I could understand the French system where no-one gets a top grade in courses outside of engineering, mathematics, and the sciences where problems may be less well defined but if say I'm given 20 math problems on a test and I get all of them right why would that not give me 100%? Do the French just make their tests impossible to solve at some point or do they grade more finely on things such as approach, technique, etc (e.g. in comp sci where your program may be correct in terms of output put you may be downgraded depending on how well your code is written) ?
Well I think he made a bit of an exaggeration here. Up until the end of high school it's perfectly possible to get good grades in all courses.
However after high school, in the "classes préparatoires" it is perfectly normal for everyone (including the best pupils who aced their exams and all) to get extremely low grades (like 4/20) repeatedly because the notation system changes from there: instead of gaining points when giving the right answer, you lose points for every wrong one, and it's extremely easy to make 15 or 20 minor errors on a 4 hours math assignment or philosophy dissertation.
This is however, precisely done to "toughen up" students and make them master perfectly the courses in and out, and it works wonders (for those who can get through).
Unfortunately this state of mind is rapidly losing ground in France too, and people more and more consider they are some sorts of "customers" "buying" a form of "education service" from schools, and that therefore if the children doesn't fare well it's the professor's fault, or the school's, or the ministry, or everyone else's but theirs or their stupid brats'.
> ... because the notation system changes from there: instead of gaining points when giving the right answer,
> you lose points for every wrong one ...
This is not a general rule, where I was it was still "positive scoring" (get points for what you solve). But I agree with the rest: the notation gets much harsher and it's a way to toughen up previously top of the class students who were used to have a rather easy time before.
The regular oral tests ("colles") are also part of that...
I don't know about France, but in The Netherlands where we have a similar system in my opinion it is just quite hard to get all questions on a test right.
Even the smartest most hard working kids do not often get every single question right. Ofcourse if the math test is just solving 20 similar equations then the smart kids will easily solve them all and get a 10/10, but a math test is never solving 20 equations.
Do kids that get an A(+) in the states have the correct answer with the correct explanation (deriviation) for every question?
If so it could be they've just studied harder, culture can do funny things.
