UNAM to require in-person retest for 58,000 applicants after remote exam scandal

Mexico’s largest university will hold a mandatory on-site exam for about 58,000 candidates after AI-monitored remote testing produced unusually high scores.

In late May and early June, UNAM administered its entrance test to nearly 160,000 applicants entirely online, employing a lockdown browser and AI-driven webcam proctoring. The outcome deviated dramatically from previous years, with the proportion of perfect scores jumping from 3.5% to 16.3% and those scoring 110 or above rising from 0.9% to 5.5%, sparking widespread cheating accusations. The university formed a technical commission, formally titled “la Comisión Técnica de Personas Expertas para la Revisión del Proceso de Selección de Ingreso a Licenciatura para el Ciclo Escolar 2026-2027/1,” which advised a supplemental in-person “control exam.”

This retest will apply not only to those who secured places this cycle but also to anyone who would have qualified since 2021, potentially affecting about 58,000 students. Classes were slated to begin on August 10, so the university must act quickly unless it postpones the start date. The rector, via the university’s Gaceta UNAM, expressed regret to honest applicants and emphasized that the extra exam is needed to ensure fairness and certainty in admissions.