It was to be the home stretch.
This year, even more than the previous ones, the February vacation should have been a period of intense revisions, before the holding of the new baccalaureate specialty exams, scheduled for March.
It was counting without the Covid crisis and the degraded health context, which pushed Jean-Michel Blanquer, the Minister of National Education, to replace these exams on the table with continuous monitoring.
Only the grand oral and the philosophy test in June remain.
"For many students, anxious by these unprecedented tests, it was a real relief", notes Jules Pouriel, teacher in history and geography at the Georges-Brassens high school in Villeneuve-le-Roi (Val-de-Marne).
No more work and room to relax?
"It is a question of reorganizing the work", nuances the professor.
“Those who are sure to have their baccalaureate with their average rest, before focusing on philosophy at the start of the school year.
As for the very good students, they generally approach their specialist teachers, to try to prepare well for their arrival in higher education, ”explains Jules Pouriel.
There remains a third category: high school students whose grades in class have so far been too low.
They must straighten the bar, and quickly, in order to have good averages in the last two quarters.
Because it is now the sine qua non condition to get the bac.
The various educational support organizations and preparation for competitions therefore fuel, as usual, during the February holidays.
Review for some, prepare for the post-bac for others
“The registrations flew as soon as we knew we would not be reconfigured.
And if we register fewer people than usual for the revisions of the baccalaureate, we have a report on the post-baccalaureate competition modules ”, explains Anne-Flore Lacour, communications director of Cours Legendre.
At Acadomia as elsewhere, interactive online lessons have been designed to meet the demand of parents who wish to take no health risks.
“But a lot of people also demanded face-to-face courses, so we had to adapt, rethink an offer on both fronts,” said Benjamin Dahan, spokesperson for the Ipesup group.
Because after an agonizing year, the sudden interruption of classes in the spring and a rhythm of one day out of two in class since the start of the school year, many high school students are confused, even demotivated.
And keeping a good mind is more crucial than ever to pass exams.
Work the mind too
“Before the health crisis, our profession was 75% educational and 25% psychological.
This year, the psychological dimension represents 50% of our work, or even 75% in some cases, ”summarizes Robin Morth, operational director of the PGE-PGO group, specializing in preparation for business school competitions.
"The students who succeed this year will have either a very big mind, or a very big support", he defends.
Inequalities in the way of managing stress and uncertainties, to which are added "enormous disparities between the students, linked to the first confinement", according to Aghilas Hached, director of Réussite, a school support company.
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Like a cause and effect relationship, the demand for private lessons has exploded.
The Superprof platform recorded an overall increase of 40% in bookings, with specific increases in terminal specialties: 30% in philosophy, 60% in economics, 55% in maths, 40% in English, and 28% in physics and in SVT.
"We also have a threefold increase in requests for personalized coaching for the terminal", notes Wilfried Garnier, the general manager.
Private math teacher with Superprof, Anis Lamzabi notices a real drop in level among his students.
"They don't realize it yet because of the slowed pace, but I expect a backlash after the pandemic," he predicts.
Post-baccalaureate schools anticipate these shortcomings.
Some are already organizing refresher courses for the start of the 2021 school year.