Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles

Front entrance of the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in Paris, one of the most famous Lycées providing CPGE for Grandes écoles.

The classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE), commonly called classes prépas or prépas, are part of the French post-secondary education system. They consist in two very selective years (extensible to three-year), acting as a prep course (or cram school) with the main goal of training undergraduate students for enrolment in one of the grandes écoles. The workload is generally very high and in-class competition between students is often encouraged. Also, in these classes, grades are usually very low. Teachers do this to intimidate students and keep only the best of them in the second year. That's why some classes may be psychologically stressful, and some students give up before the completion of their studies.

The grandes écoles are higher education establishments. They include science & engineering schools, business schools, and the three écoles normales supérieures but include neither medical institutes, nor architecture institutes nor law institutes. Due to their competitive entrance exams, they are widely regarded as a prestigious curriculum by students, and traditionally have produced most of France's scientists and executives. Prépas followed by a grande école is only one possible way through French undergraduate education.

Hence, there are three kinds of different prépas : the Scientific, Business and Literary CPGE. Each of them prepare to pass the competitive exams of those universities.

Admission

The CPGE are located within High schools due to historical reasons (Napoleon created them at first as fourth to sixth year of High school) but pertain to tertiary education, which means that each student must have passed successfully their Baccalauréat (or equivalent) to be admitted in 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 the files of hundreds of applicants worldwide every year during April and May, and selects its new students under its own criteria (mostly excellency). A few CPGE programmes, mainly the private CPGEs (which account for 10% of 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 (7,5%) ^[1] of them were admitted in CPGE. On a given class at one of the prep schools listed above, around 4000 application files will be examined for only 40 places. Students are selected according to their grades in High school and at the first part of "Baccalauréat" (equivalent to A-level).

Degree

Preparatory classes do not give any degrees, however they give ECTS (i.e. university equivalence) since academic year 2007-2008 and students who decide to can carry on their studies at university.^[2]

Organization of CPGE

CPGE exist in three different fields of study: Science and 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 only be accessed by scientific Bacheliers. The different tracks are the following :

• MPSI, Mathématiques, Physiques, Sciences de l'Ingénieur ("mathematics, physics, and engineering science") in the first year, followed either MP ("mathematics and physics") or PSI ("physics and engineering science")
• PCSI, Physique, Chimie, Sciences de l'Ingénieur ("physics, chemistry, and engineering science"), followed PC ("physics and chemistry") or PSI ("physics and engineering science")
• PTSI, Physiques, Technologie, Sciences de l'Ingénieur ("physics, technology, and engineering science"), followed by PT ("physics and technology")
• TSI1, Physiques, Technologie, Sciences Industrielles ("physics, technology, and industrial science"), followed by TSI2
• BCPST1, Biologie, Chimie, Physique, Sciences de la Terre ("biology, chemistry, physics and earth sciences") followed by BCPST2

The classes which especially train students for admission to the elite École Normale Supérieure Paris-ULM or École Polytechnique have an asterisk added to their name, e.g. MP*, and usually called MP étoile ("MP star"). 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 (one or two) foreign languages teaching and two to three hours of minor options: either SI, engineering industrial science, chemistry or theoretical computer science (including some programming using the "Pascal" or "CaML" programming languages, as a practical work). With this is added several hours of homework, which can rise as much as the official hours of class.

The BCPST classes prepare to exams of engineering schools of life sciences (agronomy, forestry, environmental and food sciences) but also to veterinary schools.

In scientific CPGE, the first year of CPGE is usually called the maths sup - or hypotaupe - (sup for "classe de mathématiques supérieures", superior in French, meaning post-high school), and second year maths spé - or taupe - (spés for "classe de mathématiques spéciales", special in French). The students of these classes are called taupins.

The most famous engineering schools are : École Polytechnique, École nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, École nationale des ponts et chaussées, École Centrale Paris and École Supérieure d'Électricité-Supelec. There is also the École Normale Supérieure Paris-ULM.

Business CPGE

(57h courses+ 10h exams) per week. 

Those CPGEs which are focused on economics (who prepare the admission in business schools) are known as Prépa HEC and are split in three parts :

• ECS1 (Economics and Commercial Scientific way), followed ECS2
• ECE1 (Economics and Commercial Economics way), followed ECE2
• ECT1 (Economics and Commercial Technological way), followed ECT2

Classe préparatoire ECS are for those who graduated the general Baccalauréat S (Scientific), Classe préparatoire ECE are for those who were in the economics section in the Lycée (got the general Baccalauréat ES (Economics and Social) ) whereas the Classe préparatoire ECT are for those who passed a Baccalauréat Technologique .

