# Classe préparatoire aux grandes écoles

Front entrance of Lycée Louis-le-Grand, in Paris, one of the famous Lycées providing access to 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 of two very intensive years (extendable to three or exceptionally four years) which act as a preparatory course (or cram school) with the main goal of training undergraduate students for enrollment in one of the grandes écoles. The workload is one of the highest in the world [1] (between 35 and 45 contact hours a week, including written and oral exams).

The grandes écoles are higher education establishments. They include science & engineering schools, business schools, the four veterinary colleges and the four écoles normales supérieures but do not include medical institutes or architecture institutes. Due to their competitive entrance exams, having attended one of the grandes écoles is often regarded as a status symbol on paper as they have traditionally produced most of France's scientists, executives and intellectuals.

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.

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 successfully passed their Baccalauréat (or equivalent) 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 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%)[2] 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.[3] Students are selected according to their grades in High school and the first part of "Baccalauréat" (equivalent to A-levels in the United Kingdom or Advanced Placement in the United States).

## Degree

Preparatory classes are officially not authorized to deliver any degrees, however they give ECTS (i.e. university equivalence) since the academic year 2007-2008 and students who decide to can carry on their studies at university.[4]

However, many prépas also establish conventions with universities to validate a full 2nd or 3rd year degree for CPGE students who did their job well, especially in literary prépas ("Khâgne"), where the entrance exams are the most difficult and selective. Most of the students in these classes continue their cursus at the university, so the teachers' council can deliver them the corresponding grade in one or two disciplines at the end of the year (only up to a bachelor's degree for 3 years of CPGE).

## 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

Schema representing various ways proposed in 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 by either MP ("mathematics and physics") or PSI ("physics and engineering science")
• PCSI, Physique, Chimie, Sciences de l'Ingénieur ("physics, chemistry, and engineering science"), followed by 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") or PSI ("physics and engineering science")
• TPC1, Technologie, Physique et Chimie ("Technology, physics and chemistry"), followed by TPC2
• 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
• TB1, Technologie, Biologie ("technology and biology") followed by TB2

The classes which especially train students for admission to the elite schools, such as Écoles Normales Supérieures or ParisTech schools, have an asterisk added to their name, e.g. MP*, are usually called MP étoile ("MP star") (except for the BCPST2 and TB2 classes, who all prepare to the elite schools). 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 language(s) teaching and two to eight hours of minor options: either SI, engineering industrial science, chemistry or theoretical computer science (including some programming using the "Pascal", "CaML" or Python programming languages, as practical work), biology-geology, biotechnologies.[5] 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 (agronomy, forestry, environmental and food sciences) but also to veterinary schools, enineering 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 - (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 word taupe means mole in French. Its signification comes from the lifestyle of students in classes preparatoires. Due to the intensive workload, students sacrifice their social life for the classes preparatoires years. They spend most of their time studying inside and barely go outside.

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

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

Classe préparatoire ECS are for those who graduated with the general Baccalauréat S (Scientific), Classe préparatoire ECE are for those who were in the economics section in the Lycée (received the general Baccalauréat ES (Economics and Social) ) whereas the Classe préparatoire ECT are for those who passed 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 & geography, six hours of French & philosophy, and three hours of each language (2 languages) in the "ECS" section.

The most famous business schools are HEC, ESSEC Business School and ESCP (these three schools are called les Parisiennes).

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

There is also the D1 and D2 CPGE, also known as ENS Cachan CPGE:

• D1 (law and economy): the studients go both to university of law and to CPGE's School. They study Civil Law, Economy, and they choose Business Law, Public Law or Mathematics; one language (mostly English, German, Spanish and Italian), but they can study a second language for the Ecoles de commerce, and general culture. In university, they study Constitutional Law, Penal Law and Administrative Law. In the end of the two years, studients go to ENS Cachan, Ecole de commerce, Sciences Po or some selective University of Law. This CPGE is open for Baccalauréats L, ES and S.
• D2 (economy and management): the studients go both to university of economy or mathematics and to CPGE's School.

D1 and D2 are very unknown but they offer a complete and multidisciplinary training.

### Literary and humanities CPGE

The literary and humanities CPGEs are focused on a strong pluri-disciplinar cursus, including all humanities: Philosophy, Literature, History, Geography, Foreign languages, and ancient languages (latin and ancient greek). These prépas have also 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 to the entrance exam of the for elite schools called Écoles Normales Supérieures, which are considered among the most difficult exams of the French system. Nevertheless, the students can nowadays also apply to many other entrance exams.

Thee are three types of Khâgne:

• Khâgne "Ulm", which prepares more specifically to the A/L entrance exam of the ENS Paris;
• Khâgne "Lyon", which prepares more specifically to the A/L entrance exam of the ENS Lyon;
• Khâgne "B/L", which prepares for the B/L entrance exam of the three ENS. Its specificity is the presence of mathematics and social sciences.

Nowadays, due to the grouping of many examinations, the difference between khâgnes "Lyon" and "Ulm" is slight, and lots of prépas have mixed classes with many students preparing both ENS (or even the three for English specialists).

Khâgneux can apply to many Grandes écoles, other high schools and all universities, among which:

• The main French business schools (through complementary examinations at the final exam): HEC, ESSEC, ESCP, EM...
• Many journalism and communication schools (CELSA...)

## Life in a CPGE

### The "Khôlle"

The amount of work required of the students is exceptionally high.[6] 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 maths, 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 usually have 1 hour to prepare a short presentation 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, or 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 her or his prepared work (so just one part of their 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 "5/2"

When a student (in Scientific CPGE) repeats her or his second year, they get the status of cinq demis ("five halves"), before they were only a trois demis ("three halves") during their 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 enrols in this school between their first and second year of preparatory class, as the integral of x from 1 to 2 is "3/2", they are traditionally called a 3/2 .

$\int_1^2 \! x\,dx \ = \frac{2^2}{2}-\frac{1^2}{2} =\frac{3}{2}$

The same idea is valid for cinq demis: the integral of x from 2 to 3 is "5/2".

$\int_2^3 \! x\,dx \ = \frac{3^2}{2}-\frac{2^2}{2} = \frac{5}{2}$

Students in their first year of Literary and Business CPGEs are called bizuths, 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 or postpone admittance to other prestigious schools in order to try to get a better school.