A desire to make engineering studies accessible to all. The Puissance Alpha postbac competition, which this year brings together 19 engineering schools via Parcoursup, has unveiled its new features for 2025. The biggest change is the removal of the written French test to adapt “to the realities of students”.
For several years, the French test of the competition has been in the form of multiple choice questions on grammar, written comprehension and spelling and lasted 45 minutes. Puissance Alpha has therefore decided to remove the test perceived as “anxiety-provoking”, “following findings and surveys showing that this test could be a hindrance for certain candidates and without any decisive impact on the overall evaluations.
The competition tests will therefore now include mathematics (1h30), applied sciences depending on the candidate’s baccalaureate program (1h) and English (45 minutes), subjects “essential to the engineering career”, still in the form of multiple choice questions with negative points. Puissance Alpha indicates, however, that it will remain very attentive to the scores of the French baccalaureate tests to make its selection.
The date of the written tests has also been set for April 26, 2025. They will be held in 46 examination centers spread throughout the country (chosen on Parcoursup at the time of application) and will also be accessible from abroad, in the form dematerialized. The marking of the competition will again be based 50% on the candidate’s file and 50% on the marks of the written tests.
The 2025 edition of the competition also marks the arrival of ESITC Metz, which thus becomes the 19th school to join Puissance Alpha. ESITC Metz specializes in training engineers in building, public works and civil engineering.
The Puissance Alpha competition presents itself as “the first to offer the opportunity to those who would have chosen only one scientific specialty in Terminale to continue their career in engineering schools, regardless of the choice of the 2nd specialty. 13% of the 2024 candidates came from a 1 science profile or a technology sector.” In 2024, 41% of recruited candidates had not followed the Maths-Physics Chemistry specialty course duo in Terminale.
