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Grand oral exam: the stress of the first time

2021-06-25T00:30:39.716Z


A few hours before the start of the brand new bac test, this Monday, the pressure is mounting. The students, who will be experimenting for the first


“This is THE day you shouldn't miss out on, so yes, there is a bit of stress.

This great oral exam is all that remains of the Covid-19 version vat!

Niels, 17, has a calm, calm voice.

A serenity, however quite relative: the teenager, a student at the Montesquieu high school in Herblay (Val-d'Oise), crammed very seriously for the unprecedented test which starts on Monday.

Until July 2, 525,760 candidates will pass.

“It's new, we have no hindsight or old candidates to question.

This adds to the stress, ”points out Abdou, 18, for his part.

The grand oral, a 40-minute test, 20 of which is preparation, is a great first, the flagship test of the baccalaureate revised by Jean-Michel Blanquer.

The former rector of Guyana has maintained it, unlike specialties passed under continuous assessment, by adjusting it to take into account the health context, but less than philosophy, which has become almost optional.

Read also Covid-19: the fear of a two-speed ferry

In front of two teachers, the candidate will have to present an issue prepared during the year, on one of his two specialties (history-geopolitics, arts, foreign literature, physics, sciences, etc.), discuss the first and final year program. , before detailing its orientation project.

Objective: to be inspired by the oral examinations of the grandes écoles to give a little solemnity to the diploma and prepare students for higher education, where speaking before a jury is legion.

Inspired by the great schools

To be ready this Monday, candidates and teachers had to improvise a bit.

“The preparation has been carried out over the past few months, during specialty hours.

We had the details of the process in February.

Preparing our questions was more or less complicated depending on the subjects chosen, ”explains Marguerite, 17, a high school student in Chantilly (Oise).

And for good reason: "In history, or in the humanities, it was used to problematize things, ask questions, as is required for the

big O

.

But in math or physics, not at all.

It was 100% new!

"

explanatory infographic grand oral LP / Info

It was also necessary to manage the half-gauge set up in high schools from November.

"Of course, preparing an oral behind a screen, it may seem ... weird, recognizes Niels.

But it didn't bother me more than that, it even freed me up time at home to work.

Marguerite, however, would have liked "to have more exchanges with the teachers", or even "to be able to work more often with friends".

"I had never spoken before a jury"

Some establishments have organized white oral exams.

"I had one in March, in front of the class, another in May, in front of two of my teachers", says Hugo, 17, high school student in Pontoise (Val-d'Oise), who also trained " in front of his mirror ”, then his parents, using his cell phone to“ manage his time ”.

Marguerite went even further. “I did a theater internship in February. We learned how to speak in public, manage blanks, silences, my intonations or deal with a memory gap, ”she explains. "This is what helped me the most, because apart from a few presentations, I had never spoken in front of a jury," adds the teenager.

Basically, what are they going to talk about?

In English literature, Niels will probably summon Georges Orwell, author of "1984", to talk about dystopia (the story of a society sinking into misfortune).

And in history-geopolitics, he will ask himself whether it is necessary to "return works of art to their countries of origin".

His story is well established.

"The only thing that I have not decided yet, if the jury chooses to question me on English literature, it is if I answer in French or in English", he explains, learnedly.

VIDEO.

Bac: 10 tips to succeed in the grand oral (by the one who invented it)

For his part, Hugo has chosen to renew the two themes of the white oral examinations where he cardboard: “Should we continue to judge Nazi war criminals?

"For the history-geopolitics specialty, and" What do hydrocarbons represent for the Middle East?

»In the economic and social sciences department.

"It worked once, there is no reason for me to mess up on D-Day," he hopes.

A workout before college

As for Marguerite, she prepared a transversal subject on "the recognition of mathematicians in history", to link her two specialties (history and maths) and a second "purely algebraic", on the physical capacities of a ... game of cards. “Problem: I don't know if I can bring a game for my demonstration. I'll take it and ask the jury if I can get it out. Otherwise, I will make a diagram, ”she anticipates, still a little in the dark.

One question remains: according to them, is this test of interest? “Yes, without hesitation,” Marguerite replies, summing up the feelings of many high school students. In second, the young woman spent three months in Italy, where the oral is very present in the secondary. “They have a capital O of one hour at the end of the cycle, which they work all year round,” she recalls. The result is that they are not taken aback by higher education. "

Source: leparis

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