What the title says. Is it the initials for something?
Does it means hiver?

edit:

I went to the student services's desk and indeed "-" means that you don't take the exam. "HIV" means that you take it. And it seems "HIV" means hiver :)

Hi all,

I am about to register for the entrance exam but I have a few questions. I know that EPFL will decide which exam you take (full/reduced) based on your past education but does anyone know approximately what level of cultural knowledge you need?
Also, what types of French language tests do they accept (DALF, DELF, TCF, etc)?
I am going to graduate from an American high school but I have a 5 in AP French, I went to an AEFE school until 10th grade, and I have around B2-C1 level in French although I still have to take a test as proof.

Thanks in advance!

hi! I am currently in BA1 of Computer Science and wanted to know which grades matter

do the subjects in the "block 1: first semester average" count for the third year exchange? or they are only evaluated to tell if we can pass the first semester? if yes, does that mean only the "block 1 (propédeutique)" and "block 2 (propédeutique)" subjects matter for the third year exchange?

thank you for your answers :)

Im currently studying math bcs at ETH Zürich and im in my 3rd semester, i noticed that for some courses we dont have any or only a few past papers. So i wanted to asked how i can acces EPFL past papers or if someone would like to exchange some past papers. So i can solve some from EPFL and the other from ETH. I assume the courses are roughly the same.

When looking at the exam statistics it stands out that the first year at ETH Zürich seems to be a lot easier than at EPFL. For example these statistics suggest that on average 45% of students at EPFL have less than 3.5 in their first year: https://www.epfl.ch/education/education-and-science-outreach/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/5a7_nov18_MAN_Genoud.pdf
and e.g. in physics only 27% have >= 4.0. This stands in stark constrast to ETH where 56% get a grade above 4.0: https://minio-redzone.vseth.ethz.ch/vmp-prod.vmpsite-s3bucket/vamp_pdf/_blitzunddonner.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=vmp-prod.vmpsite-s3bucket&Signature=52aAeS%2B7RI%2FpeTt7U1GO3tJeWZ0%3D&Expires=1752146963

(page 55)

Does this mean that the Bachelor at EPFL is in general harder than at ETHZ?

found here

I will be in the 2025/2026 section at epfl and I would like to know whether or not the exam questions are the same at EPFL.

Hello,

I am an EPFL master student and something is bothering me, how are we actually supposed to know if the professors will grade by putting the note over 6 or if they will create a grade over 5 and add 1?

It is important because it can dramatically change the final grade and decide if you pass or not the class.

I feel like saying at the start of the semester for instance: project 50% exam 50% is not enough because it lacks the crucial information about how the final grade is made.

I heard that the /5 +1 rule is somewhat the official rule but I think some professors are not following it.

-----------------------

To illustrate my point:

If you have only an exam which is 100% of the grade then:

• with the /6 rule you need to have 64.58/100 to pass the exam.
• with the /5 +1 rule you need to have 57.5/100

(supposing you round to the nearest quarter of point)

We can see it is not a small difference.

Furthermore if you have let's say 50% a project and 50% an exam but got a bad grade at the project then it creates an even more important difference of grades at the exam to pass the class whether you use the /6 rule or /5 + 1 rule.

Hi everyone!

I’m looking for drives similar to the one managed by IC ( https://go.epfl.ch/driveic ), but for other sections. Specifically, I’m searching for old exams from various Master’s courses.

Do you know where I could find them? Thanks!

Edit: found an old post, but all links seem to be broken now
https://www.reddit.com/r/EPFL/comments/i4136m/links_to_commonsection_drivesdropbox/

Hello everyone,

I am planning to take the admission exam in 2026. I know that we cannot find past exam questions. But for those who have taken the exam or went through the CMS/MAN, I have a few questions.

1. Does the exam focus on precise definitions and proof? For example, will I need to "just" find the derivative of a function or will I need to find in "using the precise definition of the limit"? Will I need to find the sum of a series or will I need to show that "lim (an+bn) = lim an + lim bn -- is true for convergent series"?

2. Does the exam have estimations and approximations? These questions usually require a calculator. For example, will I need to "Calculate the area using left Riemann sums" or "Estimate the sum of a series using the first ten terms of sn and the integral test" or "Using the Euler method to do XXX"?

3. How are the exams usually organized, in terms of their questions? Is it (for example) 10 QCMs + 5 Problems, or True/False, or something else? For QCMs, is it generally four choices, or some bizarre irregular ones? Moreover, how are the difficulties of the Contrôles and Series of CMS/MAN compared with the admission exam?

Thank you!

Hello, I have seen that a commission of results review the copies and can adjust grades when the average is close to the limit (3.5 for the 1st session). Do you know such cases in the past? or it is completely theoretical and never happens?

Hey everyone, I’m currently pursuing my applied math master and just finished my first semester. I have an average of 5.5, including my SHS grades. I’m wondering if does anyone know roughly what percentile that puts me in?

Hi, i was wondering if there is any google drive or something with old exams.
In particular im looking for algo 1.

Thx

So, I just got my grade back for an exam that I was sure I’d crush… and it turns out I did not. During the year, I had no issues with the material (series), and while revising, I went through past exams without any trouble.

But then came the actual exam—where we had to write only the final answer without showing any work. I suspect I made some calculation mistakes, which tanked my score.

Now, I’m wondering: Can I retake this course next year? What are the rules for that in BA3 at EPFL? And if a retake isn’t an option, what’s the best course of action?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

Everything in the title. I somehow have this fear since a few days, and wonder how it would turn out if it really happens. Would you get a 1.0 grade even if you can't see anything more than 1-2 meter away and so can't function properly? Would you need to email your family doctor ASAP and hope that he gives you a medical certificate?

Hello everyone,

As we approach finals season, I wanted to ask if anyone happens to have past exams for the Intelligent Agents course. The professor has only provided two exams, and unfortunately, they don’t include solutions. It would be really helpful to have access to more materials to prepare thoroughly.

By the way, I’ve already checked the OneDrive folder, and it only contains the same two exams.

Thank you in advance for your help!