Bac exam results down overall

OVERALL results in the Baccalauréat are down this year – due entirely to a large drop in the pass rate for the vocational Bac Professionnel.

The overall drop – from 85.6% to 84.5% - masks the fact that pass rates were up in most of the exam types.

The government has said it will be being “especially vigilant” with regard to the Bac Professionnel, so as to find ways to improve students’ chances of success.

The pass rates included: 89.6% for the general Bac (up 1.4%), 83.4% for the technological one (up 1%) and 78.2% for the professional one (down 5.6%).

In the general exam those doing the scientific strand did the best, with a pass rate of 90.8%. The others were 89.1% for the economic and social strand and 87% for the literary one.

Despite the lowered pass rate for the Bac pro, the fact that 31% more people took it this year has raised the figure for the percentage of a generation passing the Bac to 77.5% (up from 71.6%).

Photo: Anton Prado - fotolia.com