Especially motivated students can enroll in classes étoilées ("starred classes," *), in which students receive the same teaching but are expected to learn additional material outside and have more graded exercises. For the students in my current class, most undertook the Math, Physique et Informatique (Math, Physics and Computer Science or MPI) track or the MPI* track.
École prépa is very intensive. From early hours of the morning to late hours of the night, students are taught a variety of subjects depending on the specialization they choose upon admission, such as philosophy, languages, arts and sciences. Hours of exercises are carried out live in one-on-one sessions with professors on the chalkboard. Many recount working hard but rewarded the discipline they gained along the way. One classmate, Victor Jourdan, recalls his time at Lycée Hoche in Versailles, France:
"C’était les deux années les plus dures de ma vie. Pendant les six derniers mois, j'ai passé ma vie à ne faire que cela.” (Those were the hardest two years of my life. For the last six months, I've spent my life doing nothing but that.)
Entering the ENS
At the end of two years of intensive study is a formidable test: les concours. The test serves as the admissions criteria into one of several specialized schools of higher education in France. The test is split into several written and oral exams spaced out over roughly a week (a whole week!).
