PAES

Overview

The Prueba de Acceso a la Educación Superior (PAES) is Chile's national university admission test. It is designed and administered by DEMRE (Departamento de Evaluación, Medición y Registro Educacional, a unit of the University of Chile) on behalf of the Subsecretaría de Educación Superior, and its results feed the centralised admission system used by the universities that belong to the Access System (Sistema de Acceso).

The PAES replaced the older Prueba de Selección Universitaria (PSU). The change was announced in 2020, phased in through transition tests (Pruebas de Transición, PDT) in the 2021 and 2022 admission processes, and the PAES itself was first sat in November 2022 for the 2023 admission process. The stated aim of the change was to test competencies and reasoning skills needed for higher education, rather than memorised subject content, and to reduce the gap between the test and what different types of secondary schools actually teach.

Who can apply

Anyone who has already completed Chilean secondary education (Enseñanza Media), or who is currently in the final year of it, can register for the PAES, including foreign students whose secondary studies have been officially recognised in Chile. Registration is done online with a Chilean national ID (cédula), a passport, or a Provisional School Identifier (IPE) issued for students without a cédula. Candidates who finished secondary school in a prior year pay a registration fee that depends on how many of the tests they select; candidates graduating in the current school year are normally exempt.

Exam pattern

The PAES Regular is split into compulsory and elective tests. A candidate must sit the compulsory tests and additionally sits whichever elective tests the degree programmes they plan to apply to require.

For Ciencias, candidates choose one elective module (Biology, Physics, or Chemistry) for the 26-question section; the 54-question common section is the same for everyone. Not every question in a test counts toward the final score in a given year — a small number are pilot items DEMRE uses to calibrate future tests, and these are identified only after scoring. Each test's exact content outline (temario) is published yearly by DEMRE for the relevant admission process.

Marking and results

Each PAES test is scored on a scale from 100 to 1,000 points, built from the number of items a candidate answers correctly, adjusted using Item Response Theory rather than simple percentage correct. DEMRE publishes a score-transformation table for every test each admission cycle, since the mapping from raw correct answers to the 1,000-point scale changes slightly from year to year as the test is recalibrated.

Important dates

Dates shift by admission cycle; DEMRE republishes them each year on demre.cl and acceso.mineduc.cl. For the PAES Regular feeding the 2027 admission process:

• Registration (inscripción): opened 1 June 2026 and closed 27 July 2026.

• Test sitting: three days, 30 November, 1 December and 2 December 2026.

• Results published: 4 January 2027.

There is also a smaller PAES de Invierno (Winter PAES) sitting earlier in the year, mainly aimed at candidates who want to retake a test ahead of the main process; its own registration and sitting dates are published separately.

How to apply

Registration is entirely online, through the forms on demre.cl or acceso.mineduc.cl, using the candidate's identity document and, for recent graduates, an online-verifiable secondary-completion record (Licencia de Enseñanza Media, an annual certificate for the graduating year, or a recognition of studies completed abroad, checked against certificados.mineduc.cl). During registration the candidate selects which elective tests to sit, picks test centres, and, if applicable, pays the registration fee, which varies with the number of tests selected.

After the exam

PAES results are not the only input into university admission. For centralised admission, universities in the Access System combine PAES scores with a candidate's NEM score (an index built from their secondary-school grade average) and Ranking score (which rewards a candidate's grade position relative to recent graduating classes from the same school), into a single weighted score per degree programme. Each university sets its own weighting for these factors within limits set by the Comité Técnico de Acceso — for example, the Ranking score must count for at least 10% of the weighted total — and some programmes also require a specific elective PAES test or an additional entrance exam. Candidates submit their programme preferences through the centralised postulación process after results are published, and places are offered in ranked order per programme.

Preparation tips

• Sit an official DEMRE practice test (ensayo) early, under timed conditions, to see which test sections need the most work before building a study plan.

• Check the current admission cycle's temario (content outline) for each test on demre.cl: content weighting is published yearly and shifts slightly between cycles.

• Decide which elective tests to sit based on the actual requirements of the degree programmes being targeted, since this affects both registration and which weighted-score formula applies.

• Spread practice over several months with regular timed essays, especially for Competencia Lectora and M1, and review every missed question rather than just the overall score.

• Track the registration window closely: missing it means waiting for the next admission cycle, since the PAES Regular registration period does not reopen.

FAQs