Tarragona has started the 2026 PAU university entrance exams with a text on the value of the humanities, as more than 4,400 students sat the first test in the area.
The exams began on time at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili tribunals at 9am, according to the regional coordinator, Pere Millán. He said there were no significant problems linked to the strike or to students arriving late.
The opening text asked why money should be allocated to knowledge that does not bring a quick and tangible economic return. It argued that humanistic disciplines have been treated as useless and pushed aside in schools, public budgets, and private funding.
Millán said the organisation dealt with minor issues as they came up, including students who went to the wrong tribunal. In those cases, the aim was to let them start the exam as normally as possible and sort out the paperwork afterwards.
Students leaving the first paper said it was manageable. Héctor and Hugo, from Vidal i Barraquer, said the format was similar to previous years. Lucía, Isona and María, from Institut d’Altafulla, said it went better than expected after a stressful preparation period.
Other students also described the paper as fair. Oriol, from Institut Tarragona, said he was not nervous and had only started revising five days earlier. Jana, Laia and Mar, also from Institut d’Altafulla, said they answered every question correctly. The exam also included poetry analysis with works by Gloria Fuertes and Blas de Otero.
Montserrat, from Pons d’Icart and hoping to study Philosophy, said the humanities text felt relevant and argued that science and humanities should be treated equally. The results will matter for university applications in the coming weeks. For more local education coverage, see news.
