Ready for the big oral? Between Monday, June 20 and Friday, July 1, candidates for the general baccalaureate and the technological baccalaureate will take the final baccalaureate test. The stakes are high: the exam is marked with a coefficient of 10 in the general stream and 14 in the technological stream.
The test, scored out of 20 points, lasts 40 minutes. The high school student arrives with two questions prepared with his teachers and relating to one or two specialties of the student (arts, history-geography, mathematics, physics-chemistry, etc.). The jury, made up of two professors, one of whom teaches one of the candidate’s specialties, chooses one of the two questions. The high school student has 20 minutes to prepare his speech. The grand oral also lasts 20 minutes, divided into three parts: 5 minutes of presentation, 10 minutes of interview with the jury and 5 minutes of discussion on the candidate’s orientation project.
This great oral “allows you to practice argumentation and public speaking”, underlined the new Minister of Education, Pap Ndiaye, in a press release. A few days before this test dreaded by many high school students, franceinfo asked Cyril Delhay, professor of public speaking at Science Po who participated in the development of this test, to give some practical advice to candidates.
1“Upstream, you can apprehend this oral mentally”
“Certainly, this great oral serves to validate your oratorical skills and your knowledge. But it is also a meeting, a moment when you share a little of yourself. You have to leave this fear of the jury in the locker room, which is in a benevolent spirit. It is as if during the preparation of your oral, you have prepared a meal for friends. Once the preparations are completed, you have a pleasant time and enjoy your guests. Here is your subject which is the meal and you share it with the jury.
Upstream, you can apprehend this oral mentally, at home, like an athlete visualizing his competition. You imagine yourself making the journey to the place of examination, entering the room.
“It gets your brain used to it feeling less new and therefore less stressful.”
Cyril Delhayat franceinfo
2“With heart coherence, you can find your calm”
“With stress we find ourselves holding breath, dry mouth, gasping breathing and sweating. We search for our words, when we are not stuttering. you can act on it if you listen to your body.
Thanks to the regulation of your breathing, by doing heart coherence, you can regain your calm. This technique, proven by top athletes, consists of a series of inspirations and expirations, all of the same duration of five seconds and repeated for three minutes.
The earlier you train, the better. So do not hesitate to do it two to three times a day, a few days before the exam and before entering the room, on D-Day, or even during the 20 minutes of preparation preceding the big oral.
3“Avoid writing your entire presentation”
“During the 20 minutes of preparation, you will put your ideas in order. What you must avoid is writing your entire presentation, because you will not be able to read any notes during the oral and above all you will not you won’t have time. On the other hand, it is useful to write your first sentence and the last, in order to help you visualize where you are starting from and where you want to arrive.
It’s like an airplane taking off and landing, these are the most delicate moments of your presentation. You can also slip between these two sentences key words or numbers, five or six maximum, which will serve as a reminder.
“Avoid reciting your notes, be in the interaction.”
Cyril Delhayat franceinfo
4“Make short sentences”
“Forget the idea of wanting to say everything, concentrate on the essentials. To do this, make short sentences: subject, verb, complement and with only one idea per sentence. This will help you to be clear and to speak in a clear of your subject.
Also think of your speech as music punctuated by periods of silence, about a third of your time. This will make your point alive and allow you to chisel your thought. By putting a silence in front of a word, you highlight it, and even more if it is behind.
“Silences also allow you to breathe.”
Cyril Delhayat franceinfo
5“Language tics can disappear in a few days”
“If you are afraid of language tics, which spare no one, such as ‘sudden’, ‘in fact’, ‘uh’, ‘voila’, they can be chased away in a few days. Record yourself for a minute, then listen to yourself by counting your tics. If you do it two or three times, it’s already halfway there, because the brain becomes aware of these language tics.
You can also practice talking about a subject that interests you, to your friends, your family or in class. You will notice that if you are engaged in your subject, with a desire to share, there are fewer or no parasites. It also gives you an idea of the rhythm to have.”
6“When the body is well positioned, the thought becomes clearer”
“As soon as you enter the examination room, it’s as if you enter a playground where you become aware of the other players. Here, it is with the jury that you interact. For this, it is you have to be aware of your body, this instrument that will allow you to play public speaking.During the first part of the test, the candidate is standing.Then, he can sit down.
When the body is well positioned, the thought becomes clearer. Standing, with good support in the ground, feet apart the width of the pelvis, you will become aware of your environment, of others and of your breathing. In order to be comfortable in this posture, you can, at home, look for your benchmark position, which allows you to have this feeling of rootedness and stability.
“Why not take inspiration from the support position you have when you practice your favorite sport?”
Cyril Delhay, public speaking teacherat franceinfo
7“It is important to develop a gesture of openness”
“With stress, we tend to have our arms glued to the trunk. With our hands, we make gestures of reassurance, fiddling with them or rubbing them on the legs. It is therefore important to develop a gesture of reassurance. openness, which goes towards the other and which will enrich your remarks.Think also of the posture of your fingers.
In order to have a fluid opening gesture on D-Day, you can repeat two or three gestures at home so that your body learns them. You can also watch speakers you like, muting the sound and just looking at their gestures for inspiration.”
8“You have to watch the jury”
“Looking is very important. In stressful situations, we tend not to look in front of us, and to look for inspiration by looking at the ceiling. By doing this, you are falling short of public speaking. You owe the jury, even when you’re scrambling for your words. Keeping your gaze straight ahead is key, as it helps ground you firmly in the ground and keeps your body from swaying.”
“You can practice a few minutes a day, at home, in front of the mirror. Of course, you have to avoid having an anxious look or gun eyes in front of the jury.”
Cyril Delhayat franceinfo
9“Do not make the jury your compass in the course of your oral”
“The jury is not there to put you on the grill, nor to destabilize you by rolling your eyes or by blowing for example. It must show a certain neutrality, without being like a wall. Although the first five minutes pass without question from the jury, you are in interaction with him, you speak to him and you listen to the resonance of this word in the brain of your interlocutor.
Physically engage in what you say. But do not make the jury your compass in the course of your oral. Detach yourself from the angst of what he thinks and move on. If he doesn’t understand what you’re talking about, you’ll see it right away, don’t worry.”
“You can practice with your comrades by playing the role of the jury: it will make you think of the questions he could ask you on D-Day.”
Cyril Delhayat franceinfo
10“You may not have the answer to everything and that’s okay”
“The beauty of oral is imperfection. You can’t control everything and want to do something perfect, because that’s the best way to screw up. If you have a hole, don’t hesitate to take it on. Stop, breathe and resume. If you stutter, no need to apologize. Breathe and resume calmly, this shows that you are able to regulate things. Remember: breathing is fundamental to avoid stuttering.
In the last part of your oral, which is a question-and-answer game about your future, you may not have all the answers and that’s okay. Knowing how to say ‘I don’t know’ is demonstrating intellectual honesty and no one can blame you for it. You can even state your questions.
11“The day before, do not touch your subjects”
“The earlier you start training, the better. Because speaking, the more you repeat it, the more reflexes it creates. And reflexes are freedom. Do not hesitate to vary your short training sessions. One day you’re working on short sentences, another on breathing, the next you’re playing the jury, and so on.
But the day before, don’t touch your subjects. If necessary, ‘mentalize’ your 20-minute preparation, but no more. Clear your mind, do something else. Go for a walk, play sports, keep an open mind, it’s going to be fine.”