De Admision Pucp — Examen
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.
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.
“Tiempo.”
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.
1. The Weight of a Number Lima, February. The heat clung to everything—the cracked sidewalk on Avenida Universitaria, the plastic chairs in the pensión where Sofía rented a room, and the thin mattress where she’d slept only four hours. On her desk lay a worn-out copy of Aritmética Razonada by Baldeón, its spine held together with tape. Next to it, a stack of mock exams from the Academia César Vallejo . The top page read: Simulacro N° 12 – Puntaje: 482 . examen de admision pucp
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:
She stared. Then she cried. Then she called her mother, who said nothing for five seconds, then whispered: “Ya no irás al mercado, hija.” But problem 27 was a trap
Aptitud Académica: 412 Matemáticas: 398 Ciencias Sociales y Lectura: 427 Resultado: INGRESANTE – Facultad de Ciencias Sociales

