The calendar of the main tests to enter higher education is approaching and young people intensify their studies. Those who are unable to pay for a pre-university course seek out pre-college courses organized by students at the University of São Paulo (USP). One of them is the popular course offered by the School of Arts, Sciences and Humanities at the University of São Paulo – USP Leste (EACH-USP). 
For those who are going to apply for a place at the State University of Campinas (Unicamp), the first phase of the entrance exam will take place in 15 days, on November 6th. The first phase of the Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) takes place on November 15th, USP), on December 4th. The evidence from Fuvest, a private law foundation linked to the University of São Paulo
Those who will take the National High School Exam (Enem) have a commitment on November 13th and 20th. Enem grades give access to higher education in public universities through the Unified Selection System (Sisu) and to full and partial scholarships in private institutions through the University for All Program (ProUni).
Preparatory course for the entrance exam of the University of São Paulo – USP Leste. – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil
popular course
Student Evelyn Soares Dias de Souza, 18, is preparing for the Popular Course EACH-USP. She says that she will try for one of the vacancies for the journalism course at USP and also for the Enem.
At the moment, Evelyn is fully dedicated to her studies and trying to correct the lag she suffered in the last two years of the pandemic. “The course is helping me a lot. Many things I couldn’t pay attention to at home, here, at the prep course, we have the teachers to help, we can clear up doubts and, in short, it’s working very well for me”.
“I was extremely harmed because trying to pay attention in class was difficult, and there is still the quality, because, let’s face it, the public school, compared to the private school, in the pandemic, the quality was much more harmed”, laments the student. Despite this, her expectations are encouraging. “My expectation is that I do well in the test, and I hope that I can get into USP to take the course I want so much.”
Evelyn is one of the students of the popular pre-college course at USP Leste, a 100% free entrance exam, without any monthly fee, registration fee or material cost. The entity was created in 2015, on the initiative of students from the campus from the university.
“We serve 120 students free of charge: 60 in the afternoon and 60 in the evening. Our connection with USP comes from the loan of the university’s room and infrastructure. Our teachers and administrative staff are volunteers and do not receive anything to contribute to the purpose”, informs the general director of the course, Thayná Augusta Leandro Machado.
Evelyn’s classmate, student Wendelson Henrique Lima de Souza, 21, will also take the Enem and Fuvest, to take the design. He’s been in the popular cram school since the beginning of the year. “I had done another one before, but I started in the middle of the year and didn’t continue until the end. And I also worked last year. This year I took it just to study.”
The student says that the course gives great preparation. “It’s a really cool opportunity to serve people who can’t really afford a course, like me. And the teachers are very good, they can help a lot the students who need it, mainly because studying at home is very difficult. I’ve taken the entrance exam several times and this is the year when I’m more confident and it’s working out the best for me.”
Student Wendelson Henrique Lima de Souza attends the Popular Course EACH-USP – Rovena Rosa/Agência Brasil
For the coordinator of the prep course, this year’s students have done well on the path of studies. “I believe that the classes are seeds, seeds of the return to face-to-face. Even if the result is not enough, just thinking that we helped them to go a little further along this road makes me happy and satisfied”.
That’s what 18-year-old student Rafael Santos da Silva is doing. Candidate for the biomedicine course at Fuvest, Unicamp and Enem, he said he’s going to take the exams, but he’s really getting ready for next year. “This year I don’t have much expectations, because the cut-off mark is very high, and it’s a lot to study in just one year. But I am acquiring a great base to prepare myself more for the next year”.
He also finished high school in a public school and believes that the cram school has supported his learning. “The prep course was a very big bridge for me, it gave me a very good base of everything and a support that I didn’t have because of the pandemic. In addition to studying in a public school, the pandemic made it very difficult to learn and even the entrance exam, because the public school does not prepare so much. So it was really hard last year.”
The course director stated that students receive, at the beginning of the student, a reinforcement to compensate for the gap. “At the beginning of the year, we have a period of basic cycle, where we try to pass on the most basic and common disciplines. However, unfortunately, with the time we have, it is difficult to restore the learning that should come from regular education”.
Work and study
Student Pedro Guilherme Araújo de Souza, 18, has to balance his studies with working at night. He is a candidate for one of the vacancies in the USP history entrance exam and will also take the Enem.
“I work at night, but it’s a ‘beak’ to be able to pay my way here and some day-to-day things. It is possible to reconcile, because I work from home”. He also finished high school at a public school and is trying to regain his apprenticeship.
“I felt very harmed, it was a very atypical time. In the second year, I was already interested in preparing for the entrance exam, but when the pandemic arrived, I completely blurred it. It was a time trying to take care of myself, it was very difficult to study, because I felt that I was left out a lot in teaching, because the school did not provide support and the media center was a very bad platform. But in the middle of the 3rd year, I decided that I was going to study. I entered websites pre-university course and went on to study, but this year I’m studying for real”.
The course director said that the entity has the capacity to serve 120 students. “But over the course of the year, they leave for different reasons. Currently our number is smaller. There has been a dropout since the beginning of the year, however, our level of evasion in face-to-face is lower than when we were in the distance model”.
She says that some difficulties lead to students dropping out. “Students’ lack of motivation, basic structure problems such as money for passage, food and mental health problems”.
Despite the difficulties, Thainá says that the course leads to a good approval rate among students. “Together, we have approved more than 200 students in public or private universities with scholarships, our work has many impasses and many uncertainties, but together we have the mission to turn the dream of entering the university into reality!”.
see the list of popular courses.
