The first phase of the Fuvest 2027 university entrance exam was held on Sunday, November 1, in 30 cities across the São Paulo metropolitan region, the state's interior and coast, as well as in Fortaleza (Ceará). A total of 88 schools received candidates, with gates opening at 12:00 and closing at 13:00, when the exam began.
According to Gustavo Ferraz de Campos Monaco, secretary-general of the University of São Paulo (USP), the test recorded the lowest abstention rate in the history of the selection process.
The exam made wide use of pop culture references. A Biology question addressed the rare genetic syndrome of actor Gaten Matarazzo, known for the series "Stranger Things". A photograph of singer Bad Bunny holding an unofficial Puerto Rico flag during the Super Bowl halftime show formed the basis of questions on symbolism and on the relationship between Puerto Rico and the United States.
The Legião Urbana song "Meninos e Meninas" and an AI-generated image featuring singer Maria Rita and her mother, Elis Regina, were also used, as was a question referring to the largest ramp ever descended by a skateboarder, a nod to Sandro Dias.
The 6x1 working schedule was another theme. Candidates were asked to analyse the push to end the 6x1 model and employers' resistance to it through two fundamental ways of expanding the exploitation of labour described in Karl Marx's "Capital". Teachers said the item required students to identify the concept of absolute surplus value, defined as expanding exploitation by lengthening the working day, and to select the alternative aligned with management's opposition to reducing the schedule.
Other questions covered the impact of climate change on the behaviour of plant species, a financial comparison between an electric car and a petrol-powered model, and the influence of so-called fitness influencers on public perceptions of the body and aesthetic standards.
Altieres Lima, a Geography teacher at Escola SEB Lafaiete, said the exam brought a range of everyday themes with heavy cultural references, citing the Stranger Things question, the use of artificial intelligence to produce images, the skateboarding item, the Renato Russo lyrics and the Bad Bunny halftime show question on his country's flag and its status in relation to the United States.
Vera Lúcia Antunes, pedagogical coordinator at Objetivo, described the paper as creative and well constructed. She said that although the number of questions had been reduced by 10, the exam remained extensive and demanded vocabulary and conceptual mastery, and that it was, as expected, highly interdisciplinary and up to date on contemporary social issues, relying on different types of textual sources, images, songs, literary texts and graphs.
Breno Carlos da Silva, a Philosophy teacher at Escola SEB Lafaiete, said the 6x1 question tested Marx's concept of absolute surplus value and asked students to find the alternative consistent with employers' resistance to reducing the schedule.
Caio Ferreira, a specialist in educational solutions at COC, said the item linked the maintenance of the 6x1 model and business resistance to debate over its reduction to Marxist categories and economic logic. He added that Fuvest uses contemporary issues to require students not only to recognise theoretical concepts but to apply them to situations present in society. On the Gaten Matarazzo question, he said the choice was notable for bringing a scientific topic closer to a reference familiar to young people, connecting genetics, heredity and human development and showing how students' cultural repertoire can contextualise academic knowledge.
Sources: CNN Brasil.