CNC/CNAEM

Overview

Morocco has two national competitive exams that follow the two-year preparatory classes (CPGE, classes préparatoires aux grandes écoles). The CNC (Concours National Commun) leads to engineering schools, and the CNAEM (Concours National d'Accès aux Écoles de Management) leads to business and management schools. The official sites for both were not reachable when this page was written, so the facts below come from Moroccan education portals that reproduce the ministry's notices. Confirm details in the official notice for your year.

Levels or stages

CNC (engineering)

The CNC is held once a year, in May, for students who have finished the second year of preparatory classes in the scientific and technological tracks MP (mathematics, physics), PSI (physics and engineering sciences) and TSI (technology and industrial sciences). It opens the door to Moroccan engineering schools and equivalent institutions. It is organised each year under the Ministry of Higher Education. Written tests take place over about a week in centres across Morocco, and there is a centre in Paris for candidates abroad.

CNAEM (management)

The CNAEM is for students in the economic and commercial preparatory classes, options ECS (scientific) and ECT (technological). It leads to the business schools of the network. According to 9rayti, this means the ENCG schools (Agadir, Béni Mellal, Casablanca, Dakhla, El Jadida, Fès, Kénitra, Marrakech, Meknès, Oujda, Settat and Tanger), plus ESCA École de Management and Rabat Business School. The CNAEM is run each year in turn by one of the participating schools and is governed by a ministerial letter of 24 April 2012.

Who can apply

CNC

• You must have completed the first and second years of preparatory classes in MP, PSI or TSI, in a public or private centre, in Morocco or abroad. Regular and independent candidates, Moroccan and foreign, can apply. Foreign candidates need authorisation from the Moroccan authority and are admitted within available places.

• For the 2026 edition, candidates had to be under 25 on 31 December 2026. An older notice set the age at under 24.

• You may sit the CNC at most three times, in consecutive years, and you cannot change track when registering.

CNAEM

• You must have completed both years of the ECS or ECT preparatory classes.

• You must be under 24 on 31 December of the exam year, and may sit at most three times in consecutive years.

Exam pattern

CNC written tests (admissibility)

The tests cover the two-year preparatory-class syllabus and differ by track. The coefficients below come from an Etudiant.ma summary of the ministry's notice, which is not dated, so check them against the notice for your year.

CNC oral (admission)

The oral is a single test called TIPE (Travaux d'Initiative Personnelle Encadrés, or supervised personal initiative work), taken by candidates who pass the written stage. In the Etudiant.ma description it carries coefficient 8 and lasts about 40 minutes: 5 minutes for the jury to read your file, 15 minutes for your presentation, 15 minutes of questions, and 5 minutes for the jury to deliberate. For 2026, candidates upload their TIPE materials to the contest site in phases.

CNAEM written tests (admissibility)

• Common to ECS and ECT: text summary, Arabic culture and translation, English, and a general-culture essay.

• ECS only: mathematics and computer science; history, geography and geopolitics of the contemporary world; the firm and its environment (economics and law); management.

• ECT only: mathematics; management and computer science; economics and law.

CNAEM oral tests (admission)

An individual interview, a themed interview and an interview in English, for candidates declared admissible.

Marking and results

For the CNC, a score of zero in any written test eliminates you, and the jury sets a scientific threshold below which candidates are not admissible. Admissible candidates are listed alphabetically. The final ranking combines the written average (total coefficient 44) with the oral (coefficient 8), in order of merit. Missing any test eliminates you and you are not ranked. Arriving late to a test gives you zero for it.

For the CNAEM, the final ranking gives 50 percent to the written stage and 50 percent to the oral stage. The jury's decisions are final and no appeals are accepted.

Important dates

• CNC 2026: online registration ran from 3 February to 3 March 2026, with the complete file due by post before 3 March 2026 at 17:00. The written tests are held in May.

• CNAEM: the registration calendar is published each year on the websites of the participating schools.

Fees

• CNC: a file fee of 500 MAD, or the equivalent of 50 euros for candidates abroad.

• CNAEM: a file fee of 800 MAD, paid by transfer to the organising school's account at the Trésorerie Générale du Royaume.

How to apply

For the CNC, register on the contest portal (for 2026, insea-cnc2026.ma), complete and have validated the application form (F1), upload your school certificates if you are from a private centre, an independent candidate or abroad, and send the complete file, including a copy of your national ID and the payment receipt. You then download your individual summons, which you show at each written test. For the CNAEM, follow the notice published each year by the organising school.

After the exam

Admitted CNC candidates are assigned to engineering schools online, following the assignment guide. Admitted CNAEM candidates are assigned in order of merit, taking account of their choices and the places available at each school. Once you enrol, the choice cannot be changed, and you hand in your original baccalaureate certificate when enrolling.

Preparation tips

• Both competitions test the whole two-year preparatory-class syllabus, so plan revision over both years.

• For the CNC, prepare your TIPE project early and rehearse a 15-minute presentation.

• Carry a valid ID to every test.