French bac exam (bac de français): a complete method for the written and the oral

The most common trap is to treat “the bac de français” as a single subject to revise. In reality, several skills are assessed: understanding a text, analysing literary devices, organising an argument, knowing works, writing precisely, explaining orally and holding a conversation with an examiner. A student can be strong in one and weak in another.

In my work as a private tutor, I therefore prefer to start from real pieces of work: an outline, a paragraph, a marked essay, a linear explanation or five minutes of oral. They show whether the difficulty comes from knowledge, method, analysis, expression or time management. That is far more useful than simply concluding: “they need to revise more”.

1. Understand the written and oral exams before revising

For students in Première (the second year of lycée) in 2026-2027, the national list of works published by the ministry corresponds to the early exams (épreuves anticipées) of the 2028 session of the baccalauréat (the French school-leaving exam), even though the French exams are taken as early as June 2027. The 2026-2027 national programme includes twelve works, three per object of study; the teacher chooses one per object, with its associated thematic pathway (parcours).

The national calendar currently published sets the early written French exam for Tuesday 15 June 2027, from 8 am to 12 noon for mainland France, La Réunion and Mayotte. The dates of the oral are set by the académies (regional education authorities). These dates can help build a work schedule, but useful preparation begins well before the final weeks.

The written exam: four hours, with different exercises depending on the track

The official definition of the early French exams provides for a four-hour written exam with a coefficient of 5.

In the general track, the candidate chooses between:

• a commentary (commentaire) on a literary text that is not taken from one of the works on the programme;
• an essay (dissertation) on one of the works on the programme and its associated pathway, from three topics offered.

In the technological track, the choice is between a commentary and a text summary followed by an essay. You therefore need to work with the method that matches your track rather than using a “French bac” sheet identical for everyone.

The oral: 30 minutes of preparation, then a 20-minute exam

The oral lasts 20 minutes after 30 minutes of preparation and also has a coefficient of 5. The first part lasts 12 minutes and is worth 12 points: reading aloud for 2 points, linear explanation for 8 points, then a grammar question for 2 points. The second part lasts 8 minutes and is worth 8 points: the candidate briefly presents the work they have chosen, then talks with the examiner.

This breakdown should guide revision. Carefully learning all the linear explanations while neglecting grammar, the reading or the conversation leaves identified points on the table. Conversely, preparing only the work chosen for the conversation does not make up for a poorly mastered first part.

How many texts for the oral?

Since the change applicable from the 2024 session, the list of texts (descriptif) includes at least four texts per object of study in the general track, i.e. at least 16 texts across the four objects of study. In the technological track, the minimum remains three texts per object, i.e. at least 12 texts. The ministerial memo of September 2023 specifically lowered the minimum for the general track from five to four texts per object of study.

The list the student actually prepares is the one in the summary drawn up by their teacher. This document should therefore become the working reference for the oral, not a generic list found online.

2. Build a preparation schedule without putting everything off until spring

Preparing for the bac de français at the last minute means doing three heavy pieces of work at the same time: consolidating the works, going back over the texts for the oral and making the written method automatic. A gradual organisation turns these three blocks into habits.

Period	Priority	Useful practice
September to October	Understand the methods and build clean materials	Detailed outlines, commentary paragraphs, first linear explanations rephrased
November to January	Consolidate the first works and the first texts	Questions without support, short analyses, essay outlines, regular grammar
February to April	Bring the skills together	Timed topics, mock orals, targeted reviews of mistakes
May and early June	Automate and secure	Full papers, random draws of texts, simulated conversations and targeted revision

This schedule is an example, not a norm. A student who already does well in commentaries but freezes as soon as they have to speak for ten minutes will shift more time towards the oral. Another, very comfortable orally but unable to build an essay, needs to invest more in analysing topics and in the bank of examples taken from the works.

