Is the College Brevet an easy exam to pass today? Were the tests more demanding in 1955? You only have to judge for yourself the exercises of the time.
It was in 1986 that the first session of the college certificate – as we know it today, more or less – took place. But before that, from 1866, college students were not spared from exams and had to obtain the primary school certificate (CEP). This old diploma, abolished in 1989, was the ancestor of the patent since its purpose was to ensure that children aged 11 to 13 mastered the basics in French and mathematics but also in history and science.
According to the memories of grandparents and those who grew up in the post-war period, school was much harder then and the exams more demanding. Why not verify it with the proofs of the CEP of 1955? We have found this year’s history-geography and science tests. We invite you to also discover our article on the calculation test of the 1955 college certificate Of course the questions are adapted to the time, but are they really harder?
If today the test of the patent of the colleges in history is composed of three parts and must be carried out in two hours, at the time the examination consisted of two questions which had to be answered in twenty minutes. The questions were the same for all students and here are the ones from 1955:
As for history geography, the science test for the primary school certificate was done in twenty minutes and consisted of answering two questions. But for this subject, a difference was made between the pupils of the towns and those of the countryside on one of the two questions.
Verdict? More or less difficult than this year’s event? Keep in mind that at the time the requirements were mainly about mastering French, with reading and writing, and mathematics. In these two subjects, the students took two tests: writing, spelling and reading for one, calculation and mental calculation for the other.
