Education in France: school stages, the baccalauréat and higher education
A guide to the French school system, the baccalauréat, Parcoursup, universities and grandes écoles, public-service concours and French language tests.
In short
The French education system is centralised: the Ministry of National Education sets the curriculum, the school calendar and the national exams for the whole country. Schooling follows a fixed sequence of cycles: école maternelle, école élémentaire, collège and lycée. Instruction is compulsory from the age of three, and young people must stay in education or training until 18. The main school-leaving qualification is the baccalauréat, usually called the bac, which also opens the door to higher education. Universities, preparatory classes and the grandes écoles take students after the bac, and applications are made through the national platform Parcoursup.
School stages
- École maternelle (ages 3 to 6): Pre-school, compulsory from age three. Children learn language, early number skills and social habits.
- École élémentaire (ages 6 to 11): Five years, from the CP to the CM2. Pupils learn French, mathematics, history, geography, science and a first foreign language.
- Collège (ages 11 to 15): Four years, from the sixième to the troisième. At the end pupils sit the Diplôme national du brevet.
- Lycée (ages 15 to 18): Three years, from the seconde to the terminale. Students follow the general, technological or professional route and finish with the baccalauréat.
The baccalauréat
There are three kinds of baccalauréat: général, technologique and professionnel. In the general bac, students choose specialty subjects (spécialités) in the première and keep two of them in the terminale. The final result combines continuous assessment during the last two years with written exams, a philosophy test, the Grand oral and the French tests taken in the première.
Marks are given out of 20, and 10 is the pass mark. Distinctions are awarded above the pass mark: assez bien, bien and très bien. Students who pass can apply to higher education, and those who do not may resit.
Higher education
After the bac, students apply through Parcoursup, the national admission platform. The main routes are:
- University: Three-year licence, then a two-year master and the doctorate. Most students begin here.
- Classes préparatoires (CPGE): Two years of intensive study that prepare students for the competitive entrance exams of the grandes écoles.
- Grandes écoles: Selective schools for engineering, business, political science and other fields.
- Short vocational courses: Technical diplomas such as the BUT and the BTS, taken in two or three years.
Medical, pharmacy, dental and midwifery studies are entered through the first-year programmes PASS or L.AS, which lead to selection at the end of the year.
Careers, public service and French for foreigners
Many careers in France are entered through a concours, a competitive exam, especially in the civil service and the public sector. Candidates sit written and sometimes oral tests in general culture, French and sometimes logic or law. International students who want to study in French usually need a certificate such as the DELF, the DALF or the TCF, which test French as a foreign language.
Practising on GetMyMockTest
These are practice questions we wrote for study. They are not the official exams, and we do not claim they match an exam's current format. Free practice for France:
- Baccalauréat: mathematics, physics and chemistry, life and earth sciences, history and geography, French, philosophy, and economics and social sciences, with timed tests.
- DELF/DALF and TCF: grammar, vocabulary and reading practice for French as a foreign language.
- Civil service concours: general culture, language, logic and public institutions.
- Sciences Po and grandes écoles: contemporary issues, history, economics and reading comprehension.
- French general knowledge: history and politics, geography and nature, and science, arts and culture.