How long does a mathematics degree take?
Bachelor of Mathematics
A BMath program generally lasts three years with a fourth "honours" year in China and Australia and University of Waterloo (Canada). BMath programs are increasingly taking about five years to complete because of coop or internship placements.
Education in France
First year CPGE students are called the "Math Sup"—or "Hypotaupe"—(Sup for "Classe de Mathématiques Supérieures", superior in French, meaning post-high school), and second years "Math Spé"—or "Taupe"—(Spés standing for "Classe de Mathématiques Spéciales", special in French). The students of these classes are called "Taupins". Both the first and second year programmes include as much as twelve hours of mathematics teaching per week, ten hours of physics, two hours of philosophy, two to four hours of (one or two) foreign languages teaching and four to six hours of options: either chemistry, "SI" (Engineering Industrial Science) or "Theoretical Computer Science" (including some programming using the Pascal or CaML programming languages, as a practical work). With this is added several hours of homework, which can rise as much as the official hours of class. A known joke among those students is that they are becoming moles for two years, sometimes three. This is actually the origin of the nicknames "taupe" and "taupin" ("taupe" being the French word for a mole).