Outside France, few things about the French education system cause more confusion than the grandes écoles and their entrance exams. They are not universities, you cannot simply enrol, and the exams are not tests you pass or fail. If you have searched grandes écoles exam or what is a concours, here is how the whole system fits together, from the Bac to the final rankings.
Quick answer: The grandes écoles are France's elite institutions for engineering, business and academia. Entry runs through competitive exams called concours, where candidates are ranked for a fixed number of places. Most candidates prepare in two-year classes préparatoires (prépa) after the Bac, though parallel admission routes now exist for university students.
What Are the Grandes Écoles?
The grandes écoles sit alongside, and in prestige above, the regular French university system. The best known:
- Engineering: École Polytechnique ("l'X"), CentraleSupélec, Mines Paris, Ponts et Chaussées
- Business: HEC Paris, ESSEC, ESCP
- Academia and research: the Écoles Normales Supérieures (ENS Ulm, ENS Lyon, ENS Paris-Saclay)
- Political science and administration: Sciences Po and, historically, the ENA (now INSP)
They are small, selective, and dominate French leadership: a large share of CEOs, senior engineers and government officials pass through them. Universities admit any student with a Bac; grandes écoles admit by competition.
What Is a Concours?
The concours is the heart of the system, and it works differently from almost any exam covered in our French Bac and Brevet guide:
- It is a ranking, not a pass mark. A fixed number of places exist. Candidates are ranked from first to last, and places fill from the top. Being good is not enough; you must be better than the others.
- Written papers come first (the épreuves écrites), typically several hours each in mathematics, physics, French, languages and the track's specialist subjects.
- Orals follow for the shortlisted (the épreuves orales), where an examiner probes your reasoning live at the board.
- Your final rank decides your school. Candidates list preferences, and an allocation system matches ranks to places.
How Do You Prepare for the Grandes Écoles Entrance Exams?
The classic route is classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE), universally known as prépa: two intensely demanding years after the Bac, dedicated entirely to concours preparation. There are three tracks:
- Scientific (MPSI/PCSI/PTSI in year one, then MP/PC/PSI/PT): for engineering schools and the scientific ENS
- Economic and commercial (ECG/ECT): for the business schools
- Literary (hypokhâgne/khâgne): for the ENS and humanities institutions
Prépa runs on lectures, weekly timed assignments (devoirs surveillés), and colles: weekly oral exams where a student works through problems at the board under questioning. Entry to prépa itself involves no exam; selection runs on school grades and teacher evaluations through Parcoursup. That makes the lycée years, and the Bac speciality subjects, the real first round of the competition. Students who arrive in prépa with shaky fundamentals in maths or physics struggle immediately, which is why many families arrange targeted tutoring during Première and Terminale rather than waiting.
What Are the Main Concours for Engineering Schools?
Scientific candidates do not sit one exam per school. Schools group into shared exam banks, so one set of written papers opens doors at many schools:
| Exam bank | Main schools | Profile |
|---|---|---|
| X-ENS | École Polytechnique, the ENS schools | The most selective papers |
| Mines-Ponts | Mines Paris, Ponts, Télécom Paris | Top-tier engineering |
| Centrale-Supélec | CentraleSupélec and partner schools | Top-tier engineering |
| CCINP | A broad group of state engineering schools | The widest net |
A strong candidate registers for several banks, sits weeks of written papers in spring, then travels between oral exams over the summer. Registrations open in winter (December to January for the 2026 session), with written exams from April into May.
What Are the Main Concours for Business Schools?
The commercial track mirrors this with two banks. The BCE (Banque Commune d'Épreuves) covers around 20 schools including HEC, ESSEC and ESCP; Ecricome covers several others. Papers test mathematics, essay writing (culture générale), and two languages, followed by school-specific orals. Rankings again decide everything: the difference between HEC and a mid-ranked school can be a handful of points across ten papers.
Can You Enter a Grande École Without Prépa?
Yes, and this route grows every year. Parallel admission (admissions parallèles, or AST for business schools) lets students who took a university path, typically after a licence (bachelor's) or a BUT, apply through separate written tests and interviews. Many engineering schools also run post-Bac entry through their own selection (INSA, UT schools and others), recruiting directly from Terminale via Parcoursup.
Prépa remains the most travelled road to the most selective schools, but a strong university record now genuinely competes with it.
Key Takeaways
- Grandes écoles are France's elite institutions; entry is by competitive ranking (concours), not enrolment.
- The classic preparation is two years of prépa, entered on school grades via Parcoursup, so performance in lycée is effectively round one.
- Engineering concours group into shared banks (X-ENS, Mines-Ponts, Centrale-Supélec, CCINP); business schools use the BCE and Ecricome.
- Orals (colles) are a defining feature of the whole pipeline, from prépa practice to the final exams.
- Parallel admission after a university degree is a real alternative to prépa.
Building toward prépa or the concours? Find a tutor on iTutorOnline for maths, physics or languages, and read our complete French Bac and Brevet guide for the exams that come first.