Vestibular exam

The Vestibular (from Portuguese: vestíbulo, "entrance hall") is a competitive examination and is the primary and widespread entrance system used by Brazilian universities to select the students admitted.

The Vestibular usually takes place from November to January, right before the start of school year in February or March, although certain universities hold it every semester. The exams often span several days, usually two, with different disciplines being tested each day.

Several Brazilian universities follow the FUVEST (University of São Paulo's entry exam) pattern, which is divided into two stages or "phases". The first stage consists of 90 multiple choice questions, including subjects such as Portuguese Language, Portuguese Literature and Brazilian Literature; Math, History, Geography, Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Foreign Language. The answers are marked on an answer card, and they are graded afterwards by an automated optical reader. Each graduation course has its own minimum score.

The best scoring candidates from the multiple-choice stage proceed to the second stage, which contains write-in questions about the same subjects. The first day consists of 10 written questions about Portuguese language, and a student-written essay about whichever subject they provide. The second day's test has 16 questions about the other subjects from the first phase, considering those are all in the High School curriculum.

The third day, usually known as 'specific subjects day', examines the students in the particular area they are applying to, consisting of 12 questions. For instance, Medical school tests include questions of Biology, Chemistry and Physics (or Geography for the University of São Paulo in Ribeirão Preto). Law School students would be tested on History, Geography and Mathematics. The exams are graded by a board of professors and candidates for each major are then classified in descending order according to their overall score in the two stages of the Vestibular. The top scorers up to the maximum number of vacancies for each field of study are allowed to enroll in their intended majors and begin college.

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