The Winter Higher Education Entrance Exam opens the 2026 admission process, which complements the regular exam held in the summer.
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The Winter Higher Education Entrance Exam, known as the Winter PAES , has already been scheduled for its 2025 edition. The selectivity exam, which is administered in the South American country for university admissions, officially opens the 2026 admissions process. The winter exam is considered a complement to the regular PAES, which will be held in December of this year, at the beginning of summer. The score obtained on the winter exam can be complemented by the other tests taken during the summer, giving students more options to choose from, freeing them from the pressure of taking a single exam that will determine their professional future in just a few days.
What is the Winter PAES?
In 2022, the Ministry of Education (Mineduc) established that the university entrance exam (SEN) will be held twice a year. The regular PAES is scheduled for December, the test that all recent secondary school graduates or those seeking to enroll in a university program for the first time must take. An additional exam is also given in June, known as the Winter PAES. This test is voluntary and is available to applicants who are dissatisfied with their score on the regular PAES, who did not achieve the score required by the institution they intend to enroll in, or who choose an alternative that allows them to earn more points. It is limited to 50,000 spots, unlike the regular PAES, which is open to all those who meet the enrollment requirements.
The tests that are taken
The winter exam contains two mandatory tests, which all students intending to enter higher education must take. These tests are Reading Literacy (65 questions to be answered in two hours and 30 minutes) and Mathematical Competence 1 [M1] (65 questions in two hours and 20 minutes). The other exams are optional, although they are required for admission to some specific programs. Science (80 questions in two hours and 40 minutes) and History and Social Sciences (65 questions in two hours) are intended for the sciences and humanities, respectively. The other optional test is Mathematical Competence 2 [M2] (55 questions in two hours and 20 minutes), which is required for enrollment in programs related to science and engineering.
When is the Winter PAES held?
Authorities have established a schedule for the test. On Monday, June 16, at 3:00 PM (Santiago, Chile time), the Mathematical Competence 2 [M2] test will be administered. On Tuesday, July 17, at 9:00 AM, the Reading Competence exam will be administered; and that same day, at 3:00 PM, the Science elective will be administered. On Wednesday, July 18, there will be two sets of tests: at 9:00 AM, the Mathematical Competence 1 [M1] test will be administered; and the History and Social Sciences elective has been scheduled for 3:00 PM.
The surrender premises and the recognition of the rooms
The educational institutions that will host students taking the Winter PAES will be announced on Friday, June 13, through the Department of Evaluation, Measurement, and Educational Registration (Demre) digital platform . Applicants must log in with their RUT (Tax ID) and the password used to pre-register for the system. On Monday, June 16, applicants will have the option to identify the room where they will take the test, in a process that will run from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m.
When the results are delivered
The results of the Winter PAES will be released on Friday, June 18th. Days later, on June 23rd, the registration period for the regular PAES, which will be held in December, will close.
How test scores are used
The admissions system allows for the retention of test scores from the year so students can select the best. The process considers current scores, which correspond to those obtained in the Winter PAES (June 2024); the regular PAES (December 2024); the Winter PAES (June 2025); and the regular PAES (late 2025).