The students are sometimes called épicier ("grocers") by people in Scientific CPGE because there are less hours of Maths in Business CPGE. However, both the first and the second year programmes include ten hours of mathematics teaching per week and also six hours of history (geopolitics), 5 hours of philosophy, and three hours of each language (2 languages) in the "ECS" section.

The most famous business schools are École des Hautes Études Commerciales de Paris-HEC, École Supérieure des Sciences Économiques et Commerciales-ESSEC Business School and École Supérieure de Commerce de Paris Europe-ESCP (those three schools are called les Parisiennes).

Other grandes écoles de commerce are found outside Paris, some highly selective like:

• EMLYON　Business School
• École de Hautes Études Commerciales du Nord (EDHEC)
• Audencia School of Management
• Grenoble Ecole de Management
• Reims Management School
• Rouen Business School

Literary and humanities CPGE

The literary and humanities CPGEs have also their own nicknames : Hypokhâgne for the first year and Khâgne for the second year. The students are called the Khâgneux. These classes prepare for schools such as the écoles normales supérieures, École des Chartes, French business schools (through a special exam) and sometimes Sciences Po.

Life in a CPGE

The "Khôlle"

The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high.^[3] In addition to class time and homework, students spend several hours each week completing exams and colles (very often written "khôlles" to look like a Greek word, this way of writing being initially a "khâgneux" joke). 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 (in BCPST classes), 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 HEC", students are taken every two weeks in math, history, philosophy, and in their two chosen languages (usually English and Spanish/German).

In "Hypokhâgne/Khâgne", the system of "colles" is a bit different. They are taken every quarter in every subject. Students have 1 hour to prepare 6 shorts presentations that takes the form of a French-style dissertation (a methodologically codified essay, typically structured in 3 parts: thesis, counter-thesis, and synthesis) in history, philosophy, etc. on a given topic, and that of a commentaire composé (a methodologically codified commentary) in literature and foreign languages; as for the Ancient Greek or Latin, they involve a translation and a commentary. The student then has 20 minutes to present just one presentation (so just one part of his work) to the teacher, who ends the session by asking some questions on the presentation and on the corresponding topic.

"Khôlles" are regarded as extremely stressful, particularly due to the high standards expected by the teachers, and the subsequent harshness that may be directed at students who do not perform adequately. But they are important as they prepare the students, from the very first year, for the oral part of the competitive examination, the participation in which is reserved for the happy few who successfully pass the written part.

The "5/2"

When a student (in Scientific CPGE) repeats his second year, he gets the status of cinq demis ("five halves"), before he was only a trois demis ("three halves") during his first second-year, and un demi ("one half") in his first year. The explanation behind those names is that the most coveted engineering school is the École Polytechnique, nicknamed the "X" (as the mathematical unknown). And if a student integrates (in French, a student is said to "integrate a school" when he is allowed to enroll in it) this school between his first and second year of preparatory class, as the integral of x from 1 to 2 is "3/2", he is traditionally called a 3/2 .

The same idea is valid for cinq demis : the integral of x from 2 to 3 is "5/2". Students in their first year (mostly in Literary or Business CPGEs) are also called bizhuts, and in their second year, carrés ("squares"). Students enrolled in their second second-year are also called cubes (or "Khûbes"), and a few turn to Bicarrés for a third and final second year. Some ambitious professors encourage their top students to eschew admittance to other prestigious schools in order to try to get a better school.

See also

• Education in France
• Grandes écoles

References

1. ^ Figures (French)
2. ^ http://www.letudiant.fr/etudes/classes-prepa/prepa-echec-reorientation-12150/rebondir-apres-une-prepa-grace-aux-credits-ects-18589.html (French)
3. ^ http://www.letudiant.fr/parents/choisir-sa-formation/et-sil-tentait-une-classe-prepa-10925.html L'Etudiant : "Et si votre enfant tentait une classe prépa ?"(French)

External links

• http://www.scei-concours.fr/ - The French committee for admission exams to engineering "Grandes écoles". (French)
• http://www.concours-bce.com - The French committee for admission exams to business schools "Grandes écoles". (French)
• http://prepas.org/accueil.htm - The CPGE teachers associations' Web Portal. (French)
• http://prepas.org/ProgrammesCPGE/ - School programs (French)
• http://www.infoprepa.com - Information page about Business CPGE. (French)