Edit] Baccalauréat

For more details on this topic, see Baccalauréat.

International educational scores (1995) (13-year-old's average score, TIMSS Trends in International Math and Science Study, 1995)
Countries: (sample)	Global rank	Maths	Science
Score	Rank	Score	Rank
Singapore
Japan
South Korea
Czech Republic
Belgium (Fl)
Hong Kong
Bulgaria
Netherlands
Slovenia
Austria
Slovakia
Hungary
Australia
Russia
Switzerland
Ireland
Canada
England
Sweden
Thailand
Israel
Germany
France
United States
New Zealand
Norway
Belgium (W)
Denmark
Source: TIMSS data, in The Economist March 29th, 1997, p.25

The baccalauréat (also known as bac) is the end-of-lycée diploma students sit for in order to enter university, a classe préparatoire, or professional life. It is generally taken at age 18 if the pupil has not repeated a class during secondary school. The term baccalauréat refers to the diploma and the examinations themselves. It is comparable to English, Northern Irish, & Welsh A-Levels, American AP tests, the Irish Leaving Certificate, New South Wales's Higher School Certificate and the German Abitur.

Many students sit for the theory-oriented baccalauréat général which is divided into three streams of study, called séries. The série scientifique (S) is concerned with the natural sciences, physical sciences and mathematics, the série économique et sociale (ES) with economics, social sciences and mathematics, and the série littéraire (L) focuses on French, foreign languages, philosophy history-geography and the arts (as an option). However, these séries are not exactly specialisations and every bac-possessor has the right to enrol at any public university in the catchment area if this applies to the subject they wish to apply for. Students having followed the L series do not have enough scientific knowledge from their secondary education alone to succeed in science university courses, therefore some combinations of baccalauréats and university courses are very rare.

There is also the baccalauréat technologique and baccalauréat professionnel. The former mixes theoretical and vocational training and prepares students for professional higher studies, whereas the latter focuses on vocational training and prepares students for a direct entry into the marketplace.