Like you probably already know if you've been reading my blog for a while is that I live in France. So evidently that means going to school over here as well. I got my 'brevet' in 2015, three years after we moved to France. So I was 15, and had no idea whether I wanted to study Scientifique, Littéraire, Economique (those are the three main studies) or one of the other options. For me littéraire would've been to complicated, and economics isn't really my piece of pie, so science it was. I got accepted (just about, as I only had 12/20 as a grade average) and that's the year I am in now; première Scientifique.
One of my teachers said 'this year you'll have to work harder, work more, and work better.' (but then in French obviously) and oh how that is true. You don't even get the choice, even the people in my class who don't care about school have to make an effort. My history and geographic teacher (it is one class in France) said 'if you're not doing 2 hours of homework each night, even on the night wen you don't have homework, you're doing it wrong'. But not having homework is a very rare occasion, so I try and make the best of it when that happens (aka still doing homework).
So yes, you get a shitload of homework dumped on you. But this year I really learned how to stay organised, how to make good and effective summaries and above all, I learned how to learn. Sounds a bit weird, but if you think about it it's pretty logic. Every week I make a study schedule, which allows me to learn my tests in advance, and procrastinate the least amount possible. I hang it up above my desk so that I'm sure of seeing it and reminding myself of it.
In 1ère S you will have two exams : le TPE (travaux pratiques encadrés) and the French BAC.
TPE is a group project, and it is basically an oral presentation. You must include the classes that your TPE teachers give, mine were for exemple Biology and Physics/Chemistry. But apart from including those, you are completely free in your choice of topic. In my class there was for exemple Lipstick, artificial odors, elastcity or ours, which was the brain during sleep. You have two hours a week for half a year to make your presentation as complete as possible, and when half a year has passed you will present it, with your group, in front of two teachers.
The french exam consists in two parts: oral and written. For the oral exam you get a text that you have seen during the year, and do a 'commentaire littéraire' on it. So it is recommended to learn all the texts you have seen, in between 20 and 30. For the written exam, you have four hours to complete it. You get texts (or a picture), in between 1 and 5 of them, and you must answer a question about them, and either write a commentaire littéraire, an 'écriture d'invention' or une 'dissertation'. You will have one or multiple mock exams throughout the year.
I hope any of this was usefull for you, and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate, just leave a comment or send me an email! x
One of my teachers said 'this year you'll have to work harder, work more, and work better.' (but then in French obviously) and oh how that is true. You don't even get the choice, even the people in my class who don't care about school have to make an effort. My history and geographic teacher (it is one class in France) said 'if you're not doing 2 hours of homework each night, even on the night wen you don't have homework, you're doing it wrong'. But not having homework is a very rare occasion, so I try and make the best of it when that happens (aka still doing homework).
So yes, you get a shitload of homework dumped on you. But this year I really learned how to stay organised, how to make good and effective summaries and above all, I learned how to learn. Sounds a bit weird, but if you think about it it's pretty logic. Every week I make a study schedule, which allows me to learn my tests in advance, and procrastinate the least amount possible. I hang it up above my desk so that I'm sure of seeing it and reminding myself of it.
In 1ère S you will have two exams : le TPE (travaux pratiques encadrés) and the French BAC.
TPE is a group project, and it is basically an oral presentation. You must include the classes that your TPE teachers give, mine were for exemple Biology and Physics/Chemistry. But apart from including those, you are completely free in your choice of topic. In my class there was for exemple Lipstick, artificial odors, elastcity or ours, which was the brain during sleep. You have two hours a week for half a year to make your presentation as complete as possible, and when half a year has passed you will present it, with your group, in front of two teachers.
The french exam consists in two parts: oral and written. For the oral exam you get a text that you have seen during the year, and do a 'commentaire littéraire' on it. So it is recommended to learn all the texts you have seen, in between 20 and 30. For the written exam, you have four hours to complete it. You get texts (or a picture), in between 1 and 5 of them, and you must answer a question about them, and either write a commentaire littéraire, an 'écriture d'invention' or une 'dissertation'. You will have one or multiple mock exams throughout the year.
I hope any of this was usefull for you, and if you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate, just leave a comment or send me an email! x
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