Baccalaureate (Côte d'Ivoire)Bac Côte d'Ivoire

Overview

The Baccalauréat (the "Bac") is Côte d'Ivoire's secondary school-leaving and university-entrance examination, taken at the end of Terminale, the last year of the lycée. It is organised nationally by the Direction des Examens et Concours (DECO), a department of the Ministère de l'Éducation Nationale et de l'Alphabétisation (MENA). Like other Baccalauréats across French-speaking West Africa, it follows the French-system model: candidates sit written and oral papers across several subjects, each weighted by a coefficient, and the combined mark decides whether a candidate is admitted outright, called to a second-chance oral round, or not admitted that session.

Holding the Baccalauréat is the standard qualification Ivorian students use to seek a place at a public university or grande école, through a separate national admission process run by the Ministère de l'Enseignement Supérieur et de la Recherche Scientifique (MESRS).

Who can apply

The Baccalauréat is normally sat by students enrolled in Terminale at a general, technical or artistic lycée, after completing Seconde and Première. Most school-track candidates are around 18 at the time of the exam, though there is no fixed age limit. Candidates who are not enrolled at a school for the exam year can also register as "candidats libres" (independent candidates), provided they can show they followed the Ivorian Terminale programme; they preregister online with DECO and then validate their file in person with their regional education authority (DRENA), usually with certified copies of earlier school records.

Exam pattern

Candidates for the general Baccalauréat choose one of several series, each with its own subjects and coefficients:

Alongside the general series above, Côte d'Ivoire also runs separate Baccalauréat technique and Baccalauréat artistique tracks, each with its own series and its own exam schedule.

Across all series, the exam has three stages spread over the school year:

• A Physical and Sports Education (EPS) component, held earlier in the year, ahead of the academic papers.

• Oral exams, scheduled in June by track (technical first, then artistic, then general), covering languages and other subjects.

• Written exams, over about a week in June: common papers (French, mathematics, philosophy, foreign languages) on set days for all or most series, followed by series-specific papers on the final day.

For the 2026 session, written papers ran from 15 to 19 June 2026: French for all series on 15 June, mathematics for all candidates on 16 June, philosophy on 17 June, language papers on 18 June, and the remaining series-specific papers on 19 June.

Marking and results

Every subject is marked out of 20 and weighted by its coefficient. For the general series, the coefficients add up to 20, so a candidate's total out of 400 corresponds directly to an average out of 20.

• A total of at least 200 out of 400 (an average of 10/20 or above): the candidate is admitted outright, in the first group.

• A total between 160 and 199 out of 400, together with an annual average (moyenne générale annuelle) of at least 10/20 and at least 10/20 in one of the series' core subjects: the candidate is called to a second-group oral catch-up round.

• A total below 160 out of 400: the candidate is not admitted that session.

Pass rates vary widely by series. For the 2025 session, DECO reported a national pass rate of 40.15%, with about 133,000 new bacheliers; by series, the pass rate was 52.07% for A1, 35.42% for A2, 75.34% for C, and 23.64% for D.

Important dates

Exact dates move slightly each year. For the 2026 session: EPS papers ran from 27 April to 8 May 2026; oral exams ran from 2 to 13 June 2026, staggered by track; written exams ran from 15 to 19 June 2026; and results were announced on 6 July 2026. Candidates should check DECO's calendar for the current year rather than relying on a previous year's dates.

Fees

The Baccalauréat is registered through the same online secondary-school registration system as the BEPC. For the 2026-2027 school year, the registration fee was 6,000 XOF for candidates enrolled in public schools and 3,000 XOF for candidates enrolled in private schools, payable through mobile-money channels (Orange Money, MTN Mobile Money, Moov Money, Wave) or Trésor Money.

How to apply

Students enrolled at a school register through that school, which submits its candidates to DECO as part of the national online secondary registration campaign, normally open in August, ahead of the following June's exam. Candidats libres preregister individually on DECO's online platform, pay the exam fee through one of the mobile-money channels above, and then validate their registration file in person at their regional education directorate (DRENA).

After the exam

Once results are published, new bacheliers who want a place at a public university or grande école register separately, on the Ministry of Higher Education's national orientation platform (orientationsup.net). There, they pay a preregistration fee and submit up to four ranked choices of institution and field of study (three compulsory, one optional). The platform also offers a simulator that estimates a candidate's chances of being placed in a given programme based on their Baccalauréat results.

Preparation tips

• Check DECO's exam calendar for the current year rather than a previous year's dates, since the EPS, oral and written exam windows can shift from one session to the next.

• Focus revision on your series' core, higher-coefficient subjects, since they carry most of the weight toward the 400-point total.

• If your total lands between 160 and 199 points, check both your annual average and your mark in a core subject of your series against the second-group thresholds, since eligibility depends on both.

• Candidats libres should request certified copies of earlier school records well before registration, since DRENA validation depends on them.

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