Free Practice Questions for BTS Support à l'Action Managériale

The Brevet de Technicien Supérieur (BTS) Support à l'Action Managériale is a French national state diploma at level 5 of the RNCP and European Qualifications Framework (Bac+2, 120 ECTS). Certified by the Ministry of Higher Education and Research, it prepares executive assistants, project coordinators, and HR assistants to support managerial action in public institutions, private corporations, and international non-profit organizations.

Under the arrêté du 16 février 2018 (RNCP38364), the national examination consists of six compulsory units totalling 21 coefficients: E1 Culture générale et expression (coef 3, written 4 h), E2 Expression et culture en langues vivantes étrangères (coef 3: LVA coef 2, LVB coef 1), E3 Culture économique, juridique et managériale - CEJM (coef 3, written 4 h), E4 Optimisation des processus administratifs (coef 4, oral 55 min), E5 Gestion de projet (coef 4, CCF or an oral-and-practical assessment of 1 h 30), and E6 Collaboration à la gestion des ressources humaines (coef 4, written 4 h). Candidates in certified programs take several units via CCF, while independent candidates sit terminal written and oral papers.

BTS SAM officially replaced BTS Assistant de Manager in 2018 to align administrative management with modern digital transformations. Key updates include a strengthened focus on digital process automation (GED, workflow modeling, collaborative suites), a dedicated project management competency block (E5) assessed via an oral project defense, enhanced collaboration in human resources operations (E6), and integration of the common business culture module (CEJM) alongside two mandatory foreign languages.

Candidates must obtain an overall weighted average of at least 10/20 across all examination units to graduate. There is no eliminating grade on individual units. Candidates who achieve an overall average between 8/20 and 9.99/20 may be admitted to the oral control examinations (épreuves de contrôle) held in early July. Unit marks of 10/20 or higher can be carried forward (bénéfice de notes) for up to five years.

No examination registration fee is published by the académies; registration is made through the national Cyclades portal. Tuition and training costs are separate, depending on whether the candidate studies in a public lycée, an apprentice training center (CFA, funded via OPCOs), or a private business school.

Candidates in initial schooling must complete 14 weeks of professional internships (stages en milieu professionnel) across the two-year program, typically divided into two periods (e.g., 6 to 8 weeks in year 1 and 6 to 8 weeks in year 2). At least one internship period or substantial project is strongly encouraged to take place in an international context or within an internationally oriented department, supporting both modern language units and the project management assessment (E5).

The official national examination is delivered in French, with modern foreign languages evaluated in unit E2 (LVA and LVB). OpenExamPrep provides an English-language multiple-choice study adaptation designed to help bilingual candidates, apprentices, and international students test their technical mastery of administrative workflows, PERT scheduling, HR formulas, and French labor law; it is not an official examination simulation.

BTS SAM candidates must master quantitative management and scheduling methods: PERT network calculations (earliest start/finish, latest start/finish, total slack, free slack, critical path), project budget variance analysis (cost variance, schedule variance), staff turnover rate formulas, statutory absenteeism rate metrics, training budget utilization rates, working hours and overtime thresholds under the French Labor Code, and scoring matrices for supplier and candidate selection.