Canary Islands PAU Performing Arts II

No. Access is governed by the general PAU rules and, for artistic higher education, usually by a specific entrance test or audition at the centre. Artes Escénicas II mainly serves to raise your admission score and to demonstrate preparation. Check the weighting tables and the requirements of each centre, which vary by degree and year.

Expect a written exam built from a small number of open-response items plus some option-based or short-answer parts, often anchored in a short dramatic text or a described performance scenario. You may be asked to define terms, identify period or genre, and justify staging choices. The exact structure and options are set each year by the coordinating university, so read the current model paper.

Duration, number of items and the minimum score are fixed by the official call and change between sessions. They are not stated here because they are not fixed facts. The Universidad de La Laguna and the other Canarian public universities publish the current regulations, calendar and model papers on their PAU pages; consult those before planning your timing.

Students usually find the conceptual part accessible and the difficulty lies in writing precise, well-organised answers quickly. Vague generalities about 'the magic of theatre' score poorly; accurate terminology, named works and reasoned argument score well. If you have seen live performances and can describe them analytically, the analysis items become much easier.

Resit rules and the validity of subject marks for admission are set by the current access regulation and the annual call, so verify them with the coordinating university rather than relying on older information. In practice, candidates often improve a subject mark in a later session. Confirm deadlines, registration and any limits on attempts on the official site.

Start with dramatic language, structure and genre, because those terms recur in every other block. Then build a chronological spine of theatre history with a few representative works per period. Move to text-to-stage and to acting and direction, then to visual and technical space, music and body. Finish with contemporary practices and reception, and keep returning to short written practice.

Three recurring causes: describing a plot instead of analysing how the scene works; naming a period without evidence from the text; and ignoring the staging dimension when the question asks about space, light or sound. A fourth is poor time management, leaving the longest item with five minutes. Practise full papers under timed conditions and self-mark against the stated criteria.

Memorise a compact core: definitions of dramatic terms, a timeline with a handful of authors and works per period, and basic vocabulary for scenography, lighting and sound. Beyond that, memorising long lists is inefficient. Examiners reward using a few examples well and connecting them to the question, so rehearse applying your core knowledge to unfamiliar fragments.

The syllabus includes Spanish and Canarian theatrical heritage within the reception and heritage block, so be ready to mention authors, companies, venues or traditions from the islands alongside peninsular references. Keep the treatment analytical: link heritage to questions of reception, audience and staging rather than listing names. Confirm the precise scope in the current official programme.

The public universities of the Canary Islands publish the subject programme, exam structure, model papers and past calls on their PAU/EBAU web pages, and the regional education authority publishes the Bachillerato curriculum. Use those as your authority for structure and scoring, and treat independent study pages such as this one as practice support only.