Organise revision around three folders

To avoid piling up revision sheets, I recommend separating the materials:

1. a “works” folder with, for each work studied, the main issues, important passages, usable examples and links with the pathway;
2. an “oral” folder with one short sheet per text on the list;
3. a “method and mistakes” folder with corrected outlines, recurring comments, weak grammar points and mistakes not to repeat.

This separation avoids revising for the oral only with the sheets on the works or, conversely, preparing an essay solely from the linear explanations. The knowledge overlaps, but it is not used in the same way.

Reread less, test yourself more

A chapter or a work can feel familiar simply because you have just reread its sheet. To check what is really available in memory, close the material and try to recall the information.

A systematic review published in Educational Psychology Review examined 50 experiments on retrieval practice in school and university settings. It concludes that trying to actively recall knowledge generally benefits learning in a variety of contexts, with limits linked in particular to the diversity of the studies.

For a work, this can take the form of four simple questions:

• what are its three main issues?
• which precise passages illustrate each one?
• which developments or tensions structure the work?
• which elements of the associated pathway can shed light on the topic?

Mistakes during this recall are useful: they show what deserves another round of revision.

3. Master the commentary: analyse before looking for devices

The commentary assesses an organised, justified reading of the text. A classic mistake is to highlight a metaphor, an anaphora and three lexical fields, then look afterwards for what they might mean. The device then becomes the goal of the commentary, whereas it should serve an interpretation.

A more robust method follows this order:

1. understand the situation of the text: who is speaking, about what, in what context?
2. identify how it progresses: what happens between the beginning and the end?
3. formulate two or three lines of interpretation;
4. look for the precise elements in the text that justify them;
5. organise these observations into a coherent outline.

The useful question is therefore not only “which figure of speech can you see?” but: “what is the text achieving here, and how does the writing achieve it?”

Build a paragraph that demonstrates something

An effective commentary paragraph usually contains an idea, evidence from the text and an interpretation. For example, identifying an accumulation is not enough: you need to show what it changes in the rhythm, the portrait, the tension or the reader’s perception.

A student makes progress when they move from:

There is an accumulation and a lexical field of fear.

to a formulation such as:

The accumulation of physical reactions speeds up the rhythm of the sentence and shows a fear that gradually overwhelms the character.

Technical vocabulary is useful when it makes it possible to name a phenomenon precisely. It does not need to be rare or spectacular.

Do partial practice before full papers

If the student cannot find an outline, immediately redoing a four-hour commentary is not always the best use of their time. They can work on three texts for thirty to forty minutes each: reading, possible central question, two lines of analysis and a few precise pieces of evidence. The full write-up comes afterwards.

This breakdown makes it possible to isolate the weak skill. The same principle applies to the introduction, the conclusion or the paragraphs: you work on them separately, then check that they still hold up in a full, timed paper.

4. Master the essay: know the work well enough to select

The essay does not reward an exhaustive recitation of the work. It requires building an organised personal reflection on a question about the work and the associated pathway.

The first difficulty is therefore choice: of everything the student knows, which ideas and passages genuinely answer the topic?

Build a precise bank of examples

For each work, create a table with three columns:

Question or issue	Passage / example	What it can demonstrate
The character’s relationship to society	A specific scene or episode	Shows an opposition, a development or a contradiction
The function of language	A specific exchange, speech or passage	Allows analysis of persuasion, conflict, seduction or power
Writing reality	A specific description or narrative moment	Links a choice of writing to the effect produced

This bank should not replace reading the work. It turns reading into resources that can be reused when reasoning.

Analyse every word of the topic before deciding on the outline

An outline learnt in advance cannot properly answer every topic. Phrasings such as “to what extent”, “can it be said that”, “only”, “always”, or a quotation given in the topic, often create a tension that must be analysed.

Before writing, the student can take a few minutes to note down:

• what the topic asserts or assumes;
• what could qualify that assertion;
• the examples that support each line of thought;
• the logical thread that will allow a gradual answer.

