Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio (; en, National High School Exam), shortened as Enem () is a non-mandatory, standardized

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

ian national exam, which evaluates

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

students in Brazil. The ENEM is the most important exam of this kind in Brazil, with more than 8.6 million registered candidates in 2016. It is the second largest in the world after China's

National Higher Education Entrance Examination The National College Entrance Examination (NCEE), commonly known as the gaokao (), is a standardized college entrance exam held annually in mainland China. It is required for entrance into almost all higher education institutions at the underg ...

. After 2009 its importance for students who want to attend college has increased, since the exam has been used both as an admission test for enrollment in 23 federal universities and 26 educational institutes, as well as for certification for a high school degree. The test is also used by people desiring to gain points in the Universidade para Todos Program (or ProUni), a federal scholarship program.

Date and time

The ENEM is held in early November, with a small number of students taking the test in early December. The test starts at the same time across Brazil, with the starting time being based in

Federal District A federal district is a type of administrative division of a federation, usually under the direct control of a federal government and organized sometimes with a single municipal body. Federal districts often include capital districts, and they e ...

. This results in the ENEM starting at four different times according to the local time zones, ranging from 10:30 am in the state of

Acre The acre is a unit of land area used in the imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imp ...

to 1:30 pm in the Federal District and states of the

South South is one of the cardinal directions or Points of the compass, compass points. The direction is the opposite of north and is perpendicular to both east and west. Etymology The word ''south'' comes from Old English ''sūþ'', from earlier Pro ...

and

Southeast The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A compass rose is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west—each sepa ...

regions.

The test

Until 2008, the exam consisted of two parts: a 63 question multiple-choice test on various subjects (Portuguese, History, Geography, Math, Physics, Chemistry and Biology) and a composition. Since 2009, the exam has been composed of 180 multiple-choice questions, equally divided into four areas of knowledge: languages, codes and related technologies (plus a written essay); human sciences and related technologies; natural sciences and related technologies; and mathematics and its technologies. Due to the length of the test, it is applied in two consecutive sundays, the first lasting 330 minutes, and the second lasting 300. Even though its purpose is to be a national evaluation exam, students can use their scores to be admitted to a university, though not every university accepts it as the only admission exam. Usually private institutions, such as

PUC-Rio The Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro ( pt, Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro, PUC-Rio) is a Jesuit, Catholic, pontifical university in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is the joint responsibility of the Catholic Ar ...

, a major private Brazilian university, accept Enem as an admission exam. Others, such as

University of São Paulo The University of São Paulo ( pt, Universidade de São Paulo, USP) is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian public university and the country's most prestigious educational institution, the best ...

and

Faculdade Cásper Líbero Faculdade Cásper Líbero (FCL) is a private college in São Paulo, Brazil. Founded in 1947 by Brazilian journalist Cásper Líbero, it is the oldest journalism school in Latin America. The university offers courses on journalism, broadcasting, ad ...

use the student's score as supplement to their admission credentials, depending on the student's performance. Since 2009, most of Brazil's federal universities have used ENEM as part of their admission exams, either as the entirety of the exam, the first level, or as a way of selecting potential candidates.

2009 controversy

On October 1, 2009, it was announced that the test, which was supposed to take place on October 3 and 4, would be cancelled and postponed to another date within a 45-day period. The decision was made by the Brazilian Ministry of Education after the original test was offered for sale to a Brazilian newspaper

O Estado de S. Paulo ''O Estado de S. Paulo'' (; ), also known as ''Estadão'' (; ), is a daily newspaper published in São Paulo, Brazil. It is the third largest newspaper in Brazil, and its format changed from broadsheet to berliner on October 17, 2021. It has t ...

for R$ 500,000 (some US$278,000 at the time). After contacting the source, who stated that he obtained the test via a person from Inep (an institute of the Ministry of Education), the newspaper examined the exam and the minister of education,

Fernando Haddad Fernando Haddad (born 25 January 1963) is a Brazilian academic and politician who has served as the Brazilian Minister of Finance since 1 January 2023. He was previously the List of mayors of São Paulo, Mayor of São Paulo from 2013 to 2016. He ...

, confirmed the leak was of the official exam. At that time the Ministry of Education decided to move the exam to the beginning of December, in accordance with exam periods in universities. The decision was not implemented.

2021

In 2021,

Jair Bolsonaro Jair Messias Bolsonaro (; born 21 March 1955) is a Brazilian politician and retired military officer who has been the 38th president of Brazil since 1 January 2019. He was elected in 2018 as a member of the Social Liberal Party, which he turn ...

reportedly tried to have pro-government teachers in the elaboration of the exam. He also wanted to reference the Coup of 64 as a Revolution in the questions. In November 2021, 37 members from INEP resigned protesting against censorship.

References

External links