Why not simply practise on the metropolitan papers?

Because that is not the paper the student will sit. The Asia papers have their own habits: geometry in space appears every year, a transversal true-or-false exercise comes back very often, and Python appears regularly inside a sequences or probability exercise rather than as a separate one. Metropolitan papers remain excellent extra practice, but they do not replace the past papers of the zone.

Is there one paper or two per speciality in Asia?

Two. The speciality papers run over two consecutive days, each candidate sitting one speciality per day. That gives two papers per speciality per session, designated Asia day 1 and Asia day 2. In 2026 the speciality papers for the zone were sat on 9 and 10 June.

What are the coefficients of the general Baccalaureate?

Out of 100: continuous assessment counts for 40, each Terminale speciality paper for 16, the Grand oral for 10, philosophy for 8, and the two anticipated French papers from Premiere for 5 each. The two specialities together are therefore worth 32 out of 100, almost as much as all of continuous assessment.

Do you also prepare the Physics-Chemistry speciality and the Grand oral?

Yes. The written Physics-Chemistry speciality paper runs 3 hours 30 and has three exercises, on concrete themes that recur in Asia: acidity and titrations, mechanics and satellites, waves and sound intensity. The Grand oral is prepared alongside the syllabus, with a topic anchored in the specialities, and it is worth 10 out of 100.

Asia examination centre, general Baccalaureate

Preparing the Baccalaureate in the Asia zone, on the zone's real papers

Q: What is the Asia examination centre of the Baccalaureate?

Baccalaureate papers are written and published by examination centre, not once for everybody. The French lycees of Asia sit the Asia papers, distinct from those of metropolitan France, North America, the Foreign Centres, Lebanon, South America or Polynesia. That covers Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Hong Kong, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta and Taipei.

Students at the French lycees of Asia do not sit the metropolitan paper. They sit the papers of the Asia examination centre, which have habits of their own. This page explains what the zone covers, what actually came up in recent sessions in the Mathematics and Physics-Chemistry specialities, the coefficients of the general Baccalaureate, and the plan for a Terminale year.

Preparation is online, whatever the country. I have tutored in Montreal for more than 10 years, and I work with Terminale students of the French network in China as in Montreal, at Lycee Marie de France and College Stanislas. Sessions in English or in French.

Asia past papers analysed Two papers per speciality A four phase plan ★ 5.0 · 11 Google reviews

Get in touch WhatsApp

What the Asia examination centre is

The French Baccalaureate is a national diploma, but its papers are not single. They are written and published by examination centre: metropolitan France, North America, South America, the Foreign Centres, Lebanon, Polynesia, New Caledonia, and Asia. A Terminale student in Shanghai, Tokyo or Singapore will therefore open a paper their peers in France will never see, and the reverse.

The Asia zone covers the whole French network of the region: Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Hong Kong for China, but also Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore, Bangkok, Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City, Kuala Lumpur, Jakarta, Taipei, Manila and the schools of India.

The speciality papers run over two consecutive days, each candidate sitting one speciality per day. That produces two papers per speciality per session, called Asia day 1 and Asia day 2. In 2026 those papers were sat on 9 and 10 June. For a student in the zone, that means twice as many usable past papers per year as they generally believe they have.

What came up in the Mathematics speciality, Asia zone

The detail, exercise by exercise, of recent sessions. Reading them one after another is what makes the regularities of the zone visible, and they are clear.

Asia 2026, day 1

9 June 2026, a four hour paper

1. Conditional probability around successive shots, building a sequence of probabilities, computing its limit, and a Python program to find the rank from which a threshold is exceeded
2. A transversal true-or-false with justification: limit of a function, a sequence defined by induction, the binomial law, an integral and counting
3. Geometry in space: collinear points, intersection of a line and a plane, intersection of two planes
4. A trigonometric function on an interval: derivative, table of variations, sign study, proof of an inequality involving the sine

Asia 2026, day 2

10 June 2026, a four hour paper

1. Analysis and sequences: study of a rational function, a sequence defined by induction, convergence to be proved, reading an algorithm, expression of the general term
2. Probability: the binomial law applied to free throws, computing probabilities of success and determining a performance threshold
3. Geometry in space inside a tetrahedron: planes, perpendicular lines, orthogonal projection, distances, areas and volume
4. A true-or-false with justification, independent themes: convexity, counting, conditional probability with a tree, differential equations

Asia 2025, day 1

11 June 2025, a four hour paper

1. Geometry in space as true-or-false, five questions: normal vectors, angles, orthogonal projections
2. Probability and statistics: quality control in production, a weighted tree and a random variable
3. Sequences and induction: modelling a drug dosage, proof by induction, computing a limit, reading a Python program
4. The exponential function: derivative, variations and limits, solving an equation, integral calculation

The four regularities to draw from them

Geometry in space comes up every time

Across the three papers above it occupies a whole exercise in every session, sometimes as open questions, sometimes as true-or-false. A student who leaves that chapter aside gives up roughly a quarter of the paper before starting. It is also the most mechanical chapter of the syllabus, and therefore the most profitable to work on.

