The PAU exam models for the Community of Madrid for the 2025-2026 academic year have now been published, and at the Luis Vives Study Center, we have begun reviewing them and developing a proposed solution. This way, you will be able to learn how the official marking criteria are applied and what type of reasoning and answering is expected for each question. These PAU Madrid models, solved step by step, can be found below in this post, as we will be incorporating them as our teachers finish preparing the answers. As a new feature for this year, the organizing committee of the university entrance exams in Madrid has made some changes to the general evaluation criteria and to the structure of some tests. These changes, which we discuss in greater depth in our article In this regard, they are focused on adapting the exams to the test harmonization guideline throughout the country, established by the CRUE (Conference of Rectors of Spanish Universities) in May of this year.
General characteristics of the PAU Madrid 2026
The exams generally maintain the same structure as previous exams, with adjustments to the grading method and type of exercises. Each exam lasts 90 minutes, with a maximum score of 10 points, divided into several exercises of varying nature depending on the subject being assessed. As in the 2024-2025 academic year, the exam will combine mandatory exercises with optional exercise blocks, although with greater student participation in terms of reasoning and practical application. In other words, the proportion of competency-based questions has been increased. Similarly, regarding the presentation of results, emphasis is placed on spelling accuracy, clarity, coherence, and cohesion in the writing of answers and reasoning in all subjects. Therefore, both students taking physics and those taking the geography exam should be careful with their spelling and answer structure, as they will be penalized.
In short, the PAU Madrid 2026 models are designed to measure both content acquisition and the ability to understand, argue, and justify answers, all while maintaining stylistic, spelling, and grammatical accuracy. This follows the guidelines established by the LOMLOE (Spanish Accreditation of Advanced Placement Tests), which focuses on knowledge acquisition from a comprehensive, competency-based approach.
How should you answer the PAU exercises?
To properly address the exercises for the test, it is advisable to differentiate between three types of exercises: pure writing exercises, reasoned practice exercises, and practical exercises without writing.
Pure writing exercises benefit from a clear structure, with order, stylistic, grammatical, and spelling accuracy being mandatory. For example, in essays or text commentaries, it's crucial to know how to organize the ideas, conclusions, and analyses presented to demonstrate structured thinking. Furthermore, in other written exercises, you'll need to pay special attention to certain keywords or key concepts that you must mention and address to achieve the highest score. This often occurs when discussing authors in philosophy, sections of Spanish history, or questions about processes in biology. Therefore, it's recommended that you create a sample question and a script with its structure before studying to have a response format to base your answer on. It's also useful when writing sections in Spanish history or biology to write down the keywords or associated concepts on a card.
On the other hand, reasoned practice exercises do not require extensive writing. In many cases, it is enough to mention and state the theorems, laws, or principles from which they are based and accompany the solution process in writing. These types of exercises are characteristic of subjects such as mathematics, physics, or business, and although correctness is still important, spelling or grammatical errors are not as heavily targeted. However, it is worth noting that errors made in the written sections will still be punishable. This means that misspelling a proper name, such as Weierstrass, when mentioning his theorem in mathematics, may not be grounds for a penalty; however, if we have stated a law over several lines of text and you have made a spelling mistake, you will be penalized. In the case of these exercises, structure and order are of the utmost importance. They generally include a section where the data is presented and the relevant unit changes are made, and another where the laws, theorems, or equations to be used are mentioned. Finally, the section where the calculations are performed and the solution is expressed, commenting, if necessary, on its validity or consistency with the data in the statement. For example, if in an exercise the Earth-Moon distance is 100 meters and you don't comment that this result is inconsistent with reality, you will be penalized much more than if you maintain the error while pointing it out. This example is also useful advice for those who realize a mistake when there's no time left to correct it. Our advice in this case, regarding your studies, is to get used to doing exercises of this type from the beginning, maintaining a unified structure for each subject. It's important to remember that the structure will be the most penalizing factor in these cases, and with the rise of the competency-based approach, these exercises will become increasingly common.
Finally, exercises without writing, as their classification indicates, do not incur penalties for writing or style errors. For example, exercises on syntax or technical drawing. However, neatness will be the most important aspect, in addition to execution, so it is recommended to try to complete the exercise on paper or in pencil (if permitted on the exam for that subject) beforehand, before errors become permanent and the answer becomes blurred. Furthermore, we like to remind you that the use of white-out, whether liquid or tape, is prohibited on the exam, and therefore we do not recommend using them while studying to avoid developing bad habits.
Corrected PAU Madrid 2026 models
A promise is a promise, and at the beginning of this post we told you that here you'll find the corrected university entrance exam samples. In this section, you can download them with our proposed and revised solutions so you can use them during your studies.
If you have any questions about the 2026 PAU Madrid exam forms or have found a typo, please leave us a comment and we'll be happy to assist you. If you'd like a course to reinforce and practice PAU content, especially the dreaded competency problems, Luis Vives Study Center offers courses that could help you
I would be missing the Technology and Engineering model, since that is the one I need the most.
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We're sorry, but we don't currently teach that subject at our school, so we don't have a specialized teacher who can help you.
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Good afternoon:
When can we consult the solved History of Spain exam model?
I await your response.
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Hello, Ángel Ramón:
Our team of teachers is working on the exams. As soon as they are ready, we will upload them to the website.
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I need the corrections to the language exam model. The exam is coming up soon. Best regards.
Hello, Ramón:
As soon as our teachers correct the model, we will upload it to the website.
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