As soon as the examination of the whole of the students in this particular study has been finished, the examination in the next branch is commenced, so that five or six days elapse between the first and second examinations of the same student; and the same interval of time occurs between the second and third examinations.
The credit allotted to each student by the board of examiners represents, on the scale of 0 to 20, the manner in which he has replied to the questions, or executed the drawings, sketches, memoirs, &c., belonging to each course. The importance attached to each particular branch of study is estimated very nearly by the amount of time allowed for its execution divided by 20; and the definitive marks which each student obtains for that branch of study is obtained from the products of the numbers respectively representing the credit for answering, and that for the importance of the subjects on which he has been examined.
[The final classification of the order of merit], in each arm of the service, is arranged after a comparison of the total of the marks obtained by each student. This total is the sum of the definitive marks gained by each student in the sciences bearing on artillery, engineering, and mechanics in connection with the art of war, for the talent displayed in drawing, sketching, and writing memoirs, and for skill in practical exercises, as determined by the results of the examination conducted by the jury of examiners, added to the marks due to the previous classification in the school, with the weight or influence equal to one-third of that allowed for the examination by the jury.
The co-efficients of influence for the present year are—
| For those particularly relating to Artillery Science, | 39.29 |
| For those particularly relating to Engineering Science, | 53.75 |
| For those particularly relating to Mechanical Science, | 43.00 |
| For talent in drawing, sketching, writing memoirs, &c., | 6.80 |
| For practical exercises, | 16.75 |
| Previous classification in the school, | 45.30 |
So that the examination conducted by the jury of examiners exercises an influence on the position of the students very nearly approaching to two-thirds of the whole amount.
It is this final classification which determines their seniority in the respective services. We were permitted to be present during the examination, which was entirely oral, of two of the sous-lieutenants, before the jury of examiners.
The questions were replied to with great fluency and readiness, but it seemed to us that the examination was somewhat limited for the object in view, viz., that of awarding a credit representing the progress which each student had made in the particular science on which he had been questioned, especially as that credit would have very great weight in determining the candidate’s future position.[14]
On quitting the School of Application at Metz, the sub-lieutenants of artillery and engineers respectively join the regiments, to which they are then definitely assigned as second lieutenants, and continue to be employed in doing duty, and in receiving practical instruction with them, until they are promoted.