Édouard Geffray, Minister of National Education, announced that the college certificate would be more difficult this year and with fewer grades obtained. Here are the announcements, what is changing, and the dates of the written and oral tests.
In June 2026, third grade students will take the national patent diploma (DNB) under the sign of a reinforced requirement. As the Minister of National Education, Édouard Geffray, recently confirmed, this session promises to be more difficult with new evaluation methods. No more “common core”: continuous assessment will now be based on the real grades for the 3rd year, and the weight of the final tests increases to 60% of the overall grade. To best prepare middle school students for this new milestone (and limit the expected drop in the success rate), a compulsory week of revisions will be introduced in schools one week before the exam. Here is everything that awaits third-year students for the 2026 middle school certificate session.
What are the dates for the 2026 patent?
For the 2026 session, the written tests for the national patent diploma will take place Friday 26, Monday 29 and Tuesday 30 June 2026. Middle school students absent for valid reasons will have a replacement session on Thursday September 10 and Friday September 11, 2026. As for individual candidates, they will also have to take the modern foreign language test, scheduled for Tuesday June 30, 2026 for the normal session and Friday September 11, 2026 for the remedial session.
What is the average for admission to the patent?
This year, the points system out of 800 disappears: you must now obtain a final average of at least 10 out of 20 to obtain the certificate. Grades are now based 40% on continuous assessment and 60% on final tests. Other change: the history-geography and moral and civic education notes are now separate. The minister also warned that with these new stricter rules, a “quite drastic drop in the success rate” and a drop in the number of mentions is expected this year, in order to better reflect the real level of students before entering second grade.
Spelling taken into account in grades
Be careful with spelling: the ministry has also specified that a copy which is not written in an intelligible manner (containing too many spelling, grammatical or syntax errors) could prevent the student from obtaining the average in the Brevet test.
The 50/50 distribution between continuous assessment and final tests is complete. The end-of-year exam now weighs more heavily to accustom students to the pressure of high school exams. Here is how students are evaluated this year:
►Continuous assessment (40% of the final grade): This is the end of the skills assessment. Continuous assessment no longer takes into account mastery of the “common core” but is based on the grades obtained throughout the year.
►The final exams (60% of the final grade): They now represent the majority of the note. Another notable change: the history-geography and moral and civic education (EMC) notes are now distinct during the evaluation.
What are the patent details?
As with the baccalaureate, the college student can have a mention in the brevet. And since 2025, a completely new term has been introduced. This is the mention “Very good with congratulations from the jury” with a final average equivalent to 18 out of 20. Remember that students who obtain just the average have the certificate, but without distinction.
- Fairly good mention: average of at least 12/20.
- Good mention: average of at least 14/20.
- Very good mention: average of at least 16/20.
- Very good mention with congratulations from the jury: average of at least 18/20.
