This Sunday, the 9th, more than 3 million students from all over Brazil took part in the first day of the National High School Examination (ENEM). Without the usual controversies and leaks, this edition featured stories about students affected by tornadoes, relief from canceled exams, the participation of a former Pantanal actress, mentions of Paola Oliveira, and a slight increase in the abstention rate. Check out the key highlights below.
- Re-application due to tornado effects
Candidates from Rio Bonito do Iguaçu, a city in Paraná state that was devastated by the tornado that passed through the area on Friday the 7th, and all students affected by the tragedy have the right to request the re-examination of their exams between November 17th and 21st.
This benefit is also valid for all candidates with medical and/or logistical issues. The new tests will be conducted on December 16th and 17th.
- Slight increase in abstainers
According to the Ministry of Education, the abstention rate on the first day of Enem 2025 was 27%. Of the 4.8 million registered candidates, approximately 1.2 million were unable to take the exam. This index was slightly higher than the 26.6% recorded in 2024. For the 2023 edition, 28.1% of the 3,934,242 registrants did not take the exam on the first day.
- 3.2 thousand candidates were eliminated
According to Education Minister Camilo Santana, a total of 3,240 candidates were rejected. The exclusion was due to leaving the exam hall with the question book in hand 30 minutes before the last minute of application. Carry electronic devices. Be absent before the permitted time (3:30 p.m.). Use printed materials. Failure to follow the inspector’s instructions.
This year’s essay theme was “Perspectives on aging in Brazilian society.” Experts consulted earth It notes “inconsistencies” in relation to other editions of Enem and warns of “possible mischief,” but emphasizes that this is a much-discussed topic.
The choice also attracted attention because it recalled a notable episode in the history of the exam, namely the 2009 Enem leak, which would have proposed an “elderly assessment.” That year, the exam had to be canceled a few days before the application was due because copies of the question books were stolen from the printer responsible for printing them. The incident was discovered when the O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper was contacted by a man who claimed to have taken the exam and was trying to sell it for R$500,000.
– Read examples of 1,000-class essays based on this year’s essay themes
- Paola Oliveira’s words
Actress Paola Oliveira appeared on one of the 90 questions. Tatian Hecht, a language teacher at Elite Rede de Encino, said the actress was cited as “an example of a public figure who has been the target of comments that emphasize the standardization of female beauty, the aesthetic pressures placed on women and social criticism of this type of behavior.”
In recent years, Paola has become an important voice in the fight against female beauty standards, speaking openly about the pressure to take care of her body shape. She often exposes the unpleasant comments she receives on social media.
- Excerpts from the Bible and the Koran, variations on “Kandika”, Clarice Lispector
Using excerpts from the Bible, the Koran, and Clarice Lispector, the language, law and technology, and human science tests included questions that discussed language differences (one of which was the word “hominey”), black representation, Greek mythology, indigenous rights, and aesthetic pressures on women.
Actress Giovanna Goldfarb, 61, was one of 17,192 people over the age of 60 who registered to take part in Enem 2025. “My student version deserves better,” she said. said the actress, who became known for playing Zepha in the first version of the soap opera. pantanal1999.
To the newspaper company The GroveShe explained that she had set several goals: “Acquire skills in history, geography, literature, and English. Get an 800 on the essay. Get the correct score in math and physics. Get the correct score in biology and chemistry. Get accepted into the university of your choice.”
- Blind hugs and “divergence corner”
In the “rant corner,” volunteers provide emotional support to Enem candidates.
An emotional support project was carried out at a school in São Paulo’s West Zone, offering blind hugs, “breathing corners”, motivational messages and even distributing water and black pens to candidates taking the Enem 2025 exam.
One of them, The Help Project, has been around for eight years and is made up of volunteer psychologists and people who have overcome emotional problems. “Today in Enem, we are here to share a message of overcoming, to say that they have the ability to take the test and we need to believe in them and show them that we are here to support them,” project coordinator Felipe Santos, 38, explains to Terra.
The group owns a van and has installed a “ventilation corner” in it. “This is so that if they want to discuss it, they can put away all their anxiety, fear and worry, stay calm, take the test, and get a good result,” Felipe says. “People arrive very anxious and encounter students who are on the verge of having an anxiety attack,” he added.
- 13 hours of study per day for second enemy
Student María Eduarda Alves Silva, 18, attended Enem “seriously” for the second time, with the goal of achieving high grades and gaining admission to the coveted architecture course at the University of São Paulo (USP).
“I’m calm because I’ve been studying all year. I hope everything will be fine. We never know,” the young woman said in an interview with Terra. She says she studied hard all year with the help of college preparatory courses. “I used to go to class in the morning, but now when the exams are coming up, I study until night.” The young woman said she studied at least 13 hours a day, including Saturdays. I took Sunday off when I wasn’t doing simulations.
- Returning to Enem after 7 years
The young man took Enem again for the first time in 7 years and tells the details of his preparation: “I did not despair of studying”:
Twenty-seven-year-old Caroline Cardoso Campos took the Enem again seven years after taking the exam for the first time, hoping to get good grades for admission to a law course.
In a conversation with earthCaroline, who lives near Brasilandia, said she took the Enem exam for the first time in 2018, was accepted into the law department, studied for a year, but was unable to attend university due to personal reasons. Now she wants to return to that dream.
Throughout the year, the young woman, who currently works at the pastry stand from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., says she has had to balance work with preparing Enem. Every day when she returned home at night, she taught herself using free online platforms. “I always had time to study for two or three hours. Sometimes I would stay overnight. On Sundays when I wasn’t working, I would study for three or four hours.”
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