What is the difference between the FSLC and the Common Entrance exam?

Both are sat in the final year of primary school, usually around the same period. The First School Leaving Certificate (FSLC) is the certificate that confirms a pupil has completed primary education. The Common Entrance examination is the competitive exam that determines placement into Form 1 (government-funded secondary school places) and, alongside FSLC results, into private secondary schools such as RIC and RAIBICOL.

What is the minimum pass mark for Common Entrance in 2026?

A May 2026 MINESEC circular set the minimum average required for admission into Form 1 or the first year of technical education at 05/20 — a lower numerical floor than the 10/20 many parents expect, intended to give divisional authorities a clear, verifiable threshold before admission lists are published.

What comes after GCE Ordinary Level?

Students who pass GCE Ordinary Level in Form 5 move into Lower Sixth and then Upper Sixth, where they sit the GCE Advanced Level in up to five subjects. A Level results are what Cameroonian universities and most international universities use for admission.

O-Level or BEPC? Cameroon’s two school systems, side by side

7 October 2026 · Rainbow School Complex, Dschang

Cameroon runs two school subsystems at the same time, one anglophone and one francophone. They lead to the same places and they do not use the same words for anything. Parents moving a child between them, or choosing for the first time, are usually asking one question: what matches what? Here is the answer in one table, followed by the questions we are asked most often at admissions.

The equivalence table

Stage	Anglophone	Francophone	The exam at the end
Nursery	Nursery 1–2	Maternelle	—
Primary	Class 1 – Class 6	SIL, CP, CE1, CE2, CM1, CM2	FSLC ↔ CEP
Entry to secondary	Common Entrance	Concours d’entrée en 6^e	—
First cycle	Form 1 – Form 5	6^e, 5^e, 4^e, 3^e	GCE Ordinary Level ↔ BEPC
Second cycle	Lower Sixth, Upper Sixth	2^nde, 1^re, Terminale	GCE Advanced Level ↔ Baccalauréat

The two columns line up at the ends, not in the middle. The anglophone first cycle is five years and the francophone first cycle is four, and the francophone second cycle has a Probatoire at the end of 1^re with no anglophone equivalent. That is why a transfer is a conversation about the child, not a lookup in a table.

Is Ordinary Level the anglophone BEPC?

In the sense that matters to a parent, yes: both close the first cycle of secondary school and both decide whether a child continues into the second cycle. They are not the same exam. The GCE Ordinary Level is sat at the end of Form 5, after five years of secondary school, and is taken subject by subject — a candidate passes or fails each paper on its own. The BEPC is sat at the end of 3^e, after four years, and is assessed as a whole. A child arriving with one does not simply convert it into the other.

What replaced Class 7?

Parents still search for Class 7 because anglophone primary once ran seven years. It runs six now: Class 1 to Class 6, with the FSLC at the end of Class 6 and the Common Entrance deciding secondary placement. If your child’s older sibling did a Class 7 and yours will not, nothing has been removed from the syllabus — the same ground is covered in six years.

Can a student sit the A-Level in Lower Sixth?

The GCE Advanced Level is built as a two-year course and is normally sat at the end of Upper Sixth. A student in Lower Sixth has not yet covered the second year of any subject. There are candidates who register privately and sit early, and occasionally a strong student who repeats a year and is already prepared, but it is an exception that needs a conversation with the school and with the GCE Board, not a plan. If you are weighing it for your child, talk to us before you register.

Which system does Rainbow run?

Rainbow is a bilingual school group, and the two colleges are deliberately different. RAIBICOL is a purely Anglo-Saxon boarding school: Form 1 to Upper Sixth, GCE Ordinary and Advanced Level. Rainbow Integral College is a day school with general and technical sections. The kindergarten and primary teach in English and French from the first year, which is what makes a later move between the two systems possible rather than painful.

Where to go next

If you want the exams themselves explained — what each paper is, when it is sat, how it is graded — read FSLC, Common Entrance, GCE: Cameroon’s school exams explained. If your child is in Class 6 this year, start with how to help your Class 6 child pass the FSLC and Common Entrance. Our own results are on the results page, and current pupils’ marks are on the Parents Portal.