Some only offered programs of no interest to the student. Also, many students were assigned schools requiring them to travel two hours each way. If their score was not high enough to get them into their first choice, the computer would send them to their second option, but there they had to queue behind all those who had that school as a first option. It was therefore easy to enter a free fall through the list of preferences. The assigned school was final, with no appeal possible.
Standardized testing is fairly new in Mexico.
Criticisms of testing raised in the U.S. and other nations were not heeded by the government. Literature from FairTest was crucial in starting a discussion about the limitations and problems of using such a test as the sole criterion for making decisions about students. Teachers Federation supported the movement by sending a letter of protest to the President of Mexico arguing that studies show other means of evaluation, such as grade average, to be a superior basis for admissions decisions. As a result of the protests and negotiations with the Ministry of Education and school officials, an agreement was signed with a team of parents, students, teachers and researchers. Changes of schools were allowed.