The German educational system

The German educational system differs a lot from the French one. In the German Basic Law is established that the educational policy is up to the federal states (cultural sovereignty). Therefore the school systems differ in the individual federal states. Although the German pupils chose in-depth study for the Abitur (an equivalent of Baccalauréat) in most of the federal states, the German Abitur still allows studying any desired subject. An excellent overview of the German educational system you can find in the Wikipedia article.
TU Dresden is a full university. The studies here will be started right after the Abitur. The counting of the study years begins with the Abitur so that the troisième année cycle ingénieur corresponds to the fifth study year.
The chemistry studies in Dresden is modularized and divided into two big sections, the Bachelor study course (3 years) and then Master study course (2 years). Both courses must be finished with the written paper. While the Bachelor course of study is fundamentally oriented, during the Master study course both, in-depth study and the specialization take place. The students at the TU Dresden have especially in Master study course a lot of freedoms to generate their own study order. It is possible to choose from many different subjects in other faculties and subject areas.  
The lecture attendance is not obligatory. The assignments of the credit points (CP) occurs after the completed exams though; therefore the participation in the lectures, seminars and accounting exercises is highly recommended. In the lectures, where the attendance certificate will be given, the participation in the minimum number of the lectures is necessary. The details will be revealed at the beginning of the study events and can be found in the description of the modules.