New maths test for the baccalaureate: what we know about the exam and the date

The Minister of National Education, Anne Genetet, presented “Act II of the clash of knowledge” on November 12. She mentioned a mathematics test in the first year of high school, the outlines of which are still vague.

As announced in September 2024 by the Minister of National Education, Anne Genetet, “the ship of National Education will not change course”. This Tuesday, November 12, she presented new educational measures aimed at improving the level of middle and high school students during a speech given at the Pierre de Ronsard college in L'Haÿ-les-Roses, in the Acad&eacutemie de Créteil.

This "Act II of the clash of knowledge" is deployed in the continuity of the measures introduced by the éphémére minister Gabriel Attal. Anne Genetet proposes in particular  the introduction of an émématics advance test for first-year classes. The general and technological pathways will be at the heart of this development, the first anticipated mathematics test is scheduled for June 2026, that is to say not for students who have started their first year of school, but for the following ones.

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For the moment, neither the coefficient nor the program of this mathematics test have been communicated. But the test will be designed according to each person's knowledge and the program seen in class. This is why students following the common core of one and a half hours of mathematics teaching will not have the same test as those who have chosen it as a specialty. The latter will have a more complex assessment, followed by an additional test in the final year.

This interest in mathematics is far from trivial for the Ministry of National Education. Last year, a Pisa study mentioned an “unprecedented decline in performance” in this subject with a drop of 15 points between 2018 and 2023. This decline was the origin of the “clash of knowledge” launched by Gabriel Attal in December last year. The one who wanted to “put demand back” at school, in middle school and high school is thus served with the stated objective by her successor: “What I want is to have a real barometer and to raise the level in mathematics,” she told AFP.

Other deaths are being added to this announcement. The application of level groups for 6th and 5th grade classes in mathematics and French is thus strengthened. Previously dependent on the goodwill of school principals, they are now compulsory up to 3rd grade. The value of the brevet is also increasing: like the baccalaureate, it will become necessary to any passage to higher education by 2027. If they do not obtain it, students will still be able to enter CAP or join a one-year “preparatory second year” to consolidate their fundamentals before entering high school.