After Year 11 in Vaud: gymnasium, ECG, apprenticeship or raccordement?

Year 11 is the last year of compulsory school in the canton of Vaud. It ends with the lower-secondary leaving certificate, from the pre-gymnasium track (VP) or the general track (VG), and it is this certificate, with the results that accompany it, that opens or closes the doors to what comes next.

Many families discover the rules too late, in April, when registrations are already under way. This guide lays them out from the start of the year: which pathways exist after Year 11, on what conditions they are accessed according to the track, what the raccordement is, and how to organise the year to arrive at the right place with the right record. The figures cited come from the canton’s official documents.

01What is really decided at the end of Year 11

Two things. First the certificate itself: VP or VG, according to the track followed. Then the year’s results, and in particular the end-of-Year-11 exams, which are added to classroom marks to form the final averages.

It is the combination of both that counts. A VP certificate opens gymnasium by right. A VG certificate opens other pathways, but with precise points thresholds, calculated on the three levelled subjects: French, mathematics and German. Everything that follows stems from this principle.

02The school of maturity: the gymnasium route

The school of maturity lasts three years and delivers the gymnasium maturity certificate. According to the canton, this certificate allows entry to universities and the federal institutes of technology, to universities of applied sciences and higher schools, the latter two after a year of internship or a preparatory year.

Direct admission requires the pre-gymnasium track leaving certificate. In other words, a VP pupil who obtains their certificate enters gymnasium without an exam. For a VG pupil, the route goes through the raccordement, discussed below, or, in some cases, through the gymnasium admission exams.

03The general-culture school: the pathway most open to VG pupils

The ECG lasts three years and delivers the general-culture school certificate. A fourth year leads to the specialised maturity, which gives access to the admission procedure of universities of applied sciences (HES) and teacher-training universities (HEP). It is a serious route toward health, social work, teaching or the arts, very often underestimated.

Its admission conditions are the clearest example of the points logic. A pupil holding a VP certificate is admitted by right. A pupil holding a VG certificate must reach, in French, mathematics and German combined, at least 13.5 points if all three subjects were at level 2, or at least 14.5 points if two subjects were at level 2 and one at level 1.

Read this scale carefully: each subject moved up to level 2 lowers the required total by one point. That is why the level reached in the VG, from Year 9, concretely conditions the doors of Year 11. You do not prepare the ECG in April of Year 11; you prepare it by holding level 2 for three years.

04The commerce school and apprenticeship

The commerce school is the third gymnasium pathway, oriented toward commerce and management trades, with a CFC and a vocational maturity at the end of the course. It is accessible to VP pupils and, on points conditions comparable to those of the ECG, to VG pupils.

Apprenticeship, finally, is the route chosen by a large share of Swiss pupils, and it is not a default choice. It leads to a federal certificate of competence (CFC) in three or four years, in a company and at vocational school, with the possibility of preparing, alongside or afterwards, a vocational maturity, which in turn opens the HES. The VG certificate gives access; it is the companies that select, on file, interview and often tests.

A point of rigour: the search for an apprenticeship place starts early, often from the autumn of Year 11, and places in some trades are filled a year in advance. Waiting for the June results means arriving after the battle.

05The raccordement: the year that changes the certificate

The raccordement is an extra year, after the VG certificate, allowing results out of reach until then. There are two, and the difference is decisive.

Rac 1

It allows a pupil to reach the results giving access to the ECG, the commerce school or the vocational-maturity orientations. Its admission follows a sliding scale on the combined total of French, mathematics and German: 12 points if all three subjects were at level 2, 13 if two, 14 if one, 15 if none, with a tolerance of half a point.

Rac 2

It allows a pupil to obtain the pre-gymnasium track certificate, that is the same certificate as a VP pupil, and therefore access to all pathways, gymnasium included. Its conditions: all three subjects at level 2, 46.5 points in the main group and 15 points in the restricted group, with a tolerance of half a point per group.

For a family that aimed at gymnasium and did not obtain the VP, Rac 2 is the real second chance. Provided the pupil is eligible, which brings us, once again, back to level 2 in all three subjects.

06The Year 11 calendar, month by month

• September to October: take stock. Which track, which levels, which current averages? Set the end-of-year goal in figures, not impressions. For an apprenticeship project, start the search for a place.
• November to January: consolidate the three levelled subjects, because they are the ones that count everywhere. First mock exam to measure the gap to the goal.
• February to March: registration period for post-compulsory pathways. Check the exact conditions with the school; correct course on subjects lagging behind.
• April to June: targeted preparation for the end-of-Year-11 exams, then the exams themselves. Sleep and routine are worth more than cramming.

07Four frequent parent mistakes in Year 11

• Believing the VG closes gymnasium. It closes direct access; Rac 2 reopens it, on known conditions.
• Discovering the points thresholds in April. They are built from Year 9, on three subjects.
• Neglecting the ECG. It is the pathway most accessible to VG pupils, and it leads to the HES via the specialised maturity.
• Looking for an apprenticeship place after the results. Companies recruit months earlier.

08The mock exam: knowing where your child really stands

All the doors described here are decided in points and tenths, on three subjects. An impression is not enough to decide; a measurement is. It is one of the strengths of our support: placing the pupil under the real conditions of the end-of-Year-11 exams, correcting, then precisely locating the gap to the target threshold, ECG, commerce school, Rac 2, in each subject.

Done from the autumn, the mock exam turns Year 11 from an endured countdown into a steered year, and it stops the June exams from being a discovery.

09How we support Year 11

Our Year 11 preparation targets what counts: French, mathematics and German, the three subjects present in every scale, and the format of the end-of-year exams. The work starts with a free assessment that sets the goal in figures, continues with regular sessions, and is checked by mock exams.

In our centres in Lausanne, Vevey and Montreux, as at home across the canton and online, this is the framework we put in place. And to stay honest: no support guarantees an admission. What can be worked on is the margin, and on thresholds decided by half a mark, the margin often decides.

Note: thresholds and procedures may change and their application rests with the schools. For your child’s exact situation, the reference remains their school management and, for post-compulsory pathways, the target institution.