A transversal true-or-false with justification

It sweeps the whole syllabus in independent questions: limits, sequences, convexity, the binomial law, counting, integrals, differential equations. It is the exercise that most punishes revision done chapter by chapter in isolation, and the one where a right answer with no justification earns nothing.

Python arrives inside another exercise

Not as a separate exercise, but slipped into a study of a sequence or of probability: completing a function, reading an algorithm, saying what it returns. A Mathematics speciality student without NSI therefore still has to be able to read a loop and a test.

A complete study of a function, every session

Exponential, trigonometric or rational depending on the year, but always the same chain: derivative, sign, table of variations, limits, then an inequality or an integral to prove. That is the skeleton to automate first.

The Physics-Chemistry speciality in the Asia zone

The written paper runs 3 hours 30 and has three exercises, each built around a concrete situation. The Asia day 1 paper of the 2026 session, sat on 9 June, dealt with soil acidity and its correction by liming, with the motion of communication satellites around the Earth, then with the risks of noise in an industrial setting.

The format is constant: one exercise on solution chemistry, one on mechanics, one on waves or energy. What costs marks is almost never the formula but reading the document, keeping the units consistent, and checking the order of magnitude of the final answer, which a hurried student does not do. On top of that comes the practical examination, prepared separately.

The Physics-Chemistry speciality syllabus

The coefficients of the general Baccalaureate

They are the same in every zone. Knowing them changes how effort is spread over two years.

Component	Coefficient
Continuous assessment, Premiere and Terminale report cards	40
Speciality paper 1, Terminale	16
Speciality paper 2, Terminale	16
Grand oral	10
Philosophy	8
French written, anticipated paper in Premiere	5
French oral, anticipated paper in Premiere	5
Total	100

Two readings come out of it. First, the two Terminale specialities are worth 32 out of 100 on their own, across papers of four hours and 3 hours 30: that is where a few points gained show up most. Second, continuous assessment counts for 40, which means Premiere already weighs heavily in the final grade, long before the Bac year. A student who comes off the rails in Premiere does not only lose foundations, they lose points that were permanently bankable.

The plan for a Terminale year in the Asia zone

The speciality papers fall in early June. Counting the mock examinations, local holidays and, for many expatriate families, a move or a return to prepare in the spring, the usable year is shorter than it looks. Here is the division I use.

Phase 1, September to November: locking the prerequisites

The Terminale syllabus assumes the whole of Premiere is in place. A student who has not automated differentiation, algebra and handling sequences will spend the year calculating instead of reasoning. This phase is also the only one where a gap from Premiere can still be closed without cutting into something else.

Phase 2, November to February: the chapters that weigh most

Limits and continuity, the logarithm, antiderivatives and integrals, geometry in space, counting and the binomial law. The Asia papers are consistent on those blocks: geometry in space appears every year, analysis too, and a transversal true-or-false exercise comes back very often. A chapter worked here is a chapter that will not be revised in a panic in May.

Phase 3, February to April: Asia past papers under real conditions

Complete papers from the zone, timed to four hours, handed in and marked against the official scheme. This is where time management, the order in which exercises are attempted, and the write-up are settled. Most marks lost at the Baccalaureate are lost not to ignorance but to rushing the end of the paper.

Phase 4, April to June: the Grand oral and the required proofs

The required proofs are revised as a closed list and earn reliable marks. The Grand oral is prepared in parallel, with a topic anchored in the specialities, and it is too often left to the end when it is worth 10 out of 100.

For families in Asia there are also the university applications. Parcoursup, British and North American files are prepared in the autumn, exactly when the Terminale syllabus accelerates. Fitting them into the plan from September is what stops revision from starting only in January.

Frequently asked questions

What is the Asia examination centre?

Baccalaureate papers are written and published by centre. The French lycees of Asia sit the Asia papers, distinct from metropolitan France, North America, the Foreign Centres, Lebanon, South America and Polynesia.

Why not just practise on metropolitan papers?

Because that is not the paper the student will sit. The Asia papers have their own habits: geometry in space every year, a transversal true-or-false very often, and Python inside another exercise. Metropolitan papers are good extra practice but do not replace the zone's own.

One paper or two per speciality?

Two. The papers run over two consecutive days, each candidate sitting one speciality per day, giving Asia day 1 and Asia day 2. In 2026 they were sat on 9 and 10 June.

What are the coefficients?

Out of 100: continuous assessment 40, each speciality 16, the Grand oral 10, philosophy 8, and the two anticipated French papers 5 each. The two specialities together are worth 32, almost as much as all of continuous assessment.

Do you prepare Physics-Chemistry and the Grand oral?

Yes. The written Physics-Chemistry paper runs 3 hours 30 with three exercises on concrete themes that recur in Asia. The Grand oral is prepared alongside the syllabus and is worth 10 out of 100.