Exam procedure and recurring topics

On this page you will find important information concerning the administration of examinations at the University of Tübingen, e.g. regulations concerning registration and de-registration, handling possible complications, as well as the accreditation of assessment and exam results obtained in another degree program or at another higher education institution.

As a rule, students must actively register for examinations. Usually there is no automatic exam registration, i.e., registering for a class does – with a small number of exceptions – not include a registration for the examination. The teaching staff will provide information about exam registration at the start or in the course of the respective classes.

Within the framework of exam registration, there is also a deadline for de-registering from an exam. In some degree programs whose exam regulations are relatively new, it is possible to de-register until up to one workday before the exam itself (excluding Saturdays). The specific provisions can be found in the respective exam regulations.

In most degree programs registration and de-registration for/from an examination are done via the campus management system alma (alma portal). General information about the alma portal can be found here: https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/172164 (currently only in German).

Please note: For certain coursework, usually an active registration via the alma portal is required, as well.

The Faculty of Medicine does not use the alma system but the Simed portal for campus management.

If you register from an exam but do not attend it, the exam, respectively exam attempt will be counted as failure.

Therefore, in case of illness the responsible instructor as well as the examinations office in charge must be notified via e-mail and a medical certificate must be submitted without delay; this constitutes a withdrawal from the exam.

A withdrawal occurs if, after the end of the de-registration period, a person cannot participate in an exam they registered for, or withdraws from it. The instructor and the examinations office must be informed of such a withdrawal immediately. For a withdrawal, a doctor’s certificate is required; incapacity for work (a “yellow note”) does not suffice.

In some programs there is a so-called “orientation exam” within the first semesters. This exam can be repeated only once upon failure, i.e. there are only two attempts. For most other examinations, there are three attempts, i.e. they can be repeated twice. The specific terms concerning this can be found in your respective program’s exam regulations (usually in the “General Provisions”). Repeat exams usually take place toward the end of the semester in which the main exam occurred, or at the beginning of the following semester. In case of the latter, the repeat exam is counted towards the semester in which the registration for the main exam was made.
 

Students must be given the option to access exam records like, e.g., assessed written examinations. When and where access is provided logistically after an exam or, respectively, after publication of the results, is within the instructor’s or, as applicable, department’s discretion. The legal foundations are also stipulated in the exam regulations where the terms for the access of the exam records are specified.
 

For summer semester 2025 the following heat protection measures have been implemented by the University of Tübingen:

• Simplified withdrawal regulations apply in case of indoors temperatures above 35°C. For this purpose, appropriate measuring devices will be installed at (in?) the central lecture halls which currently cannot be adequately cooled and aired (this concerns primarily the “Kupferbau”, “Neue Aula” and one lecture hall at the Morgenstelle).
• As numerous written exams are held locally, it is essential that, if necessary, students and teaching staff communicate and reach an agreement on how to solve the situation.
• In exceptional cases, on account of unacceptable temperatures classes can be held digitally upon agreement with the students

In detail, the following catalogue of measures has to be considered for (central) examinations:

• below 30°C: on grounds of the exam regulations no particular measures are required. What applies are the standard withdrawal regulations for justified withdrawal before the beginning of the exam (with medical certificate).
• at 30-35°C: regular withdrawal regulations before the beginning of the exam (with medical certificate) or across-the-board extension of the exam time.
• above 35°C: simplified withdrawal regulations before the beginning of the exam or across-the-board extension of the exam time.

The withdrawal must be announced/stated/declared on site and before the examination documents/assignments have been handed out. The withdrawal does not count as a “spent” examination attempt.

Suggestion concerning an across-the-board extension of the exam time in case of temperatures of 30°C or above in the lecture hall:

• 5 minutes for an exam time shorter than 60 minutes
• 10 minutes for an exam time of 60 minutes or more
• 15 minutes for an exam time of 90 minutes or more
• 20 minutes for an exam time of 120 minutes or more

Withdrawals due to heat on ground of the simplified withdrawal regulations have to be announced to the examinations office on the same day via e-mail.
In case of questions or complaints, kindly contact: prorektorat.lehrespam prevention@zv.uni-tuebingen.de

Students who want to transfer from another higher education institution to the University of Tübingen or who have already transferred to UT and have questions concerning the recognition of prior studies are welcome to contact the departmental advisor for their respective degree program. The advisor will forward a written confirmation of the components recognized to the examinations office responsible. Subsequently, the examinations office will enter the details into the campus management system alma.

Likewise, in case of a change of the degree program or major or minor subject of a combination degree within the University of Tübingen, it may be possible to recognize prior coursework and exams if they are identical or equivalent to components of the new program or discipline. Kindly also contact the program advisors for your new degree program or subject about this.
You can find the contact data of all program advisors here:
https://uni-tuebingen.de/en/92