More than 500,000 first general and technological students are working this Friday, June 12 on a new baccalaureate mathematics test, created after the disappointing results of an international study on the level of French students and which will count for Parcoursup.
From 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., students must answer, without a calculator, a multiple-choice calculation questionnaire to assess automatisms and a set of two to three independent exercises. Three distinct subjects are planned according to the courses: mathematics specialty, scientific teaching without specialty or technological common core.
Students who chose a mathematics specialty in final year will always also take a test in this discipline at the end of next year.
This examination comes from the “clash of knowledge” of the former Minister of National Education, Gabriel Attal, who announced its creation at the end of 2023, in the wake of the disappointing results of the international Pisa study. She pointed to a “historic” drop in the level of French students in maths between 2018 and 2022, “the most significant observed” since the first study in 2000.
For the government, this new test contributes to “revaluing” the place of mathematics in high school, which had disappeared from the common core of compulsory subjects between 2019 and 2023 with the Blanquer reform.
Notes for Parcoursup
But for Bertrand Buffetti, mathematics professor in Caen and Snes-FSU academic co-secretary, “the real reason for this test, we know well, is to have mathematics grades for Parcoursup”.
An opinion shared by many students. “It’s more important for the Parcoursup file than for the baccalaureate itself,” judges Edgar, 17, who lives in Rennes. The low coefficient reassures some: “We tell ourselves that at worst, if it’s a failure, it’s not very serious,” says Romy, 17, in her first year at Lille.
For Laurent Pater, president of the Union of Scientific Preparatory Class Teachers, “having a more national indicator than continuous monitoring can only be beneficial, but we knew how to do without it”. “We will use this indicator, like the others, to the extent of what it represents,” he assures.
The anticipated math and French exams are part of the so-called final baccalaureate exams, which represent a total of 60% of the final baccalaureate grade. Continuous monitoring over two years counts for 40%.
