The baccalauréat is actually a series of exams that goes for many hours and includes tests on the French language, philosophy, two subject tests elected by the student (e.g. biology and physics) and an oral exam (le Grand Oral). Their results on the baccalauréat largely determine which universities are accessible to them, similar to the SAT or ACT in the US.
Students then go on to pursue three-year undergraduate programs (which are usually four-year programs in the US). Students following the bac pro and bac technologique either enter directly into the workforce via apprenticeships or pursue two years of higher education (the equivalent of an associate's degree).
Up until now, things are somewhat familiar, but it’s at this point that everthing starts to become very different.
École prépa: The Intensive French Preparatory School
Students with excellent results on the baccalauréat are encouraged to pursue studies at one of the classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles (CPGE) or prépas for short. These specialized institutions, housed within different high schools around France, provide motivated students with an intensive one- to two-year program in different subjects depending on which higher education they wish to later pursue. Class sizes stay quite small which allow for more personalized teaching and guidance. To my knowledge, the prépa exists only in France and a former few French colonies (e.g. Morocco).
The two general pathways concern the humanities/social sciences (les lettres) and hard sciences (les sciences).
