EVENT HUMANITIES LITERATURE PHILOSOPHY. On Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12, high school students will take the HLP specialty test. Between probable subjects, expected skills and course of the test, Linternaute accompanies you in this final stretch.
It’s time ! In mainland France, the Humanities, Literature, philosophy takes place on Wednesday May 11 and Thursday May 12, 2022, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. These tests take place during the short session of the 2022 baccalaureate specialty tests. The HLP specialty is training in the field of letters, philosophy and human sciences. During the course, it is provided by two professors who each teach literature and philosophy. It is organized in four semesters, i.e. two years of study, which correspond to the Terminale cycle. In this specialty, high school students study four major questions of humanist culture: the power of speech, representations of the world, the search for the self, humanity in question. But only the themes dealt with during the year of Terminale, namely the “search for the self” and “the humanity in question” will be evaluated on the day of the Bac. To appeal to high school students, the Philosophy subject, sometimes shunned, has been extended in this specialty by broader questions of literature and humanities. The written specialty test being organized for the first time since the entry into force of the reform of the baccalaureate, it is difficult to know what to expect for certain candidates.
On Wednesday 4 and Thursday 5 May, high school students from French Polynesia took the Humanities, Literature, Philosophy specialty test, otherwise known as HLP. Between literary interpretation, philosophical essay or literary essay, the test was loaded, and the candidates had to make a certain number of choices in the subjects. We come back for you on the course of the exercises in Polynesia, which can give you food for thought for your tests this week.
Wednesday, May 4, the high schools of Polynesia had 4 hours to carry out an interpretation and an essay on one of the two proposed subjects. The nature of the interpretation and essay varied depending on the subject. What were these two options?
Subject 1: Simone de Beauvoir, Memoirs of a Tidy Young Girl (1958)
- Literary interpretation: Why does the passage from childhood to adulthood frighten Simone de Beauvoir?
- Philosophical essay: Are we the same at all ages of life?
Subject 2: Hannah Arendt, The Condition of Modern Man (1958)
- Philosophical interpretation: According to Hannah Arendt, is it desirable for human beings to escape their condition?
- Literary essay: What are the powers of literature to give meaning to human life?
On Thursday, May 5, the course of the test was the same, with 4 hours of time allowed, and a choice between two subjects:
Subject 1: Roger Martin du Gard, Les Thibault, III, Epilogue (1953)
- Literary interpretation: What vision of humanity does Antoine develop in this extract?
- Philosophical essay: Can we envisage a world without war?
Topic 2: Sigmund Freud, Unease in Culture (1929). Transl. Dorian Astor.
- Philosophical interpretation: According to Freud, what explains the fluctuations of the ego?
- Literary essay: Is telling oneself to explore the “boundaries of the self”?
In France, the HLP test should normally take place like all the other specialty education exams in March, but the Ministry of National Education has decided to postpone the test to May to avoid that certain candidates are penalized by the consequences of the Covid-19 epidemic on the school system. It is therefore between May 11 and 13 that the events are held, and that of HLP will be held on Wednesday 11 and Thursday 12 May 2022, from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Please note that the topics will change from Wednesday to Thursday.
The Terminale HLP program is divided into two semesters. The first relates to the object of study “Self-Searching”, on the reference period of romanticism in the 20th century. Within semester 1, there are three main themes, only two of which will be assessed on the day of the Bac. “Expressions of sensitivity” and “The metamorphoses of the self” are the lucky ones, while “Education, transmission and emancipation” will not be assessed in the specialty test. The second semester is focused on the object of study “Humanity in Question” on the contemporary period, between the 20th and 21st centuries. Here too, only two out of three themes will be evaluated on D-Day: these are “History and violence” and “The Human and its limits”. The theme “Creation, continuities and ruptures”, on the other hand, will not appear in the final evaluation. If automatically, two subjects can be slightly excluded from the revisions of the candidates, they should not however be completely ignored because the subjects can be transversal, certain knowledge could help the candidates. In summary, here are the four themes that can constitute the subject of the HLP test:
- “Expressions of Sensibility”
- “The metamorphosis of the self
- “History and violence
- “The human and his limits
The HLP specialty test requires specific skills, perhaps less academic than in other subjects. A certain consistency with the general spirit of the teaching “Humanities, Literature, Philosophy” is expected from the student. What skills are required? You will need to be careful, analysis, reflection and interpretation throughout the year… And even more on the day of the event. In fact, the texts that will be offered to you on D-Day will require you to problematize and an clear and rigorous argument. It is important to bear in mind that there can be several interpretations of the same text. The most important thing during your final exam will be to reflect a personal, progressive and orderly thought based on specific references and examples. If you must therefore source and support your proposals on the text, your own mental gymnastics will be just as important.
The Humanities, Literature and Philosophy test will offer a subject relating to one or the other of the two subjects of study for the year. For this test, you will have a number of choices to make. You will have the choice between a text and the questions, or between an interpretation and an essay on “The search for oneself”, and a text and the questions (interpretation and essay also) relating to “Humanity in Question”.
A priori, the results of the HLP specialty test will be available on July 5, at the same time as the results of the other tests (French, philosophy and major oral). The fact that specialty courses are evaluated one month earlier does not affect the publication of the results.