In fact, the course articulates into two years with separate names: The two-year program as a whole is commonly called hypokhâgne-khâgne [ipokaɲˈkaɲ], or simply khâgne.
[6] Once they have graduated from secondary school (baccalauréat), French students with a strong interest in the Humanities may choose to follow a Licence curriculum in a university (l'université, slang la fac); or they may opt for the more selective khâgne course, which is situated outside the university system, taking place in a lycée just like secondary school.
For the vast majority of students who will fail to get selected to ENS, having merely attended a khâgne curriculum remains valued per se on the job market, even though it provides no formal degree.
Before 1902, all high school classes were considered "classical", which means that ancient languages were compulsory even among students majoring in sciences.
The goal was to attract good high school students who majored in sciences to literary and social studies.
In addition to grandes écoles and IEPs, khâgne students can also enroll in selective university programmes, such as magistères.
As the coursework is intensive, with around 35 hours of classwork per week and a good deal of work on top of that, it can be very stressful for students.
The examinations are difficult and competitive and it is common for students either to repeat the second year of classes (in slang cuber) or to fail altogether, in which case they usually obtain a Licence or other qualification.
The classes involve elements of literature (modern and classical), history, philosophy, geography, languages and linguistics-–-a comprehensive humanities-based education-–-but students will normally specialise in one or two subjects.
They therefore see it as a feature of the elitism of the French higher education system, especially since the majority of successful candidates originate from privileged upper-class and middle-class families.
In the early 20th century, the term cagneux was adapted by humanities students themselves as a mocking self-description but they changed the spelling (khâgneux) to make it look like a Greek loanword.
Students commonly abbreviate the name of their year using acronyms, hence hypokhâgne is HK [aʃka], khâgne is just K [ka].
A khâgneux who fails the end-of-year entrance examination to ENS may repeat the khâgne year to try their luck a second time; in which case he or she is called cube (or khûbe).
So in a classroom of khâgne, half of the students may be carrés, a third may be cubes, plus a handful of bicas who are trying their last chance at the final examination.