This written exam will be followed by an oral in French, with the dates determined by each académie

The 2024 bac has begun. Around 535,000 students in the first year of general and technological subjects will sit the written French exam on Friday 14 June from 8am. 390,129 general stream students and 145,294 technological stream students will take the test.

In the general stream, students can choose between a text commentary on “Edouard” by Claire de Duras (1825) or one of three essay topics on “poetry from the 19th to the 21st century”. In the technological stream, candidates can opt for a text commentary on “Anima” by Wajdi Mouawad (2012) or a contraction of a text followed by an essay, with options on “Gargantua” by Rabelais, “Les Caractères” by La Bruyère, or the “Déclaration des droits de la femme et de la citoyenne” by Olympe de Gouges.

The written French test has a coefficient of 5 in both streams. It will be followed by an oral in French, also with a coefficient of 5, on the same texts. The dates of the oral are set by each académie. This year, the number of texts on the syllabus has been reduced from 20 to 16 in the general stream.

Terminale students will begin the written bac exams on Tuesday morning with philosophy. They will continue with the specialised written tests from 19 to 21 June, before taking the oral exam between 24 June and 3 July.