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littlestymaar

> I think one of the subjects of my exam for entering engineering schools (a thing we do in France) was about that.

Cool. For which school was it? And Which year? (I'd like to get the subject and read it actually)

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It is this year's entrance exam (PSI) for the École Normale Supérieure and the Polytechnique school.

The subjects have not been officially published. But here's a scanned copy:

https://www.cpge-paradise.com/Concours2021/PhysPSI.pdf

It's in French though!

I don't speak French at all, but it sounds funny to me that the École is both Normal and Supérieure. Like, make up your mind, school!

I don’t speak French either but I like the etymological sense that Superior school means Post-Secondary/College better than the English version. It seems like a logical and efficient way to get the meaning across.

Not at all! There are many "Ecole Normale" which are just schools for teachers. The "Superieure" refers to the fact that you have to pass a hard exam to get in. And once there you can do research or become a teacher in a preparatory school (which prepares you to do the ENS's exams, in a pyramidal way)

That's probably what's happening, but I think I will keep the funny version in my head canon.

Thanks! X-ENS subjects are usually really well done and insightful, I'll have a look!

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