CE1, 5ème, Terminale… the French education system has an entirely different vocabulary for levels of education. Here’s a list of the French years of study and their American equivalents.
L’École Maternelle (equivalent to preschool)
La crèche — nursery, day care
Moyenne section de maternelle — Pre-kindergarten
L’École Primaire — Elementary school, primary school
Grande section maternelle — Kindergarten
CP (cours préparatoire), 11ème — 1st grade
CE1 (cours élémentaire niveau 1), 10ème — 2nd grade
CE2 (cours élémentaire niveau 2), 9ème — 3rd grade
CM1 (cours moyen 1), 8ème — 4th grade
CM2 (cours moyen 2), 7ème — 5th grade
Le collège — Middle school, junior high school, junior high
6ème — 6th grade
5ème — 7th grade
4ème — 8th grade
3ème — 9th grade
Le lycée — High school
2nde — 10th grade
1re — 11th grade
Terminale — 12th grade
L’université, la fac — college, university, undergrad
Licence, Bac+3 — bachelor’s
It is not possible to compare the undergrad years in France with those of the United States because the number of years of school isn’t equivalent.
L1, 1ème
L2, 2ème
L3, 3ème
Masters, Bac+5 — graduate school, grad school (master’s degree)
M1 — first year of master’s
M2 — second year of master’s
Doctorat, Bac+8 — graduate school, grad school (doctoral degree)
D1 — first year of doctorate
D2 — second year of doctorate
D3 — third year of doctorate