France's baccalaureate French exam begins for 530,000 first‑year students

On Thursday morning, June 11, 2026, the French Ministry of Education launched the written French baccalaureate for roughly 530,000 first‑year students—385,000 in the general track and 145,000 in the technological track. Candidates began the four‑hour test at 08:00, choosing either a dissertation on poetry (with works by Rimbaud, Ponge or Dorion) or a commentary on a passage from Louise d'Epinay’s "Histoire de Madame de Montbrillant". Technological students could comment on Emile Augier’s play "Gabrielle" or produce a text‑contraction and argumentative essay on classic works such as La Boétie’s "Discours de la servitude volontaire".

Education minister Edouard Geffray emphasized the exam’s focus on language mastery, stating that a new rubric will deduct points for deficient language quality while trusting examiners to apply it fairly. He added that no intermediate grading will be used. The written French exam carries a coefficient of 5 and will be followed by a French oral exam (also coefficient 5) starting June 22, with a separate mathematics exam scheduled for the next day.