It’s the return of the bac with its new arrivals. From Wednesday May 11 to Friday May 13, high school students in the final year will pass, to “the first time”, the written examinations for specialty courses (EDS) for the baccalaureate in “planned format” by the latest reform of this national examination, underlined Edouard Geffray, the director general of school education (Dgesco), during a press briefing on Monday. For students in Mayotte, the exam dates are May 18, 19 and 20, specifies the Ministry of National Education on its site.
Since its launch in 2019, under the aegis of Minister Jean-Michel Blanquer, the reform of the general and technological baccalaureate has struggled to be put in place due to the Covid-19 crisis. The EDS tests had to be canceled in favor of continuous assessment for the 2020 session and last year, only the philosophy tests, in the final year, and French, in the first year, were able to take place face-to-face. Franceinfo takes stock of the 2022 version of the reformed baccalaureate.
High coefficient tests
This year, the 381,221 candidates who are on the general track and the 141,978 candidates on the technological track inaugurate the two written EDS tests, which are the two dominant subjects of the baccalaureate and which the students have chosen to keep, after having studied three during their freshman year. This system of specialties brings together 34 different subjects for the 2022 baccalaureate and replaces the three former streams of the general baccalaureate – literary (L), economic and social (ES) and scientific (S).
The bac grading system has also evolved with the reform: 40% of the final grade is now based on continuous assessment and 60% on final tests. Their number is also reduced, with, in first class, the written and oral French test and, in the final year, the two EDS tests, the written philosophy and the great oral. Among these exams, the EDS have the highest coefficient (16 per specialty), compared to 10 for the major oral (14 in the technological route), 8 for philosophy (4 in the technological route) and 5 for each of the French tests at the orally and in writing.
One exam day dedicated to each specialty
These two EDS events take place over one day each between May 11 and 13. Each exam can last from one to several hours depending on the subject. Among the most chosen specialties, mathematics comes first with 142,730 candidates, followed by economics and social sciences (136,466 candidates) and history-geography, geopolitics and political science (HGGSP) with 106,994 registered. At the bottom of the list of 34 specialties, it is the regional languages that have the lowest success with a few dozen candidates per chosen language, according to data from the Ministry of National Education.
All candidates should have received their convocation, issued by their academic department, around mid-April. They must arrive thirty minutes before the start of the event. In case of delay, “Only the head of the center can authorize, on an exceptional basis, access to the composition room, without overtime”says the ministry.
A choice of subjects arranged
If the subjects proposed during these two tests are “in accordance with the program of each discipline and the expectations of the final year class”, according to the Ministry of National Education, they were fitted out due to the Covid-19 pandemic which disrupted part of the school year. In order to adapt to the progression of student learning, each candidate is therefore guaranteed to have the choice “between questions or exercises”. Originally, only one subject per subject was planned.
These specialty tests may include a written part and an oral part, as is the case for the arts. Others, like the physical and chemical sciences in the laboratory (STL series), offer a common part to all candidates as well as two parts to be chosen from three proposals. Some subjects require an essay, such as history, or answers to a series of compulsory questions and a series of elective questions, such as law and economics. In the technological streams, the candidates will work on two themes per subject.
Notes not taken into account in Parcoursup
Initially scheduled for March 14 to 16, the two specialty tests were postponed for two months due to the health context at the time. On January 28, following a meeting with the unions, Jean-Michel Blanquer announced the postponement of these exams to May, in order to allow students and teachers to work on the important program of these two major subjects. and be ready for the exam.
However, this shift in timing means that it is impossible to take into account the grades acquired during these tests in the study of the students’ Parcoursup files.
In the absence of grades, the establishments to which future baccalaureate holders have applied will study files containing the averages of specialties over the three semesters of first year as well as the first two of terminale.
Corrections made only online
Another novelty in this 2022 version of the baccalaureate: the correction of proofs is completely dematerialized. It should take place in three stages. According to the EDS correction procedures, the copies will be available online in the dedicated space of each of the 45,000 correctors mobilized, no later than May 17 in the morning. Upstream, and by May 16 at the latest, consensus commissions on the correction recommendations specific to each discipline will have taken place.
Corrections will be made between May 17 and June 3. During this period, the academic inspectorates will be available to the correctors to answer any questions or difficulties. Finally, a final harmonization phase will take place between the correctors. Objective: to guarantee fair treatment of all candidates and to correct any discrepancies in scoring.
Results known on July 5
You will have to be patient. Students will know the results of their EDS at the same time as the rest of their baccalaureate results, on July 5. In the meantime, they must have passed the philosophy paper, on June 15, and the 20-minute grand oral before a jury of three people, between June 20 and July 1. The catch-up orals will take place from July 6 to 8.