Abstract: As the basic education part of elite education in France, physics teaching in French college preparatory courses has unique characteristics and reference significance. This article takes optics teaching as a specific example, and reveals the similarities and differences by comparing the basic requirements of college physics teaching in China and France. Similarities: Both emphasize that the essence of physics courses is to carry out scientific paradigm training and scientific literacy development, and efforts should be made to stimulate students' self-consciousness and initiative. The difference: the French teaching content discards the diffraction part and guarantees a more thorough explanation of the remaining part. At the same time, the French side divides the geometric optics and wave optics into two years of teaching, which is quite different from the Chinese side.

Key words:  French grande école, physics in preparatory class , optics, teaching requirements