In France, the Concours Général (French pronunciation: [kɔ̃kuʁ ʒeneʁal]), created in 1747, is the most prestigious academic competition held every year between students of Première (11th grade) and Terminale (12th and final grade) in almost all subjects taught in both general, technological and professional high schools.
Students who show great ability in one field are selected to participate by their teachers and their school principal.
Language exams: Students of technological and professional high schools usually attempt their main subject.
Many well-known French scientists, artists, literary figures and entrepreneurs have won the Concours Général in one or even several subjects.
Such names include:[citation needed] Anne Robert Jacques Turgot, Baron de Laune, Antoine Lavoisier, Camille Desmoulins, Augustin Louis Cauchy, Émile Littré, Charles Augustin Sainte-Beuve, Alfred de Musset, Urbain Le Verrier, Charles Baudelaire, Edmond de Goncourt, Marcelin Berthelot, Hippolyte Taine, Fustel de Coulanges, Émile Boutroux, Paul Bourget, Henri Poincaré, Jean Jaurès, Benoît Van Keer, Paul Painlevé, André Suarès, Léon Blum, Fernand Gregh, Charles Péguy, Jérome Carcopino, André Maurois, Maurice Couve de Murville, Edgar Faure, Maurice Schumann, Roger Nimier, Laurent Schwartz, Charles Alexandre de Calonne, Maximilien de Robespierre, André Chénier, Jules Michelet, Victor Hugo, Auguste Blanqui, Charles Forbes René de Montalembert, Évariste Galois, Henri d'Orléans, duc d'Aumale, Louis Pasteur, Edmond About, Lucien-Anatole Prévost-Paradol, Sadi Carnot, Émile Faguet, Jules Lemaitre, Henri Bergson, Alexandre Millerand, Émile Chartier (Alain), Maurice Denis, Édouard Herriot, Alfred Jarry, André Tardieu, Jean Giraudoux, Jules Romains, René Huyghe, Georges Pompidou, Antoine Blondin, Louis Néel, Valérie Mangin, Yves Meyer, Jean-Pierre Serre, Emmanuel Farhi.