Overview
The Pruebas de Ingreso a la Educación Superior (PIES), also called exámenes de ingreso, are the exams Cuba has traditionally used alongside each student's pre-university academic record to decide which university career (carrera) or short-cycle technical programme a preuniversitario graduate is placed into. In a standard cycle, applicants sit three subject exams — Matemática, Español, and Historia de Cuba — organised by the Ministerio de Educación (MINED) in coordination with the Ministerio de Educación Superior (MES), which runs the university system these exams feed into.
Important
For the cycle that placed students into the 2026-2027 academic year, the Cuban government suspended all three entrance exams as an exceptional, one-time measure, citing the country's fuel and energy situation, and allocated university careers using only each applicant's pre-university academic index instead. Officials described this as exceptional rather than a permanent change, but as of this review it is not confirmed whether the exams will return for the next admission cycle. This page describes the standing exam-based process together with this most recent exception — always check the current year's MINED/MES convocatoria before relying on dates or format here.
Note
Official MINED and MES pages could not be fetched directly in this research environment. Every fact below is corroborated from secondary reporting on those official announcements — the Cuban state outlets Granma and Cubadebate, and the Ministry of Education's own press pages as reported by them — rather than read directly from the source over a verified connection. Confirm specifics on mined.gob.cu, or with your preuniversitario centre, before relying on this page.
Who can apply
The exams and placement process are aimed mainly at students completing 12th grade (duodécimo grado) at a preuniversitario centre in the same admission cycle who intend to continue into higher education. Graduates of earlier preuniversitario cohorts, técnico medio graduates, and other categories the Provincial Admission Commission recognises can also apply, through later allocation groups. Every applicant fills in a boleta de solicitud (application form) listing their career preferences in order, which is used together with their ranking to assign a place.
Three study modalities exist for entry to higher education: Curso Diurno (CD), the regular full-time daytime track taken straight after preuniversitario; Cursos por Encuentros (CPE), aimed mainly at working adults, with in-person sessions roughly weekly or every two weeks; and Cursos a Distancia (CaD), open to anyone who has completed upper-secondary or higher studies, with no regular class attendance beyond sitting the exams for enrolled subjects. The three entrance exams have historically applied mainly as a filter for the Curso Diurno route.
Exam pattern
| Subject | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Matemática | Numerical domains, equations, inequalities and systems, functions, plane and analytic geometry, trigonometry, and descriptive statistics, drawn from the preuniversitario syllabus. |
| Español | Language and literature content from the preuniversitario syllabus, including reading comprehension and written-expression tasks. |
| Historia de Cuba | Cuban history content from the preuniversitario syllabus, up to and including the contemporary period. |
In cycles when they are held, each exam is marked out of 100 points. Recent editions examined the three subjects on separate days, in the fixed order Matemática, then Español, then Historia de Cuba, with a second, special convocatoria roughly two weeks later for applicants who missed or needed to repeat a sitting.
Note
For the cycle that placed students into 2026-2027, none of these three exams were held (see the callout under Overview); placement used only the pre-university academic index. The pattern above describes the standing exam design used in earlier cycles.
Marking and results
Since 2007, each exam has been marked out of 100 points, and a student's overall ranking value (valor de escalafón) used to allocate careers has combined 50% of the average of the three entrance-exam scores with 50% of the student's pre-university academic index (índice académico), both expressed out of 100. In the cycle that placed students into 2025-2026, authorities dropped the earlier rule requiring at least 60 points per exam to stay eligible for a place, while still holding the exams. In the cycle that placed students into 2026-2027, no exam scores existed, so the pre-university academic index alone served as the ranking value.
Results and career-allocation lists are published by MES in rounds (otorgamientos de plazas) through the Comisión de Ingreso at national, provincial and institutional level; each applicant is placed into one of the choices on their boleta according to their ranking position and the number of places available in that career.
Important dates
Dates are set fresh each year by MINED/MES and have shifted between April, May and June in recent cycles, so always check the current year's official convocatoria. For reference:
Cycle placing students into 2025-2026: exams held 6, 9 and 13 May 2025 (Matemática, Español, Historia de Cuba), with a special second convocatoria on 23, 25 and 27 May 2025.
Cycle placing students into 2026-2027: exams were originally scheduled for 5, 9 and 12 June 2026, then the entire sitting was cancelled; boleta validation ran 20 May to 5 June 2026, with career-allocation rounds continuing through late June and into early July 2026.
Fees
Cuban general and higher education is state-funded and free of charge; no fee has been reported for sitting the entrance exams or for the resulting university place.
How to apply
There is no separate, standalone registration for the exams themselves: 12th-grade students complete their boleta de solicitud at their preuniversitario centre, listing their career preferences in order, and the centre together with the Provincial Admission Commission validates it. Candidates from other categories (earlier-year graduates, técnico medio graduates, and others the commission recognises) register through the same provincial process, in a separate allocation group. There is no separate exam fee or dedicated online portal outside this school-based process.
After the exam
Once rankings are set — from exam scores plus academic index in a standard cycle, or from the academic index alone as in the 2026-2027 cycle — MES runs one or more rounds of otorgamiento de plazas (career allocation), assigning each applicant to the highest-ranked preference their position and the places available allow. Officials have repeatedly said every applicant who wants a higher-education place is guaranteed one, though not necessarily in their first-choice career. Students who receive a place then enrol and matriculate at the assigned university or centre for the new academic year.
Preparation tips
The Ministry of Education's cubaeduca portal, including its Matemática subsite, publishes compilations of past entrance exams and guided preparation material for Matemática, Español and Historia de Cuba built from the preuniversitario syllabus; preuniversitario centres also typically run their own review (repaso) sessions ahead of the exam dates in a standard cycle.
What subjects are tested in Cuba's university entrance exams?
In a standard cycle, three subjects: Matemática, Español, and Historia de Cuba, each marked out of 100 points.
Were the entrance exams held for students entering university in 2026-2027?
No. Authorities suspended the exams as an exceptional, one-time measure for that admission cycle, citing the country's fuel and energy situation, and allocated careers using only each applicant's pre-university academic index instead.
How is the ranking used to assign careers normally calculated?
Since 2007, the ranking value (escalafón) has combined 50% of the average entrance-exam score with 50% of the pre-university academic index, both scored out of 100.
Is there a fee to sit the exams or enrol at a Cuban university?
No fee has been reported. Cuban general and higher education is state-funded and free of charge.