UNAM entrance exam retake 2026: what applicants must know
Mexico's National Autonomous University, known as UNAM, has ordered roughly 58,000 applicants to retake its entrance exam in person starting tomorrow, August 12, with testing running through August 19, 2026. The order follows abnormally high scores on the university's first fully remote entrance test, which raised suspicions of widespread cheating, according to The Guardian and Mexico News Daily.
Admission to the university now depends on the results of this new in-person exam rather than the remote test taken earlier this summer, according to Ars Technica's account of UNAM's plan. With test dates already fixed and registration underway, affected applicants have a short window to confirm their status and prepare. Here's what's confirmed, what's still being reported secondhand, and what to check directly with UNAM before exam day.
Who must retake the exam, and how eligibility works
UNAM's original remote exam drew more than 158,000 test-takers, according to Mexico News Daily. Out of that pool, the university separately annulled roughly 2% of exams for reported rule violations such as impersonation or unauthorized outside help, according to Particle.
The available reporting doesn't explain how those annulled cases relate to the broader control-exam process, so applicants shouldn't assume the two groups are handled entirely separately.
The roughly 58,000 applicants called back for the control exam are those whose original scores met a passing threshold for their program. Times Higher Education describes that threshold as a score sufficient to pass either this year's exam or any exam from the past five years, while Mexico News Daily frames the rule slightly differently. Because the two accounts don't match word for word, applicants should confirm the exact eligibility rule for their specific program against UNAM's own notice rather than assuming either version applies to them.
UNAM exam retake registration and test dates
UNAM directed applicants to a status-check website where they can enter their information to see whether their original score clears the bar for the in-person retest, Mexico News Daily reports. Applicants should look for that tool through UNAM's own admissions communications or Gaceta UNAM, the university's official news outlet, since that's where the university itself has been publishing updates, according to Ars Technica.
Registration opened Friday, August 7, for applicants who cleared the threshold, according to Mexico News Daily's report from last week. The in-person exam itself runs August 12 through 19 across four cities:
- León, Guanajuato: August 12–13
- Oaxaca City: August 13
- Tijuana, Baja California: August 15–16
- Mexico City: August 17–19
That venue list comes from Mexico News Daily's reporting on UNAM's own statement. Because the dates and cities differ from one location to the next, applicants should confirm their assigned city and date before making any travel plans.
What the new exam determines
The reported plan places applicants based on the new in-person result, not the July remote score, per Ars Technica's coverage of UNAM's approach. Applicants who assumed their July score had already secured a spot shouldn't carry that assumption into the retest. Treat this as a fresh, full-weight test, not a formality.
It follows UNAM's standard format: a 120-question exam tailored to the degree program an applicant is seeking, per Times Higher Education. Study from your own program's official materials rather than generic test-prep content.
Why UNAM ordered an in-person retest
This year marked the first time UNAM ran its entrance exam entirely remotely, from late May through early June. The university required Respondus LockDown Browser to restrict what test-takers could do on their devices, plus AI-powered webcam proctoring from Territorium meant to flag impersonation, phones, earphones, or applicants stepping out of frame, according to Ars Technica.
When results came out on July 17, they showed an unusual pattern, Mexico News Daily reports. The share of applicants scoring 100 or above out of 120 points jumped from a 2021-2025 average of 3.5% to 16.3%, and scores of 110 or higher rose from 0.9% to 5.5%, per Ars Technica's review of the score data.
UNAM's technical commission flagged that pattern as a likely sign of irregularities while acknowledging it couldn't determine which individual scores were affected, Ars Technica reports. That gave the university a statistical reason to question the results without pinpointing every affected applicant, and the commission recommended an in-person control exam as the way to reassess scores.
Reported irregularities went beyond AI chatbots. Accounts relayed through Ars Technica's coverage of a New York Times report described leaked exam questions circulating for sale online while the test was still live, along with secondary devices positioned outside the webcam frame to access AI tools. These remain reported allegations, not confirmed findings tied to named individuals.
Separately, Raúl Rojas, a mathematics, AI, and statistics professor, told NPR that his own modeling suggested "almost half of the students were cheating when taking the exam online," a claim relayed through Mexico News Daily. That's an outside expert's estimate, not a university finding.
UNAM rector Leonardo Lomelí apologized to applicants who passed the exam fairly and now must sit for it again through no fault of their own. "I apologise to the applicants who, having been accepted fairly, will be called to take the entrance exam, but it is necessary to ensure fairness and equity in access," he said, and he expressed confidence in their results, according to Times Higher Education.
The disruption has also pushed back the academic calendar. The new term was originally set to begin August 10, per Times Higher Education, but UNAM has delayed the start of first-year classes to August 31 while the retest results are sorted out, Particle reports.
What to verify before traveling to the UNAM retest
Reporting reviewed for this article doesn't spell out identification requirements, arrival times, or permitted materials at the retest venues, so those details need to come from UNAM's own notice to registered applicants. Anyone facing a barrier to attending an assigned city, whether distance, cost, a disability, or a safety concern, should raise it directly through UNAM's official channel. None of the sources reviewed describe an accommodation process, so that detail has to come from the university, not from assumption.
Not everyone affected has accepted the retest quietly. Hundreds of admitted students have protested outside Rectoría and along Avenida Insurgentes, demanding their original results be honored, and some applicants have filed amparos, a type of Mexican legal challenge, disputing the requirement to sit a second exam. Particle reported last week that courts had asked UNAM to clarify the matter but had not suspended the exam schedule. Check UNAM's official channels for any later court or university update rather than relying on that earlier reporting alone.
Before traveling, save the official UNAM notice showing your eligibility, registration status, assigned city, date, and check-in requirements. If any part of that notice is unclear, contact UNAM's admissions office directly rather than relying on secondhand reporting for a detail that affects whether you're allowed to sit the exam.