Pairs often confused
bac or fac in French?
The bac is the EXAM that ends secondary school, the fac is the UNIVERSITY you enter afterwards: one opens the door to the other.
Why
Two clipped words, one syllable each, and foreigners hear them as twins. The bac (baccalauréat) is taken at eighteen, in June, and the whole of France talks about it; « avoir le bac » is the condition for enrolling at the fac (faculté), that is university. « Bac + 3 » counts the years of study AFTER the bac, so at the fac. In an exam, write the full words: baccalauréat, université.
bac
Résultats du bac : affichage au lycée le 4 juillet à 10 h.
Bac results: posted at the lycée on 4 July at 10 am.
fac
Rentrée à la fac le 2 septembre, réunion d'accueil en amphi A.
Back to university (fac) on 2 September, welcome meeting in lecture hall A.