Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles


The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles , commonly called classes prépas or prépas, are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist of two years of study which act as an intensive preparatory course with the main goal of training students for enrolment in one of the grandes écoles. The workload is one of the highest in Europe.
Unlike most students in France who enroll in public universities directly after receiving a high school diploma, students from CPGE have to take national competitive exams to be allowed to enrol in one of the Grandes Écoles. These Grandes Écoles are higher education establishments delivering master's degrees and/or doctorates. They include science and engineering schools, business schools, the four veterinary colleges and the four écoles normales supérieures but do not include medical or law schools, nor architecture schools. Their competitive entrance exams make having attended one of the grandes écoles being often regarded as a status symbol as they have traditionally produced most of France's scientists, executives and intellectuals.
Hence, there are three kinds of different prépas: scientific, economic and literary CPGE. Each of them prepare to pass the competitive exams of those grandes écoles.

Admission

The CPGE are located within high schools for historical reasons but pertain to tertiary education, which means that each student must have successfully passed their baccalauréat to be admitted to CPGE. Moreover, the admission to the CPGE is usually based on performance during the last two years of high school, called première and terminale. Thus, each CPGE receives hundreds of applications from around the world every April and May, and selects its new students under its own criteria. A few CPGE programmes, mainly the private CPGEs, also have an interview process or look at a student's involvement in the community.
In June 2007, 534,300 students passed the "Baccalauréat", and 40,000 of them were admitted to CPGE. On a given class at one of the prep schools listed above, around 1500 application files will be examined for only 40 places. Students are selected according to their grades in High school and the first part of "Baccalauréat".

Degree

Preparatory classes are officially not authorized to deliver any degrees, but they give ECTS credits that can be used to fulfill university degree requirements since the 2009-2010 academic year, and students who decide to can carry on their studies at a public university.
However, many prépas also establish conventions with universities to validate a full 2nd or 3rd year degree upon graduation for CPGE students who perform well, especially in literary prépas. Most of the students in these classes receive part of their education at a public university, so that the teachers' council can deliver them the corresponding grade in one or two disciplines at the end of the year.

Organization of CPGE

CPGE exist in three different fields of study: science & engineering, business, and humanities. All CPGE programs have a nominal duration of two years, but the second year is sometimes repeated once.

Scientific CPGE

The oldest CPGEs are the scientific ones, which can be accessed only by scientific Bacheliers. The different tracks are the following:
The classes that especially train students for admission to the elite schools, such as Écoles Normales Supérieures or ParisTech schools, have an asterisk added to their name. For example, MP*, are usually called MP étoile .
Both the first and second year programmes include as much as ten to twelve hours of mathematics teaching per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of literature and philosophy, two to four hours of foreign language teaching and two to eight hours of minor options: either SI, engineering industrial science, chemistry or theoretical computer science, biology-geology, biotechnologies. Added to this are several hours of homework, which can amount to as much as the official hours of class.
The BCPST classes prepare for exams of engineering schools of life sciences but also to veterinary schools, engineering schools of earth sciences, and the three Ecoles Normales Supérieures. Compare to the other classes, it teaches biology and geology.
In scientific CPGE, the first year of CPGE is usually called the maths sup, or hypotaupe, and second year maths spé, or taupe,. The students of these classes are called taupins, which is a French word for "mole", referring to the lifestyle of students in classes preparatoires whose workload obliges them to spend most of their time studying instead of going out to enjoy social life.
A very specific kind of CPGE is targeting technicians. They are called ATS classes, Adaptation Techniciens Supérieurs and last only a year. They are mainly based on the curriculum of PTSI and PCSI, but the courses are summed up.

Literary and humanities CPGE

The literary and humanities CPGEs are focused on a strong pluri-disciplinary course, including all humanities: philosophy, literature, history, geography, foreign languages, and ancient languages. These prépas also have their own nicknames: "hypokhâgne" for the first year and "khâgne" for the second year. The students are called the "hypokhâgneux" and the "khâgneux". These classes prepare for the entrance exam of the elite schools called Écoles Normales Supérieures, which are considered among the most difficult exams of the French system. Nevertheless, the students can now also apply for many other entrance exams.
There are three types of Khâgne:
Now, the grouping of many examinations make the difference between khâgnes "Lyon" and "Ulm" is slight, and lots of prépas have mixed classes with many students preparing for both ENS.
Khâgneux can apply to many grandes écoles, other high schools and all universities, among which are the following:
Those CPGEs which are focused on economics, or Rennes School of Business are known as Prépa HEC and are split into three parts:
Course
Hours/week
Mathematics12 h
History, Geography and Geopolitics6 h
Foreign Language 13 h
Foreign Language 23 h
Philosophy3 h
Literature3 h
Economics 1 h

CourseHours/week
Mathematics9 h
Economics, Sociology and History6 h
Further Economics2 h
Foreign Language 13 h
Foreign Language 23 h
Philosophy3 h
Literature3 h

CourseHours/week
Mathematics6 h
Management5 h
Economics3 h
Law3 h
Foreign Language 14 h
Foreign Language 25 h
Philosophy3 h
Literature3 h

Classe préparatoire ECS are for those who graduated with the general Baccalauréat S, Classe préparatoire ECE are for those who were in the economics section at their Lycée, whiles the Classe préparatoire ECT are for those who obtained a Baccalauréat Technologique.
However, both the first and the second year programmes include ten hours of mathematics teaching per week and also six hours of business history and geography, six hours of French and philosophy, and three hours of each language in the "ECS" section.
There is also the D1 and D2 CPGE, also known as ENS Cachan CPGE:
D1 and D2 are very rare but offer a complete and multidisciplinary training.

Life in a CPGE

The "Khôlle"

The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high.
In addition to class time and homework, students spend several hours each week completing exams and colles. The so-called "colles" are unique to French academic education in CPGEs. They consist of oral examinations twice a week, in maths, physics, chemistry, biology and earth sciences, French and a foreign language, usually English, German or Spanish. Students, usually in groups of three, spend an hour facing a professor alone in a room, answering questions and solving problems. In "Prépa ECE/ECS", students are taken every two weeks in maths, history, philosophy, and in their two chosen languages.
In "hypokhâgne/khâgne", the system of "colles" is a bit different. They are taken every quarter in every subject. Students usually have one hour to prepare a short presentation that takes the form of a French-style dissertation in history, philosophy, etc. on a given topic, or that of a commentaire composé in literature and foreign languages; as for the Ancient Greek or Latin, they involve a translation and a commentary. The student then has 20 min to present her or his prepared work to the teacher, who ends the session by asking some questions on the presentation and on the corresponding topic.
"Khôlles" are important as they prepare the students, from the very first year, for the oral part of the competitive examination.

The "cinq demis"

A student who repeats the second year obtains the status of cinq demis. They were only trois demis during their first second-year and un demi in the first year. The explanation behind these names is that the most coveted engineering school is the École polytechnique, nicknamed the "X". A student who enrolls in this school after the second year of preparatory class is traditionally called a "3/2" because this is the value of the integral of x from 1 to 2.
The same idea is valid for cinq demis: the integral of x from 2 to 3 is "5/2".
Students in their first year of literary and business CPGEs are called bizuths and, in their second year, carrés. Students enrolled in their "second" second year are also called cubes, and a few turn to bicarrés for a third and final second year. Some ambitious professors encourage their top students to avoid or postpone admittance to other prestigious schools in order to try to get a better school.