Amairani Ruiz scored 106 correct answers in her online admission test for Pedagogy at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and received an acceptance letter. Then came the summons to sit the test again in person. Her father, César Ruiz, described the university's website as saturated as families rushed to secure slots for the new examination, and told reporters his daughter had developed stomach problems from the stress and anxiety of the ordeal.

She is one of nearly 59,000 applicants ordered to retake the exam in person between 12 and 19 August at venues in Mexico City, León, Oaxaca and Tijuana, following a review by a commission of 16 experts. The decision came after a notable surge in outstanding scores raised suspicion of cheating. Various media reports described applicants helped to cheat - their identities substituted, coaching delivered in real time, copies of the test passed along - while some contestants shared their tricks on social media, including the use of artificial intelligence. The disruption has delayed the start of the 2026-2027 academic year, originally scheduled for 10 August.

The affair has struck at one of Mexico's most significant institutions. UNAM is the largest university in the country and in Latin America by student numbers, and its admission test is an experience that older generations remember distinctly; one columnist recalls sitting the exam in 1985 in the Estadio Azteca, surrounded by thousands of applicants. The same writer notes that something similar had already happened at the high school level, but the alarms sounded only now. The move to online testing was intended as a solution; instead, the columnist argued, it has produced a loss of "institutional control" - a problem that is "political, administrative and moral, and also juridical." Luis González Placencia, executive secretary of the National Association of Universities and Higher Education Institutions (Anuies), told La Jornada that innovation always entails risk, but went further, questioning the meritocratic premise of admission exams altogether, since applicants do not begin from an equal footing given economic and social disparities.

Sayra Guadalupe Olguín, 18, hoping to study Communication and Journalism, described herself as "very nervous" about retaking the test and was preparing daily with practice simulations. After several attempts during which the platform appeared to be under maintenance, she managed to register for a slot on 19 August at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City. Some applicants have gone further, seeking legal injunctions against the retest; one columnist noted they argued the process was being violated and their original results should stand.

González Placencia suggests the episode should prompt a broader debate about whether admission exams are the right mechanism at all, citing proposals for universal admission in certain fields and placement tests in place of selection. "If we overcome the need for admission exams, we will also overcome the problems associated with those conducted online," he told La Jornada. For now, though, tens of thousands of young people face a second sitting of the test that was supposed to settle their futures. The retest, as one columnist observed, offers no guarantee that future applicants will act honestly - and the university, policing students in their own homes, risks becoming a new Big Brother.