Enem is the acronym for National High School Exam and was created by the Ministry of Education and Culture (MEC) to test the learning level of students who completed high school in Brazil.
Currently, the results obtained in Enem help students to enter public universities or win scholarships in private institutions.
Created in 1998, Enem is the largest selection process in Brazil, covering approximately more than 7 million candidates registered to take the tests.
Purpose of Enem
In addition to helping the government to draw a benchmark for the quality of Brazilian secondary education, the result obtained in Enem can also be used so that the candidate can enter the university environment, through several possibilities.
Enem is also a “key” for those who wish to study abroad. Some public universities in Portugal, such as the University of Coimbra, for example, accept the ENEM grade as a criterion for some courses.
All public universities and federal institutes in Brazil use the ENEM grade as a criterion to select students who will fill the vacancies available in all courses.
Who can do Enem?
Students who are completing the last year of high school or those who have already completed it can participate in Enem.
In addition, it is important to mention that those who are not 18 years old on the day of the test will not be able to use it as a form of admission or scholarship in institutions.
Participants with this profile are called coaches, as the test will only serve as training.
In case the person interested in taking the test is serving measures or sentences that deprive him of liberty, he must await a specific notice for his category.
Taking the Enem is not mandatory for the student to complete high school. However, it is essential for those who wish to pursue their studies at university.
How to register for Enem?
Registration for the Enem test must be made online, through the website https://enem.inep.gov.br/participante/.
There is an application fee, which can vary from year to year, to be paid by candidates.
Eventually, candidates may be exempt from this payment if they meet certain conditions, such as having passed the National Examination for Certification of Competences of Youth and Adults (Encceja), being part of a family with income per person of up to half the minimum wage, registered in the Federal Government's Single Registry, etc.
Enem Steps
In total, the National High School Exam is divided into four objective tests, with 45 multiple-choice questions and an essay.
The tests are classified into areas of knowledge and curriculum components:
- Human Sciences and its Technologies (History, Geography, Sociology and Philosophy).
- Natural Sciences and its Technologies (Chemistry, Physics and Biology).
- Mathematics and its Technologies (Mathematics).
- Languages, Codes and their Technologies and Writing (Portuguese Language, Literature, Foreign Language.
- Physical Education, Arts and Information and Communication Technologies).
In writing, the candidate must present the four required skills:
- “Demonstrate mastery of the standard written language standard”.
- “Selecting, relating, organizing and interpreting information, facts, opinions and arguments in defense of a point of view”.
- “Develop a proposal for intervention for the problem addressed, respecting human rights”.
- “Demonstrate knowledge of the linguistic mechanisms necessary for the construction of argumentation”.
Enem's cut note
Enem's cutoff grade is the minimum grade required for a candidate to be approved in one of the government's programs for access to Higher Education
Cutting grades may vary according to the institution and/or the course desired by the candidate.
Enem and Sisu
To assist in the Enem selection process, the Unified Selection System (Sisu) was created, where the candidate, based on the average obtained in the Exam National High School, can compete for a place in an undergraduate course at any federal public university (and some state) of the parents.
The university has full autonomy to decide how the ENEM score will be used in this process, whether as a requirement for a first phase in the process (the candidate having to take another test developed by the university to which he is applying), or as the sole criterion for occupation of the vacancies.
See the meaning of Sisu.
Enem and Prouni
Enem's grade is also the basis for participation in the University for All Program (ProUni), created by the federal government.
ProUni reserves scholarships, partial and full, for students who have obtained a good average in Enem and who have studied in public schools (or with scholarships in private schools) throughout their teaching average.
See also the meaning of entrance exam.