Four Columbus School 11th graders missed the mandatory PREICFES exam on February 25th at Universidad de Medellín.  

The reasons ranged from illness to missing documents, absences to a delay with a student’s registration process. This exam is annually offered by the SABER organization with the purpose of preparing students for the ICFES examen the upcoming year.   

“The ministry of education gave schools the power to decide whether it (PreIcfes) was mandatory or not. Since the possibility arose, we decided as an institution to make it a mandatory practice,” Vicky Jaramillo, HS Vice Principal, said.

It’s uncommon for students to miss the exam, but this year some juniors could not make it, despite the school making it mandatory. Only 11th and 12th graders take this exams, and are registered by the school months earlier. This time, one student was unable to print his confirmation of registration, and could not take the exam.

“I wasn’t able to take the PreIcfes exam this year. The day before I found out I couldn’t even attend, because when I went to print my validation, I saw I wasn’t registered,” Jose Manuel Uribe, 11th grade student, said.

The total cost per student was 53,000 pesos, and even though Uribe covered this expense, he could not carry out with the exam. All the other juniors were registered and ready to go, except for two who had last minute setbacks. That Saturday, a boy was hospitalized and unable to attend the next day, and a girl had previously notified the school she’d be out of the country that day.

“I couldn’t go because on Saturday I was at the hospital all day with a virus and I was extremely sick to attend next day. I was barely able to stand up,” Pedro Velasquez, 11th grade student, said.

“I did not take the PREICFES because I was on a trip on those dates. I asked for permission about one week and a half before and the school allowed me not to,” Antonia Porto, 11th grade student, said.  

The requirements for someone to write the exam are to bring a N.2 pencil and their identification. One of the juniors forgot her ID card, and once at the university could not enter her assigned classroom before the test began at 7am.  

“I really did not know I had to bring my ID with me that day. I thought I’d be able to take the exam. They wouldn’t let me into the building without it,” Maria Antonia Obando, 11th grader, said.  

The PREICFES was mandatory for the school. High School Principals and the Learning Center assistants highly motivated students to do their best, plus emphasized its severity and importance. Despite this, they were comprehensive with the students who missed the exam.

“That Friday prior to the exam, Vicky, Jorge and Mr. Arbabi visited each of our classrooms to encourage us into doing our best. It seem the PREICFES was really important for them, ” Eliana Lopez, 11th grade student, said.

Juniors were not punished in any way for missing the exam, and will still be able to take the mandatory ICFES exam in a year. It’s results are crucial to enter any public or private Colombian university.   

“If any Senior does not present the mandatory ICFES exam, no Colombian graduation diploma will be handed to them. We’ve had different cases before where someone couldn’t attend for any reason, and the diploma was not given to them,” Jaramillo said.