High school in France is called le lycée, a word derived from the Latin word “Lyceum,” a place near Athens where Aristotle taught. Le lycée consists of three years, and they count down to “first year.” The final year is called la terminale. Look at the names of these years and listen to their pronunciation:
| seconde | |
| première | |
| terminale |
First year high school students in France take general education courses. In la première, which is like 11th grade in the US, students must choose a specialization. They can study for the bac littéraire, which focuses on literature, le bac scientifique, which is considered more difficult and requires more math and science classes, or the bac économie et social, which focuses on economics. Their chosen specialization determines what kind of exam they will have at the end of high school, and this in turn affects what kind of universities they are likely to enter. A student with a bac littéraire would find in difficult to attend a math or science university because they would probably be far behind the other students.
At the end of high school, all students take an important exam called le baccalauréat, or simply, le bac. It can last 5 or 6 days, with exams for two subjects per day. Each exam section can last from 2 to 4 hours. These exams are written or have problems to solve. They are not multiple choice.
After two weeks, the exam results are posted. If a student sees their name on the list, that means they passed the test. There may also be ”mentions” that indicate a student did exceptionally well:
AB assez bien (12-13 out of 20)
B bien (14-15 out of 20)
TB très bien (16 or more out of 20)
Students who fail le bac must retake the portions of the test they did not pass.
Think you understand the French school system? Try matching the grade levels in French schools with their corresponding levels in the U.S.!
How did you do? It can be difficult understanding the education system of a different country! Next, we will look at l’université – college or university.