The three-part dialectical outline is therefore not a mechanical requirement. The structure must come from the problem posed and the knowledge available.

Work on essay outlines in series

If the main block comes at the moment of starting, working on five topics as detailed outlines can be more useful than a single complete essay. For each one: define the terms, rephrase the problem, propose a progression and attach at least one precise example to each sub-section.

Then write some of these topics out in full in four hours. The method is only truly acquired when it remains usable under time pressure.

5. Prepare the texts for the oral without learning sixteen speeches

The minimum of 16 texts in the general track can give the impression that sixteen complete commentaries must be memorised. That is precisely what often makes preparation fragile: a single forgotten sentence is then enough to lose the thread.

For each text on the list, the student should instead master:

• where the passage sits in the work or the pathway;
• the issue or central question of the explanation;
• the movements of the text;
• a few key quotations or reference points;
• the devices that genuinely serve the analysis;
• the interpretation of each movement;
• a short conclusion.

A good sheet therefore does not necessarily contain everything that was said in class. It acts as a trigger for rebuilding the explanation.

A simple sheet format

Heading	Question it answers
Context	What do you need to know to understand the extract?
Central question	What question guides the explanation?
Movements	How does the text progress?
Reference points	Which quotations and observations need to be found quickly?
Interpretation	What does each movement show?
Grammar	Which concepts should be reviewed using this text?

Once you have built the sheet, close it. Draw a text at random, rebuild the movements on a sheet of paper and try to explain the passage out loud. If you need to reread each sentence to carry on, you still know the sheet better than the text.

Reading aloud is part of the exam

The reading is worth 2 points. It must be accurate and expressive and bring out the meaning of the passage. The aim is not to act out a scene if the text does not lend itself to it, but to respect the syntax, punctuation and units of meaning.

Record your reading from time to time. When you listen back, check: can you hear the end of every sentence? are the pauses consistent? are difficult words pronounced correctly? Does the meaning remain clear without following the text with your eyes?

6. Practise the linear explanation and the grammar question

The linear explanation follows the precise progression of the passage. This is what distinguishes it from the written commentary, which groups observations into an outline organised around lines of analysis.

In the oral, mark the movements clearly: for example, “the character hesitates”, then “the confrontation intensifies”, then “a decision is made”. The exact headings depend on the text, but the candidate must know why they are moving from one movement to the next.

Use the structure quotation → observation → interpretation

When a student paraphrases a lot, a temporary structure helps:

1. quote or identify the passage precisely;
2. name what you observe in the writing;
3. explain what this adds to the interpretation.

For example: “the repetition of ‘never’ gradually closes off any possibility of compromise; it makes the character’s refusal categorical”. Analysis is not about translating the sentence into other words, but explaining what its construction produces.

Don’t neglect grammar

The grammar question is worth 2 points out of 20 in the oral. It involves the syntactic analysis of a short sentence or part of a sentence taken from the extract. The concepts studied in Première must be mastered, while some concepts met in Seconde (the first year of lycée) can still be tested under the conditions set by the official text.

The best practice is to work on sentences from the texts actually studied. Take a concept, find several examples in the list of texts, then explain the analysis out loud. In this way, grammar stays linked to the texts rather than to a series of isolated definitions.

7. Prepare the second part of the oral: the chosen work and the conversation

The second part is worth 8 points. The candidate briefly presents the work they have chosen from those studied in class or suggested by the teacher as compulsory independent reading (lectures cursives), and then the examiner starts a conversation.

This part is not prepared by learning a five-minute presentation. The official text states that the presentation is only a starting point and that the essential part lies in the exchange.

Prepare four types of answer:

• the personal choice: why this work rather than another?
• precise passages: which moments struck, surprised or interested you?
• the issues: what major questions does the work raise?
• nuance: can you defend an opinion and then acknowledge a limit or another point of view?

