Admitted, remedied or failed? In a few hours, the 718,723 baccalaureate candidates will discover their results, the outcome of a 2023 session which revealed the limits of the baccalaureate reform.
From 8 a.m. in certain academies (Aix-Marseille), but mainly from 10 a.m. (Paris, Créteil, Versailles academies), and 10:30 a.m. (Amiens, Besançon, Corsica, Dijon or Strasbourg), high school students in Terminale general, technological and vocational courses will be able to consult their results online or on display panels in the courtyard of their establishment.
Some 84.9% of candidates for the 2023 baccalaureate were admitted at the end of the main tests, announced Tuesday the Minister of National Education, Pap Ndiaye, a figure in slight decline which, according to him, testifies to a resurgence of ” selectivity”. “We are 84.9% admitted to the baccalaureate all series combined, against 86.1% last year: it is therefore a slight decrease”, declared the minister on RTL, stressing however that this figure would increase a little with the remedial tests.
“Go there together”
Lola, 18, a Terminale student in Paris, will “not look at the results on the Internet”. “I prefer to go see the display in my high school with my friends, it’s much more fun and above all much more symbolic to go there together,” she told AFP.
“There was a lot of solidarity between us this year because the program was dense. So let’s celebrate these results! », Rejoices the high school student, with specialties in economics and social sciences (SES) and humanity literature philosophy (HLP).
The baptism of fire of the new tank
This 2023 edition launched the new baccalaureate which, for the first time since the 2019 reform, came into full effect this year. Terminale students took two specialty tests in March, the two major subjects chosen by each senior high school student and which alone account for a third of the results of the baccalaureate. These specialty tests were thus able to be taken into account in the post-baccalaureate admission platform, Parcoursup.
The mark of the bac rests 40% on continuous assessment and 60% on so-called terminal tests: written and oral French, passed in Première class, the specialty tests, philosophy and the great oral, passed in Terminale.
The baccalaureate remains the key to starting higher education. But many high school students already know their orientation for next year, because Parcoursup has been giving its answers to future students since June 1.
“The suspense rests on the mention”
The marks for the specialty tests were announced in April, also encouraging students to calculate their (almost) final average and therefore release the pressure. Many are the high school students to have abandoned the classrooms in the spring, causing some teeth to cringe within the National Education.
“I go to high school to see my results but after doing my calculations, I know that I have my baccalaureate, so not really apprehensive”, recognizes Zoé, 18, in Terminale in a Parisian high school. “The suspense rests on the mention. I can’t wait to find out if I got the honors”.
The unions are thus calling on the Minister of Education Pap Ndiaye for adjustments to try to remedy absenteeism against which opponents of the new formula baccalaureate had in vain warned. The Minister himself recently admitted that the current format of the baccalaureate “is not suitable”. “We absolutely need to change things,” he conceded. In order to provide concrete solutions “before the start of the school year”, Pap Ndiaye has entrusted a former rector, William Marois, with a mission on this subject.
What success rate in 2023?
This year, the youngest candidate is 12 years old (general and technological baccalaureate, in the academy of Versailles) and the oldest at 76 years old (general and technological baccalaureate, in the academy of Bordeaux).
Last year, the baccalaureate success rate was 91% for all sectors combined (compared to 95% in 2020 and 88% in 2019, and 85.7% ten years before, in 2011). For the general baccalaureate alone, the success rate was 96% last year (compared to 97.6% in 2020). It was 90.4% on the technological track and 82.2% on the professional track.