South America: national exam dates and examination bodies

How examinations are organised across the region

South America's dominant model is a national university-entrance examination administered by a state agency, rather than a school-leaving certificate that doubles as an admission ticket. Brazil's ENEM, run by INEP, is the largest — taken by millions of candidates over two Sundays in November, and used for admission through the SISU platform. Chile's PAES, administered by DEMRE, replaced the older PSU and is held late in the year. Colombia's Saber 11, run by ICFES, functions both as a school-quality assessment and an admission input.

Argentina is the notable exception: most public universities have historically operated open or low-barrier admission with an introductory cycle rather than a competitive national entrance examination, so there is no single national date to track. Several other countries combine a national test with university-specific examinations.

Calendar and language notes

Like Oceania, most of South America follows a southern-hemisphere academic year, so the school year ends in November or December and the major entrance examinations fall in the second half of the calendar year. Brazil's ENEM additionally runs a separate digital sitting and a dedicated sitting for candidates in detention, on their own dates.

Official material is published in Spanish, and in Portuguese for Brazil. English-language documentation from these agencies is limited, so the official links below lead to Spanish- or Portuguese-language sites. Registration windows open months before the test and are strictly enforced.

Using these dates

Watch registration windows as closely as test dates — ENEM and PAES both have enrolment periods that close well ahead of the examination, and ENEM enrolment requires a CPF number.

INEP and DEMRE both publish full past papers with answer keys, and INEP publishes item-level statistics for ENEM. Because both tests have changed format in recent years, recent official papers are considerably more representative than older commercial preparation material.