ESA

Overview

The Escola de Sargentos das Armas (ESA) is the Brazilian Army school that trains career combat sergeants in the Infantry, Cavalry, Artillery, Engineering and Communications arms. It is based in Três Corações, Minas Gerais. The sergeant course lasts two years in boarding: the first year is at Army technology school units (UETE) and the second year is at the ESA, the Escola de Sargentos de Logística or the Army Aviation Instruction Centre, depending on the specialty. The official ESA site could not be opened with a verified connection when this page was checked, so the details come from a copy of the notice published in the Diário Oficial da União and from reports on it. Confirm them on the ESA site before relying on them.

The 2026 notice (Edital nº 1/SCA, published 27 March 2026) offered 1,100 places for enrolment in 2027, in three areas: Geral (1,015 places, including Aviação), Saúde (55) and Música (30). Women could apply only for Comunicações, Logística and Aviação, with 105 of the Geral places. Places were reserved for black and brown, Indigenous and quilombola candidates.

Who can apply

The 2026 notice gives these requirements:

• Brazilian by birth or naturalised;

• completed secondary education;

• age 17 to 24 for Geral/Aviação, and 17 to 26 for Música and Saúde, counted by 31 December of the year of enrolment;

• up to date with military service and electoral duties;

• minimum height of 1.60 m for men and 1.55 m for women (men aged 16 or under may qualify at 1.57 m if a specialist exam shows they are still growing);

• for Saúde, a completed nursing technician course.

Stages

The stages are: the Exame Intelectual (written exam), a practical music aptitude exam (Música only), health inspection and physical fitness test, and finally the psychological exam. Candidates who chose reserved places also go through a confirmation of their self-declaration.

Exam pattern

The Exame Intelectual is a written exam held in the afternoon (13:00 to 17:00 on 26 July 2026), with objective questions and an essay. Question counts differ by area.

The essay is only eliminatory: it is graded apto or inapto, and its score does not count towards the classification. Each objective part is scored from 0 to 10.

Marking and results

A candidate must score at least the median in every part of the written exam. Essays are marked only for the best-ranked candidates, up to four times the number of places, and a candidate rated inapto on the essay is eliminated. Candidates are then classified by their exam scores and called to the later stages in that order. The notice's timetable has the provisional answer key on 28 July 2026, the final key on 12 August 2026, and the list of candidates ranked within the places on 14 October 2026 (21 September 2026 for Música).

Important dates

For the 2026 contest:

• Registration: 30 March to 4 May 2026.

• Fee exemption requests: 30 March to 6 April 2026.

• Exame Intelectual: 26 July 2026.

• Music aptitude exam: 13 to 20 October 2026.

• Health inspection, fitness test, requirements check and psychological exam: 16 November to 11 December 2026 (first call) and 7 to 22 December 2026 (second call).

• Enrolment: 8 March 2027.

Fees

For 2026 the fee was R$ 95.00. Exemption was open to members of low-income families registered in CadÚnico and to bone-marrow donors registered with bodies recognised by the Ministry of Health.

How to apply

Registration is online only, on the official ESA site, within the registration window. Exams are held in a list of cities across Brazil that includes Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Brasília, Porto Alegre, Recife, Belém and Manaus.

After the exam

The course has two successive periods, the first year at the Army technology school units and the second year at the school for the chosen specialty. Training is in boarding. The notice gives the planned start as March 2027 and the end as December 2028.

Preparation tips

• Prepare for Portuguese and Mathematics first, as together they carry the most questions in the Geral area.

• Practise the essay, since a poor one is eliminatory.

• Train for the physical test, which has separate minimum standards for each task and sex.