Enem (National High School Exam) is experiencing a historical paradox. An unprecedented study released by Adobe Acrobat shows that, between 1998 and 2007, the test accounted for almost 65% of all 1000 scores ever recorded, while the last decade saw this number drop to less than 2%.
For Renato Júdice de Andrade, professor and director of the COC, this is not a “collective failure” of the students, but a radical change in the nature of the test: Enem stopped evaluating “writing well” to require “designing a text”.
What changed?
The big break occurred in 2013, when the correction process was “shielded”. According to Andrade, the system became more complex through three pillars:
The end of the “friendly average”: the margin of error between two brokers fell from 200 to 100 total points (just 80 per competency). “If one broker saw an authorial ‘brilliant’ and the other saw a technical error, the company started to be pulled down”, explains the expert.
Grammatical criterion: in competency 1, rigor became binary. Only two slight slips are allowed to reach 200 points. “A comma error and an accentuation error will already stop the student at 160”, says Renato.
Legitimized repertoire: in Competency 2, it is not enough to quote philosophers; it is necessary to prove the “causal link” between the quote and the problem. “Canned” citations are severely penalized.
Northeast Hegemony
While the Southeast relied on the volume and tradition of previous results, states like Piauí adapted quickly.
In 2023, the Northeast guaranteed 25 maximum grades compared to 18 in the Southeast. Renato Júdice highlights that cities like Teresina and Fortaleza have transformed writing into an “applied science”.
“In the Northeast, the essay doesn’t end when the student turns in the sheet. It ends when he reaches the maximum grade”, says Renato, referring to the culture of rewriting.
Schools in the region have implemented “writing clinics” and correction boards that mirror Inep’s rigor, treating writing as a constant laboratory, and not as a sporadic activity restricted to the end of high school.
2024 blackout and impact of technology
The data of only 12 1000 grades across Brazil in Enem 2024 is seen as a red alert, a reflection of a “pandemic hangover” that generated a deficit in arguments.
Renato warns that the solution is not just to provide hardware, but pedagogically structured technology.
AI in favor of quality
That’s why the expert advocates using it as an opportunity leveler. He adds that the AI writing solution aims to provide the same level of technical feedback as an elite corrector to any student, regardless of geographic location.
“Reversing this scenario requires technology that democratizes high-quality correction. AI frees the teacher to be the mentor who helps the student build critical thinking”, concludes Andrade. For him, the horizon must make the 1000 score an achievable objective through concrete data and indicators, and not a luxury for a few.
