How to prepare the entrance exam

If, on the one hand, candidates devote a whole year to studying to get into college, those preparing for the exam also need to prepare for an exam that will decide the future of many students. And technical knowledge is not enough: when formulating questions, it is necessary to explore topics that are attractive and pay attention to current topics.

Responding to the main choice of the state, at the University of São Paulo (USP)Fuvest cooperates with 30 authors and 10 reviewers. “We also have internal staff who handle customer service at kiosks and proofreading. All to make it look like the Fuvest edition, with improved images, maps, charts and tables,” says Gustavo Monaco, executive director of Fuvest.

The panels consist of an average of three authors (all USP professors) from each discipline. For Portuguese, because it involves more questions, it's four people. All panels meet in the Fuvest building, in a separate room, to prepare questions. “Even Fuvest staff don't know who the commission's teachers are. In addition to the entrance exam, we conduct other exams,” says Monaco.

Almost a whole year passes from the first to the last meeting. The first stage and first review take approximately two months. “The first meeting is intended to try to clarify the issues. Later, further meetings are scheduled. They bring photos, maps, charts, tables, fragments of articles, books, and texts that help develop issues,” he notes.

The questions are then forwarded to the reviewer. “He comes to USP to assess whether the issue is good but could be improved, or whether the issue was already addressed last year,” reveals Monaco. This opinion is returned to the authors of the project. On some issues it is also possible for panels to cover the same topic. “For example, the fact that the History panel was working on a topic that deals with the English language.”

In this way, Fuvest reaches a scenario of 120 to 130 questions in September. Of this total, 90 from the first phase should be selected, in addition to those from the second phase. In this context, what is less current is eliminated.

After closing the 90 questions, the curatorial work begins. “We need to see what connections we can make between questions so that the test tells a story,” the executive says, citing the possibility of use across disciplines. This stage will be completed in October and test prints will be printed.

Next month will also see the National Secondary School Examination (Enem), effectively the largest public entrance examination in the country. Its questions are prepared by experts selected through a public recruitment process for employees of the National Bank of Subjects (BNI), based on criteria of academic education, teaching experience and experience in large-scale educational evaluation.

According to Inepa, activities include employee training, preparation, review and pre-testing of items to measure difficulty. The test also undergoes a thorough linguistic assessment and is then presented on a diagram.

Private universities

In the case of Fundação Getulio Vargas, preparation for the exam is handled by a panel for each subject, sometimes this panel includes professors from FGV itself, sometimes not, depending on the subject. “There are at least two authors on each panel, because the normal process is for one of the authors to pose a question or part of the questions and the other to review it independently,” says Paulo Cezar Carvalho, academic coordinator of the entrance examination at FGV in São Paulo, Rio and Brasilia. A Portuguese version is also available.

Additionally, FGV has a critical reviewer who is a general professor who has mastered most of the subjects that make up the entrance exam. “Sometimes, when formulating questions, I even introduce a different perspective than that of the subject specialist. In addition, there is my role as the academic coordinator, which, in addition to participating in the selection of panels, is also to conduct the final review of the test,” says Dąb.

In addition to the essay, all students take an objective test consisting of 60 objective questions. Each FGV school additionally selects one or more specific discourse tests to complement the assessment. Generally, the councils consist of higher education teachers who, in a sense, also have extensive contact with secondary education.

Internal and external

In the case of the Pontifical Catholic University of São Paulo (PUC-SP), preparations are also a long process. “The institution works with area-based panels composed of internal and external professionals,” says Professor Alexandra Geraldini, Dean of Undergraduate Studies.

The test consists of an essay written in Portuguese based on one proposal and an objective test consisting of 50 questions in multiple choice format, in accordance with the distribution of areas adopted in the framework of the National Examination for Secondary Education (Enem). About 20 professionals work in the kiosks, except for the editorial office, which employs 20 to 25 professionals.

“The classes are attended by experienced teachers from higher and secondary schools, with extensive experience in preparing subjects for selection. In addition, the exam includes a Portuguese language reviewer and two who assess the exam overall, at least one of whom is a pedagogue or psychopedagogist,” says teacher Aleksandra.

Between February and March each year, meetings are held with other universities to exchange information on process dates. Once the calendar is established, planning of administrative processes begins.

A similar process is also taking place at Universidade Presbiteriana Mackenzie (UPM), as reported by selection process coordinator Milton Pignatari Filho. “We have special teams for each discipline. In each of them, questions are formulated according to a specific style. And the common point: using critical reasoning to find solutions.”