It’s the infamous and notorious academic ordeal that has kept France’s teenagers (and their parents) awake throughout history.
Why do I need to know le bac?
Because it’s the most important event in any high schooler’s (academic) life here in France, and dominates the French headlines every June.
What does it mean?
Le bac is short for le baccalauréat, which is the name of the French final exams in high school.
Le bac is a big deal in France. Lycéens (high schoolers) study night and day to prepare for a series of exams on every single subject they have studied. Most of the exams are held at the end of terminale (senior year), but a couple – like French – are at the end of première (second year).
Avoir le bac translates to ‘having le bac’ and means that you passed the package test.
Pour avoir le bac, il faut obtenir une moyenne de 10 minimum – In order to get le bac, you need a minimum average of 10 (of the total tests).
France uses a grading scheme that spans from 0 to 20, where everything below 10 means you failed. While a good grade can weigh up for a bad grade when calculating la moyenne du bac (your average grade of le bac), some grades count more than others.
If your overall result amounts to less than 10, that blows your chances of getting admitted to university out of the water.
The bac exams always begin with the philosophy exam, which is a compulsory subject.
READ ALSO: Building citizens: Why philosophy is compulsory in French schools
They tend to dominate the headlines around this time of year, and increasingly there are debates over whether the exams should be moved to avoid the ever-increasing heatwaves, which can see students sit the most important exams of their lives in stifling hot conditions.
Use le bac like this
J’ai eu le bac ! – I passed the bac!
You can ask a graduated high schooler
Tu as reussi ton bac ? – Did you pass the bac?
Or (even more commonly used)
Tu as eu ton bac ? Did you get the bac?
Tu as eu quelle mention? – What distinction did you get?
Heureusement j’ai eu une bonne note en histoire pour rattraper ma sale note de français – Luckily I got a good grade in history to make up for my horrible French grade.
Not to be confused with
The other time you might see ‘BAC’ is as an acronym – standing for Brigade anti criminalité – which is a unit of the police.
Thus the film BAC Nord is about a group of police officers in Marseille, not about high school kids taking exams. Likewise if you see ‘BAC’ grafitied on a wall along with a few choice profanities, it’s likely that the writer is expressing their antipathy to the police, rather than to exams.
