In March 17th, 2008, the Baccalaureat exam in France celebrates 200 years since its establishment. The Baccalaureat is the French national examination to complete secondary education and determine admission to higher education. A byproduct of several factors: the strict educational philosophy of the Jesuits, the radical reforms of the French Revolution, and the mania for quantification of the Napoleonic administration, the Baccalaureat is France's most famous and most controversial exam. The Baccalaureat evolved from one single rhetoric test of classical authors in Latin and Greek--Baccalaureat es Lettres--to become a complex system of examination of three different types of Baccalaureat (General., Professional, and Technological) with multiple sections within each off these types. It is a national exam open to all French citizens--and some foreigners--who meet its requirements. Its importance did not cease to grow: in 1808, 31 candidates sat for the exam, and in 2007, almost half a million candidates took part in it. The Baccalaureat is handled completely and exclusively by the ministry of education and the whole examination undergoes a complex bureaucratic process that was set in order to ensure its fairness and merit based. Throughout its history, the Baccalaureat has been shaped by legislation and policies that were pushed forward by the government in place at the time. The government of Mr. Sarkozy is promising its share of major changes in education and in the Baccalaureat. If these changes go through, it would make of the Baccalaureat one of the largest and most influential gate-keeping exams in the world. (Contains 9 footnotes and 4 figures.)