General Sciences are taught, and in the afternoon, subjects such as Biology, Catalan Literature, or Technology and Engineering are offered.
Thursday is reserved for Catalan Language and Literature and for subjects such as Applied Mathematics for Social Sciences, Performing Arts or Artistic Drawing The central time slot is reserved for subjects such as Art History, Chemistry, Spanish Literature, and Technical Drawing, while the last afternoon is reserved for subjects like Art History, Chemistry, Spanish Literature, and Technical Drawing. This structure of time blocks is replicated, with slight adaptations, in the extraordinary session.
El exam model remains stable Following the recent reform, each subject has a single test offering different question options from which the student can choose, but without the possibility of discarding entire exercises or choosing between two completely different exam models, as was the case in previous versions of the university entrance exam.
All the latest information about dates, times, distribution of subjects and specific instructions Each call for applications is published on the Canal Universitats de la Generalitat, which centralizes the official guides, exam models and correction criteria so that students can prepare for the tests well in advance.
With this set of measures, the university access system in Catalonia enters a new stage in which The extraordinary July session will become the normThis will reduce the gap between students and harmonize the calendar with the rest of the State and educational levels, while maintaining the academic and equity guarantees that characterize the PAU.