When César Meurin (20) talks about his senior year, he mainly remembers that feeling “always late”. In addition to the courses and the baccalaureate he was supposed to prepare for, the young high school student in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (in the north) registered for Tremplin IEP, an online preparation for the competitive exam for institutes of political studies. “I had seventeen pages of PDFs to read every week that had been added in high school. By running around all over the place, I only completed two fixed tasks out of the twelve we were given. » Finally, the high school student passed the joint exam (shared by IEPs from Aix-en-Provence, Lille, Lyon, Rennes, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Strasbourg and Toulouse) and from 2021 he is studying at the IEP in Aix-en-Provence. “Preparation didn’t necessarily help me: I preferred to work alone in my corner. »
Like him, many high school students enroll in these private structures to prepare to enter political studies institutes. This year, 1,730 will take Tremplin IEP courses, which is forty-four more than the previous year. If the private prep schools interviewed are not very specific about their data, they all have seen enrollment increases since Parcoursup and the high school reforms. “Three years ago, we only had a class of twenty-five for the Christmas vacation course. There are three classes this year. And yet we are a small preparation »emphasizes Elise Paez, deputy general manager of the Cours du Parnasse.
Another reason that made families use these private preparations: from 2019, IEPs in Paris, Grenoble and Bordeaux replaced written competitive exams with recruitment on file through Parcoursup. This change in method had the effect of a bombshell in private prep schools. “We depend on the decisions made by the IEP”, acknowledges Lou Roybet, communications manager at Tremplin IEP. No more squeezing. “We’ve already launched some one-on-one support. But the bac and Parcoursup reforms forced us to develop it, explains Elise Paez. From now on, every student is accompanied by a teacher throughout the year while working on their professional project, writing an application…” In addition to this individual coaching, some group courses are offered to work on oral or general knowledge.
To understand the impact of recent reforms on private preparatory courses, just look at their training offer. Since 2018, they have all opened courses or internships for students in the first years of secondary schools. “With selection on file, IEP selection procedures last three years”, estimates Elise Paez. The demand is also strong: on Facebook groups dedicated to this, some parents ask for advice on this or that preparation for their children who are in the second grade. This is the case for Julie, whose daughter Mérédith is thinking of Sciences Po Paris. “She definitely wants to be like mom”, smiles a former student from rue Saint-Guillaume, today in the human resources department of a large company. Together they have already looked at different courses for next year. “For special courses and continuous assessment, you have to think and prepare for orientation earlier. Having Sciences Po Paris, you can no longer just cram in the summer like in my day. »
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