This Monday, more than 11,650 candidates took the Sésame competition, which gives access to around ten business schools. While the majority of competitions were held in huge rooms in exam centers at the end of an RER line, Covid has brought about a new form of exam taking: the Sésame competition is taking place today from his office, in his bedroom, most often in the family home. But it is not the only one: Ecricome, Passerelle (for 5 major business schools) or even Access for Iéseg, Esdes or Essca, also take place completely online.
Advantage, they are aimed at more candidates than before, and have lifted the barriers to accommodation and transport, which taken together can weigh heavily on the wallets of families, even if they are chargeable for the mostly. A competition method which, despite the technical preparation of the platform or the candidates, can cause some inconvenience on the big day.
“We explain to them why we are filming them and how they should settle in”
Inability to complete the tests, problems with the calculator integrated into the site, various bugs, the students were somewhat disturbed by the progress of the Sésame competition for this 2024 session. “At first, I thought it was my PC because it was starting to heat," Omar tells us, "but after contacting a few friends and telling them that I had encountered bugs, they told me that this was the case with them too. I couldn't select certain boxes, I clicked, but it was as if I hadn't done anything and I couldn't finish some questions on the French test. It penalizes us! »
“Each competition has its own platform and its own system depending on the number of candidates,” explains Christelle Garon, director of development and communication for the competition: “We have the choice for this year of remote, monitored, and asynchronously. All data is stored on a server and reported back to us. We are not in a live connection, but the candidates do their tests, and everything is reported to us, even if there are connection problems. »
A different mode of operation from the Passerelle competition, which offers a platform which allows mock tests to be carried out from a bank of questions and then each candidate can choose the moment when they take the test. “We do not make a copy of the paper competition: the candidates take their test when they are ready,” explains Catherine Gauthier, general delegate of the Passerelle association.
To try to put candidates in good conditions, competitions raise awareness among candidates before the tests. Thus, as soon as they register for the competition, Passerelle sends an email to the candidates with all the technical prerequisites. “They understood that they needed a working camera, something to listen to because certain questions are asked orally and we allow them to walk around the platform to learn how to move around the test when they take it and manage their time. ", lists Catherine Gauthier who adds: "We explain to them why we are filming them and how they must sit in the room where they are doing their exam. From time to time we catch someone doing something forbidden, but overall we have less fraud than when we were in a room. At the time, we still caught ten or fifteen out of the thousands of students. Last year, only one was spotted, thanks to a shadow moving in the room! »
“To avoid fraud, we have a “killer” which takes up a lot of RAM”
Christelle Garon, director of communications and development for the Sésame competition
Unlike the competition taken in an exam center, online tests involve risks which can be reduced thanks to good equipment, which all competitions recommend testing before. Sésame, for example, organized a test session of technical prerequisites, obligatory for candidates and which allows them to check whether they are correctly equipped, with a camera, a microphone "and enough RAM to pass the competition in the best possible way." possible conditions,” specifies Christelle Garon.
A test which was not enough for some for the competition, and who had difficulty using the calculator integrated into the tests. “To avoid fraud, we have a system that requires you to turn off all applications on the computer, a killer that takes up a lot of RAM and restarts randomly,” explains Christelle Garon.
Candidates in difficulty can then call the support service directly to tell them about their problems. A phone call which allowed certain candidates to be able to retake the tests at 5 p.m. the same day. “I sent lots of emails, my mother too, and we tried to call,” explains Omar, who was taking a remote exam for the first time.
A competition test... from a toilet
Especially since, sometimes, the technical configuration test can do nothing. This is the case of Marie's son who took the tests from Guyana. To the time difference and the tests which began for the Guyanese candidates at 3:30 a.m. local time, 8:30 a.m. mainland time, was added... a last minute storm for the Ecricome competition which took place this Wednesday, April 17. “For Sésame, we had no difficulty”, says Marie, “even if we were worried, there were no bugs”: “The stress was precisely the internet connection and the electricity because in Guyana , we have breaks of 4 or 5 hours, three times a week. »
Difficult to anticipate or predict the moments when electricity and wifi can disappear and at the same time. Bad luck, about thirty minutes before the start of the online competition, a storm cuts the power. “We are a little isolated, but fortunately a company next door turned on its generator and restarted its box so that my son could connect... from the company toilets! » Candidates, to avoid cheating, must make a 360° video of their workspace, just to prove that nothing is on the desk.
A funny 360° while we take a competition. “They set up a small table for him, it went well! » underlines Marie who would have preferred that her son could take his tests as for the baccalaureate, at times compatible with Guyana, and in an examination center: “With our internet connection, the prerequisites for the Sésame competition test took 24 hours to leave! »
His son should have taken an English test on Teams for Rennes School of Business, but due to the power outage could not be there on time. “Ecricome, which is a paid competition [295 euros in total, Editor's note] told me that despite that, we could not postpone, even if it is individual and we choose our slot,” regrets Marie. Next step: making Teams work for motivational interviews, all done remotely.