University Selection Test

President Sebastián Piñera receiving the candidates with the best scores in the 2012 test.

The University Selection Test (PSU) was a standardized written test, implemented in Chile since 2003, until its elimination in 2020, for the admission process to the University education. It was prepared by the Department of Educational Evaluation, Measurement and Registration (DEMRE) of the University of Chile, by mandate of the Council of Rectors of Chilean Universities (CRUCH). It was used by Chilean universities belonging to CRUCH, which groups the so-called "traditional" institutions, and by certain affiliated private universities, within the framework of the so-called "single admission system" (SUA); in addition, the PSU was used by other private universities in their own admission processes.

Although it was formally a transitory test before the implementation of the new Higher Education Admission System (SIES), to date the latter has never been applied, being the PSU in practice a replacement for the Academic Aptitude Test (PAA), which was used in Chile between 1966 and 2002. As of 2020, the PSU was replaced with the Prueba de Transición Universitaria (PDT), designed for the 2021 and 2022 admission process, in order to allow a transition to the Test of Access to Higher Education (PAES), a process that will be established from 2022.

As a general rule, it was taken between the end of November and the first fortnight of December, and consisted of four tests; two compulsory (Language and Communication —Spanish language— and Mathematics) and two electives ("History, Geography and Social Sciences" and Sciences, which includes Physics, Chemistry and Biology).

Objectives

The PSU began to be taken in 2003, being a transitory test that was going to replace the failed SIES, which could not be applied at that time to replace the Academic Aptitude Test (PAA) as wanted by the Ministry of Education and the DEMRE (Department of Educational Measurement and Record of the University of Chile). However, to date there have been no indications of implementation of the SIES.

Unlike the previous PAA, which sought to measure mainly aptitudes or abilities, the PSU is a test that aims to measure knowledge. Therefore, an annual preparation is usually necessary to acquire them, reinforcing what has already been learned during secondary education and practicing mechanical exercises to achieve a good score.

This exam is used as part of the admission process to Chilean universities, whose results are weighted with the High School Notes (NEM) and the Notes Ranking; in particular, it is used by the Single Admission System» (SUA), which included 39 universities in 2017, the 27 that make up the Council of Rectors (CRUCH), commonly referred to as «traditional universities», and 12 private universities "non-traditional" (Diego Portales University, Mayor University, Finis Terrae University, Andrés Bello University, Adolfo Ibáñez University, Los Andes University, Development University, Alberto Hurtado University and Silva Henríquez Catholic University, Central University, Autonomous University and San Sebastián University), attached to the system.

Other private universities have the possibility of using other selection methods, such as special tests or giving less weight to the PSU, however, this test is widely used by these universities to select students.^{[citation required]}

Format and application

The PSU itself was a set of a total of four tests given over two days. Of these four tests:

• Two were compulsory: Language and Mathematics;
• The remaining two were optional, but at least one was mandatory:
  • History, Geography and Social Sciences
  • Sciences. This test had a common module of Biology, Physics and Chemistry (referred to the curriculum of the first two years of middle education) and three elective modules of which one is chosen (Biology, Physics or Chemistry - referring to the curriculum of the third and fourth years of middle education)

The choice of which elective test(s) you want to take depends on the degree you want to apply for, since some of these require certain elective tests, while others require any (it can be History or Science, the highest score if both have been done)

Like the PAA, it is a multiple choice test. The answers are written down in a special booklet, coloring certain circles corresponding to each of the alternatives (A, B, C, D or E) with a specific pencil, which is later read by a photo-optical sensor.

To determine the final score of the PSU, the points are converted to an arbitrary scale, but it follows a normal distribution. The final scores have a value between 150 to 850 points.

Each university attached to the single admission system of the Cruch establishes different weightings for each test and for the high school grade concentration score, depending on the undergraduate program offered by the institution. The final admission scores of the applicants are ordered from highest to lowest, with the cut-off score being the last to fill the available vacancies for that undergraduate program in that admission process. This serves as a reference for the following admission process.

Statistics

Criticism

To understand the criticisms of the PSU, it is necessary to understand it above its particularity and intrinsic essence, since, what the criticisms of this test arise from will be precisely the different particular circumstances of each of the previous students. to its realization. Differences that are born in turn from the different realities that each individual faces throughout their existence, but that in this case result in differences that will facilitate or harm their access to higher education, thus conditioning the realization of their future aspirations and desires. Within a national context such as being considered one of the three Latin American countries that present the greatest inequality in terms of income, cultural capital having a high unbalancing impact when seeking to carry out an even and fair test.. The PSU by itself becomes a conditioning entity of the academic life both of the students who wish to continue with their higher studies, and of those who do not; We then went on to carry out an evaluation that attends to our objective knowledge of curricular content, over and above evaluating academic aptitudes. In this context, it occurs then that the choice of a career or of the same objective institution becomes a socially situated process, since it is not a choice that responds to the rationality born of the concurrence of timely and effective information, rather, it would come to imply the development and mobilization of various strategies that are in turn conditioned by the social position of the individual.

Among the criticisms that have been made of the PSU, are the following:

• DEMRE Unit, a unit of one of the universities of the system and not an autonomous entity, with little transparency and difficult access to researchers.

The only evaluators of the technical quality of the questions that make up the PSU are the DEMRE and the Technical Advisory Committee of the CRUCH. The information of the answers to the individual questions that make up the evidence is not accessible to other researchers, so it is not possible to independently corroborate the technical quality of the questions that make up it. The DEMRE and the CRUCH Technical Advisory Committee are judge and part of the process, which limits the objectivity of their appreciation.

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• It is an instrument that to measure knowledge, deepens the segregation that already has the school system, leaving many low-income students out. One of the changes that were made in the unique selection system was the inclusion of the student ranking in their schools as an additional factor. In addition, the creation of propedeutics at several universities to reduce the abandonment of early students. This measure has generally been considered positive.

• That the PSU is oriented to those who have studied all the contents, so students of technical-professional establishments (TP), are in serious disadvantages because they have different curricula vitae.

Criticism of the PSU saw its strongest point during the 2019 process. On January 7, 2020, the History test was suspended due to the leak of images corresponding to one of the forms used in the questionnaire. The previous day, 64 establishments had suspended the application of the Language and Communication and Science tests due to demonstrations and disturbances inside the premises, within the framework of the series of protests that had occurred since October 2019. The tests were originally scheduled to take place. on November 18 and 19, 2019, however the Council of Rectors initially postponed them for December 2 and 3, and in November they were postponed again for January 6 and 7, 2020. On January 9, the The Council of Rectors announced that the History test will not be carried out and that the other 3 tests will be carried out on January 27 and 28 for students who could not take them due to suspensions in their establishments. in which the exam could not be taken, due to new boycotts, for which reason the DEMRE once again postponed the date of submission for people who have not been able to take it, to February 4 and 5, 2020.