Sofía smiled. The exam had tried to break her. But in the end, it was just another problem—and she had found the solution.
Then Ciencias Sociales : a mix of history, geography, and civic education. One question asked: “¿Qué presidente peruano nacionalizó la Brea y Pariñas?” Velasco, she knew. Another: “La corriente de Humboldt afecta principalmente a la…” Costa central. She answered without hesitation. The proctor announced: “Cinco minutos.” Sofía had already finished. She went back to the geometry problem she’d skipped. Stared at the triangle. Suddenly, she saw it: the altitude was the geometric mean of the two segments of the hypotenuse. She solved it in forty seconds. Bubble. Check. Erase a stray mark.
But problem 27 was a trap. A geometry problem: a triangle inscribed in a semicircle, with an altitude drawn, asking for a length. She knew the Thales theorem, but the numbers were ugly. She spent six minutes. Her pulse raced. She skipped it. Problem 28: probability with two dice— “suma mayor que 9” —she could do that. 10, 11, 12: 6 favorable cases out of 36. Simplify to 1/6. Good. examen de admision pucp
Pencils down. Silence. Then the shuffle of papers, the squeak of chairs, the collective exhale of 200 students.
She walked out into the afternoon sun. The jacarandás were in bloom—purple flowers scattered on the grass. She didn’t know if she had passed. But for the first time, she felt she had fought every single problem, left no easy point behind, and survived the mental marathon. Two weeks later, at 10 a.m., she logged into the PUCP portal. Her hands were cold. The page loaded: Sofía smiled
Then problem 14: a logic puzzle about four friends seated around a table, with conditions like “Ana no está al lado de Carlos” and “Betty está frente a Diana.” She drew a grid. One minute. Two minutes. Her pencil trembled. Then—click—the configuration revealed itself. She bubbled in C. By the math section, her confidence was a thin wire. Problem 21: “Una empresa reparte 720 soles entre tres empleados. El segundo recibe el doble del primero. El tercero recibe 80 soles más que el segundo. ¿Cuánto recibe el primero?” She solved it: x + 2x + (2x+80) = 720 → 5x = 640 → x = 128 . Easy.
Problem 30: the final math question. A word problem about a train passing a platform and a pole—classic. But she misread “pole” as “post” and started with the wrong formula. With 30 seconds left, she realized her error. No time to fix it. She left it blank. A silent victory. 5. The Afternoon – Humanities After a 90-minute break (she ate her chocolate and drank half a liter of water), the afternoon session began. Comprensión de Lectora: a dense text about the impact of guano exports on 19th-century Peruvian oligarchy. She underlined key phrases. The questions asked for implicit arguments—not just facts. She felt calm. Reading had always been her refuge. Then Ciencias Sociales : a mix of history,
Inside Pabellón H, row after row of desks. The proctor, a serious woman with reading glasses, said: “Silencio. Abran el cuadernillo solo cuando se indique.”
Admission to PUCP required 1,200 points.
She closed her eyes and whispered: “Una más. Solo una más.” The PUCP campus in San Miguel felt like a different country. Students walked calmly under the jacarandás , holding coffee and folders. Sofía had only a transparent plastic bag (required): ID, sharpened HB pencils, an eraser, a clear bottle of water, and a small square of dark chocolate—a superstition from her first attempt.