Amanda Cieglinski       Reporter Agência Brasil

Brasília – This weekend, the new National High School Exam (“Exame Nacional do Ensino Médio – Enem”) was used for the third consecutive year. An old Enem dates from back in the late 1990s and was basically an evaluation of high school. Nowadays, the new Enem is a college entrance exam and a scholarship selection test, along with being a kind of high school diploma.

The first year the new Enem (2009) was used there was a leak of exam content. Last year there were flaws in the exam booklets and answer sheets.

This year the test material did not present any problems.

However, on the first day of the exam, Saturday, eight students were eliminated and on Sunday, the second day, another three, for using cell phones to send twitter messages.

The Ministry of Education reported that although there were problems on the first day at entrance gates, on the second day candidates did not have any problems.

The second day of exams had 90 questions on language and math, plus a composition (“redação”). The theme of the composition was: “Living Connected in the XXI Century: the Limits between the Public and the Private.” (“Viver em Rede no Século 21: os Limites entre o Público e o Privado”).

There was some controversy when a television network announced the composition theme an hour before the students were allowed to leave the exam rooms. The ministry said it was looking into how that happened.

This year’s Enem had 5.3 million student enrolled, but, at least on the first day of testing, there was a large rate of absences, around 25%.

Allen Bennett – translator/editor The New in English – content modified

Link - Mais três candidatos do Enem são eliminados por usar o Twitter durante a prova

Link - Tema da redação do Enem é redes sociais