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The Brevet in 3ème

Information for 3ème Pupils and Parents

The brevet, like the baccalauréat, can be taken with an International Option by students in English National and other National Programmes in Ferney-Voltaire and in other International Lycées.

Two subjects are involved: history-geography and English. These two subjects together are known as OIB ‘ l’option internationale du brevet’. They replace ‘normal’ subjects taught in French, by French teachers.

In the normal brevet (which is taken by all English National students who have not chosen to do OIB) there is an examination in French in history-geography, but there is no examination in English. Instead marks are given for both 4ème and 3ème work by your class teachers. These are part of the continuous assessment component of the brevet.

• In OIB English, examination preparation for the brevet is done at the same time as preparation for GCSE, since 3ème is the first GCSE year. All students prepare for this within their normal lessons.
• In history-geography, there are special classes for those who have chosen OIB. These are taught in English for 2 hours and in French for 1.5 hours. Teachers on both sides co-operate in designing the course. The OIB history-geography examination paper is also bilingual. Further details are given below.

The examinations take place at the end of the brevet session in late June of the 3ème year. Results are published in the school within the two weeks following the exams.

Mock examinations (the ‘brevet blanc’) are organised by the college in February or March. All English National pupils do the mock English exam: only those who have chosen to take the International Option do the OIB history geography mock examination. All other pupils do the normal French history-geography examination.

Further details are available from the Programme. Please mail to: engnat@hotmail.com

Details of the examination in English

The paper, which is in English, lasts two and a half hours.

The whole paper is based on a reading passage of appropriate difficulty. Questions which follow are divided into three sections:

• Comprehension questions (short and longer answers)
• Grammar and vocabulary
• Essay (normally from a choice of two titles connected with the passage)

The essay question normally accounts for half of the marks. The whole paper is marked out of 40; that is to say it has a coefficient of 2. (For coefficients of other subjects, please consult subject teachers.)

Students study and do a variety of past papers during the year, to develop their skills in working on these types of questions and all students will take the ‘brevet blanc’ in English, since it provides invaluable practice at writing in exam-conditions.

The Programme is given the results in the OIB English examinations and publishes average grades each year in the ALA-ELP association’s Newsletter in November.