The national written tests for the BTS 2026 officially started on Monday, May 18. A moment both feared and awaited by thousands of students in tertiary and technical sectors, the first general subjects subjects have just been revealed by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research.
Two flagship tests have already taken place: that of “General Culture and Expression” (CGE) on Tuesday May 19, common to all specialties, and the test of “Economic, Legal and Managerial Culture” (CEJM), pillar of Tertiary BTS (MCO, NDRC, SAM, GPME…) on Monday May 18.
What should we analyze this year? What themes inspired the designers of the subjects? Here are the topics.
BTS 2026 : Culture générale et expression
The General Culture and Expression test tests the candidates’ abilities for synthesis, textual analysis and argumentation through a corpus of documents (literary texts, press articles, essays, iconographic documents) on a theme defined in advance. The test, lasting 3 hours (reduced by one hour since this year), is divided into two parts: a summary of documents on the one hand, and on the other hand a personal writing (essay).
For this 2026 session, the theme had been known for a year: “Animals and us: imagine, know, understand the animal”.
3 documents étaient présentés :
Document 1 : Ivan Tourgueniev, Moumounia, 1856.
Document 2: Zhu Weilian, “Mao Haizi”: these dogs and cats pampered like children in the big cities of China, GÉO magazine, 2025.
Document 3: American advertisement for dog food, 1956.
FIRST PART: QUESTIONS (10 points)
A developed and argued response, which will be based on specific elements of the texts and documents, is expected for each of the four questions.
Question 1 : (2 points)
Document 1 :
Etudiez les relations de Guérassime et Moumoû.
Question 2 : (2 points)
Document 2 :
What, in the text, explains the social phenomenon of “Mao Haizi”?
Question 3 : (4 points)
Documents 1, 2 et 3 :
In the three documents, what place do the owners give to their animal?
Question 4 : (2 points)
Documents 2 et 3 :
In your opinion, do these two documents take a critical look at the relationship between owners and their animals?
PART TWO: ESSAY (10 points)
You will choose between one of the two test subjects:
Subject 1: In your opinion, can humans’ affection for their pets become excessive?
You will treat the subject in a personal and argued way, relying in particular on your readings, on the work of the year, on the corpus and on your personal culture.
Subject 2: Do we really respect animals when we make them our companions?
You will treat the subject in a personal and argued way, relying in particular on your readings, on the work of the year, on the corpus and on your personal culture
The official subject and documents in full here
For next year the theme of the event is already known: “Truth from Falsehood”, new theme of general knowledge and expression for the 2027 session
BTS 2026 results from June 22
As a reminder, the written tests take place according to the official national calendar set for mid-May 2026. Once the written tests and the specialty orals are completed, attention will turn to the academies for the phase of corrections and deliberations of the juries.
The wait will not be too long: the announcement of the official BTS results will begin at the end of June 2026. The exact publication dates will depend, as every year, on your home academy and your BTS specialty.
