CPGE PCSI / PC

Classes preparatoires aux grandes ecoles are two years of full-time mathematics and physics between secondary school and an engineering school, ending in competitive written and oral entrance examinations. PCSI is the first year, physics and chemistry oriented; PC is the second.

• MathematicsAnalysis, linear algebra, differential equations, series, probability, and the habit of proving rather than asserting.
• PhysicsMechanics, thermodynamics, electromagnetism, wave optics, electrical circuits, treated analytically.
• ChemistryGeneral and organic chemistry, including electrochemistry.
• Engineering scienceModelling of mechanical and electrical systems, and control.
• Computer scienceAlgorithms, data structures and numerical methods.

• Class rankingsFirst of 43 in Computer Science, sixth of 43 in Mathematics, as issued.
• Entrance examinationsAdmitted to the Centrale, Mines-Telecom and CCINP competitive examinations.
• OlympiadsParticipant in the French Physics Olympiads.

RF problems approached as physics with a closed form before a simulation. Three places it shows:

• Analytical firstA line impedance, an array factor or a phase error budget is computed by hand before a solver is opened, so the simulation has something to disagree with.
• Linear algebraThe calibration model of a phased array is a complex matrix inverse with a conditioning problem. That is preparatory-class linear algebra with physical units attached.
• Error reasoningOrders of magnitude, dominant terms and uncertainty are the habit the examinations train, and they are what makes a measurement believable.

Where this showsAetherArray: analytical model and error budgetTeaching electromagnetics