Recommended
On Monday, Mexico City's Palacio de los Deportes swapped concerts for desks as it welcomed about 4,200 young people for the in-person verification exam for the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), the final and largest stage of the extraordinary process opened after irregularities in its first online admission exam, such as the use of AI.
The evaluation was called by the UNAM after detecting irregularities in the online admission, including the unauthorized use of artificial intelligence (AI), and will cover three shifts on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, with around 38,000 students expected.
The venue, site of the 1968 Mexico Olympic Games and where other sporting events have been held, is known for having been a concert forum since 1991 and a mandatory stop on tours for artists from around the world, but this Monday it became the location for the bachelor's level exam.
The site received 4,200 applicants from the 08:00 local time (14:00 GMT) out of the 5,950 registered for this first shift in the Mexican capital, following the application of the in-person verification exam last week in three external locations: León, Guanajuato; Oaxaca, Oaxaca; and Tijuana, Baja California.
Permanent in-person supervision
Applicants had three hours to answer a 120-question test in a digital format using tablets without internet access and under a scheme implemented by the institution following the controversy sparked by its first completely online admission process.
For Berenice Cruz, who is seeking to study Biology, the new exam had its complexity.
“I felt so-so, there were many things that had never been on the UNAM exam. It is the third time I have taken it and they had never included things like what they asked me today,” she confessed upon leaving the test.
The student noted that the UNAM “should have never held the exam online” because she prefers it in-person “just to avoid these types of problems”.
The 20-year-old, who a year ago missed being accepted by two correct answers, said that since there were so many applicants summoned, they were “very close together at the work tables” and “the computer equipment failed for many, plus the people supervising us were chatting”.
Lluvia García, 19, who is looking to study to be a dental surgeon, commented that it is her second time taking the test, and she assured that “there were questions similar to those in the study guide provided by the UNAM”.
Xochitl Hidalgo, mother of Elizabeth González Hidalgo, who wants to study to be a dental surgeon, said that when the young woman was called back to the exam, she considered it a great opportunity.
“It is a great opportunity for my daughter, honestly. She wants to enter the UNAM and it is a new opportunity to be able to get in, and she has worked very hard. It is her dream to enter the university,” explained the mother.
The controversy and the UNAM’s resolution
The UNAM held its undergraduate admission exam online for the first time this year, but it detected irregularities and atypical results that led to suspending some enrollments and establishing an in-person verification exam for specific applicants.
The institution also created a technical commission of 16 specialists to review the process, announced a technological audit and an internal one regarding the hiring of the service, in addition to terminating its contract early with the company Territorium Life, which was in charge of the platform used in the process.
On Monday, the secretary-general of the UNAM, Javier de la Fuente, apologized to the affected applicants and announced that the results will be published on the last weekend of August, before the start of classes on the 31st.
[Publicidad]