Education in Peru: school stages, university admission and professional exams

In short

Schooling in Peru is organised by the Ministry of Education, known as Minedu. Basic regular education runs through primary and secondary school. There is no single national university entrance exam: public universities run their own admission exams, and each private university sets its own rules. National exams also exist for medical graduates, for teacher appointment and for assessing what students have learned.

School stages

Basic regular education has primary school of six grades and secondary school of five grades. Pupils follow the national curriculum, and schools are public or private. Technical and vocational options exist at institutes after school.

University admission

Admision to the large public universities is by competitive exams that the universities themselves set. The Admision exam of the Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos (UNMSM) tests abilities such as verbal and logical-mathematical reasoning together with knowledge areas that depend on the career area. The Admision exam of the Universidad Nacional de Ingenieria (UNI) is for engineering and related careers and has separate tests in aptitude and humanities, mathematics, and physics and chemistry. Candidates apply for a number of places in each career and are admitted in order of their scores.

National professional exams

• ENAM: the Examen Nacional de Medicina, taken by medical graduates and organised by the Peruvian association of medical faculties. Rules about how its results are used have been debated, so check current regulations.
• PUN: the Prueba Unica Nacional, a national test used for teacher appointment in public schools, covering reading comprehension, logical reasoning and teaching knowledge.
• ENLA: the Evaluacion Nacional de Logros de Aprendizaje, a national assessment of what students have learned in language, mathematics and science, given to samples of students at set grades.

Studying in Peru

Spanish is the main language of instruction, and Quechua, Aymara and other languages are used in many communities. Questions on this site are written in English, so they suit students who want English practice or who prepare for study abroad. Registration, dates and rules are published by each organiser every year.

Preparing for Peruvian exams

Competitive admission exams reward speed and accuracy. Practise the reasoning sections on a timer, because time pressure is the main difficulty, and review every wrong answer to see whether the cause was a missing fact, a wrong method or a hurried reading. For the UNI, put extra time into mathematics, physics and chemistry. For the ENAM, review the clinical areas that appear most often and practise reading case stems calmly. Teachers preparing for the PUN can practise reading comprehension and logic daily, and read about teaching standards in the official curriculum documents.

Teachers can set a mock test or a flashcard deck as homework for a class, and parents can follow a child's progress from a family group. Both are free.

Preparing with GetMyMockTest

GetMyMockTest offers free practice in English for the exams below. Check the official format with each organiser.

• Admision UNMSM: verbal ability, logical-mathematical ability and knowledge areas.
• Admision UNI: aptitude and humanities, mathematics, and physics and chemistry.
• ENAM: internal medicine, surgery and emergency, and paediatrics, obstetrics and public health.
• PUN: reading comprehension, logical reasoning and teaching knowledge.
• ENLA: reading, mathematics and science for secondary students.
• General knowledge: questions on Peru's history, geography, science and culture.