Answer, then justify

To “which character interested you most?”, giving only a name does not really allow a conversation. Give a reason, a precise passage and, if possible, a nuance.

A tutor or a classmate can then follow up: “why?”, “where do you see that?”, “is it always true in the work?”, “which other passage slightly contradicts this idea?”. This kind of practice prepares you better for the conversation than a closed list of questions and answers.

8. Use corrections to make progress instead of collecting marks

A corrected paper is a source of data. If the student only looks at the mark and then puts the work away, much of the feedback is lost.

After each piece of homework or mock oral, sort the mistakes:

Type of difficulty	Example	Next action
Knowledge	Example from the work too vague	Go back to the passage and add it to the bank of examples
Method	Outline that answers only part of the topic	Analyse several topics without writing them up
Analysis	Device identified but not interpreted	Rewrite two paragraphs linking form and effect
Expression	Long sentences or imprecise vocabulary	Rewrite a passage with simpler syntax
Time	Last part unfinished	Redo a topic with intermediate time checkpoints

The Education Endowment Foundation’s guidance on feedback points out that not all feedback automatically has positive effects: it must help close the gap between what has been acquired and what is expected, and then be used by the student.

Keep a minimal mistake log

After each practice session, write three lines:

• the costliest mistake;
• the rule or method to remember;
• the task that will check that the mistake has been corrected.

Before the next piece of work, reread these lines. A concrete sign of progress appears when a mistake stops recurring or when the student starts spotting it alone while checking their work.

9. When should you get a private tutor for the bac de français?

A private tutor is not necessary simply because a student is sitting the early exams. It becomes relevant when a specific need persists despite personal work and lessons at lycée (upper secondary school).

A few situations are particularly suited to one-to-one support:

• the student knows their works but cannot build an essay;
• commentaries repeat the same weaknesses in analysis;
• the oral is learnt by heart without real command of the text;
• the student cannot organise their revision between the written exam, the oral, grammar and the works;
• papers are systematically left unfinished;
• the student needs precise feedback on their papers or mock orals.

The tutor should then observe what the student produces, not redo the whole lecture. A session can start from a failed outline, a paragraph, a linear explanation or a mock oral. The work becomes targeted: one difficulty, one correction, then a new task that checks whether the method has become more independent.

For the criteria for choosing support in French, our article on private tutoring in French and choosing the tutor details what to check: command of the level, quality of explanations, ability to get the student producing work, and follow-up between sessions.

How can you track real progress?

The mark remains important, but it should not be the only indicator. You can also look at:

• the time needed to build an outline;
• the ability to find precise examples alone;
• fewer devices simply listed;
• the ability to explain a text without reciting a sheet;
• the quality of answers to follow-up questions during the conversation;
• the gradual disappearance of a mistake identified in previous papers.

On NOEO, support can rely on documents and on the session report to keep track of the points worked on and the next priority. When recording has been authorised, the replay remains available for 3 months and can help find a specific explanation again. From a completed session, the student can also choose to create a Learn pack to extend their revision. The Learn pack is not generated automatically after each session.

Students and their families can browse the tutors available on NOEO and check the subjects and year groups offered. The aim is not to promise a mark in the bac, but to build more targeted practice and gradually reduce dependence on the tutor’s help.

Checklist: preparing for the bac de français without spreading yourself too thin

• Check your track and the exact format of the written exam.
• Use the teacher’s list of texts as the reference for the oral.
• Know the works actually chosen from the national programme.
• Build a bank of examples for each work.
• Regularly write outlines without writing out the whole paper.
• In a commentary, link each device to an interpretation.
• For each oral text, master the movements and a few precise reference points.
• Practise speaking without reading the sheet.
• Work on grammar using the texts studied.
• Prepare the chosen work so you can hold a conversation, not recite.
• Do full, timed papers as the exam approaches.
• Turn each correction into an action to test in the next piece of work.