CPGE - Preparatory class for superior studies

From the moment of registration via the Admission postbac website The number of terminale (final year of secondary school/highschool) students likely to choose a CPGE as their postbac orientation has grown significantly.

In September 2009, out of 77,600 terminale students enrolled in "prépa" (Preparatory class for superior studies), 42,400 students integrated, the first year, a “prépa“ scientific, commercial or literary.

At the end of their postbac orientation, 2 / 3 terminale students registered via the Admission postbac website have a CPGE as their first choice.

Before enrolling in "prépa" students in terminale should:

Avant de s’inscrire en "prépa" les élèves de terminales doivent:

Conduct a personal analysis

Conducting a personal analysis entails:

1. Analyze your academic career.
2. Establish a course of action for your studies.
3. Asses and analyze your skills in order to be sure that you have the right profile to choose a CPGE (Preparatory class for superior studies).

Determine your choice strategy for a CPGE

1. Be sure to have the profile for a CPGE .
2. Choose schools where your selected CPGE can be integrated.
3. Choose concours suited to your aptitudes.
4. Choose a CPGE that corresponds to your academic level.
5. Know the acceptance rates.
6. Determine “second” rank choices
7. Know if the CPGE benefits from conventions with universities in order to acquire the ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System).

Evaluation objective success rate

This assessment is based on criteria such as:

1. hypothetico-deductive reasoning,
2. self-control,
3. desire to learn,
4. contending spirit,
5. transcendence,
6. activity level,
7. reactivity and recovery
8. thirst for efficiency and accomplishment,
9. competitive spirit,
10. teamspirit,
11. perception of time,
12. concentration
13. ability to abstract,
14. ability to assimilate
15. memorization,
16. adaptability,
17. curiosity,
18. physical and psychological resistance
19. rhetorical capacity,
20. dialectic ability
21. conceptual ability,
22. and finally awareness of personal strengths and weaknesses.

Application CPGE

The criteria used in evaluating a terminale (final year of secondary school/highschool) student’s dossier for a CPGE (Preparatory class for superior studies) will generally focus on:

1. Assessing the scope of progress.
2. The assessment of working capacity in terms of efficiency, professionalism and quantity.
3. The academic level of the terminale student in regards to the requirements of the baccalauréat (the main diploma required to pursue university studies ), in comparison to other students in the class and the estimated acceptance rate for entry into a CPGE.
4. The terminale student’s motivation in regards to the formation and their course of study plan.

Establish a strategy

1. Have made a personal diagnosis,
2. have a course of study planned out
3. choose the right "prépa" (Preparatory class for superior studies)
4. organize with great care your list of choices in terms of preference (consider a second ranked postbac orientation choice, prepare a "back-up choice” (precautionary choice),
5. Make sure to complete postbac registration on time
6. file applications accordingly,
7. modify postbac choices according to grades and the valuation of your professor,
8. have a response prepared for terminale candidates who were accepted via the Admission postbac website,
9. carry out all postbac enrollment administration