Straight after my final year of high school, I decided to follow some undergraduated intensive courses for preparing the engineering schools entering exam, in the lycée Thiers, located in Marseille, France. A map with the location of the school is available on the right.
I chose to do a first year in MPSI, then a second in PSI*.
I then entered a materials engineering school, thanks to the CCINP exam.
Presentation of the pathways MPSI and PSI*
In my first year, I chose the MPSI stream. It is a very comprehensive course covering Mathematics, Physics and Engineering Sciences. There were about h of maths, h of physics and 4h of engineering sciences per week.
The second year courses, in PSI*, concentrated on the study of physical phenomena, and engineering sciences, while continuing the study of mathematics, but in a slightly less advanced way, in comparison with the MP stream (Mathematics, Physics).
At the end of these two years, I took several competitive entrance exams to the major French engineering schools: Centrale, Mines, CCINP and E3A. I was admitted to the engineering school Phelma- Grenoble – INP, which is part of the group of schools accessible through the CCINP competition. I am in the top 25% of the 2019 session for this exam.
Project done - TIPE - 2019
During the second year, we had to do a TIPE (Travail d’Initiative Personnel Encadré) for the competitions. It is a project that lasts the whole year, and is evaluated in the form of an oral presentation.
I chose to study the influence of the geometry of a solar thermal panel, and in particular the structure of the copper pipes that allow water to be heated using solar energy. The details of this project are explained here (writing in progress).
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Link to the school website : https://www.atrium-sud.fr/web/lgt-thiers-132321/cpge