Index

I am facing my last attempt for an exam or I failed my last attempt. What do I do now?

You have a maximum of 3 attempts for every exam.

When you learn that you failed your penultimate (i.e. your second) attempt, you should contact your study advisor as early as possible in order to be optimally prepared for the last attempt and to inform yourself about possible study alternatives.

It is important for you to understand that if you fail a last attempt in your current branch of study of our master’s program in Medical Engineering, you will be de-registered from the program as a whole and will be blocked from entering our Medical Engineering program ever again. This is also true for our other branches of study, meaning that if you failed in one branch of study, you cannot change to another branch of study (as they both belong to the same study program, which you are permanently blocked from).

If you fail our master’s program in Medical Engineering, you are still allowed to apply to all other study programs at FAU, however. Please be aware that in order to transfer to another master’s program at FAU, you need to formally apply for this alternative program via the Campo portal within the official application period and be granted admission to this program. Therefore, you MUST apply to other suitable English-taught master’s programs at FAU in the semester in which you have your last exam attempt. In addition to programs at FAU, you MUST also apply to programs at other German universities in order to broaden your chances. Please inform yourself early on about the application deadlines! Public universities tend to have earlier deadlines. Private universities (e.g. in Fürth) might offer you the chance to apply until shortly before the start of the new semester, but they charge high tuition fees. If you get admission to the alternative study program, you have a backup plan for the following semester if you cannot continue your studies in the Medical Engineering program. You have to inform the immigration office when you change your study program. Please note, however, that the immigration authorities will usually only allow you to change your study program once.

If you feel unable to take the last exam attempt on the examination day, you must withdraw from it before it takes place by submitting a medical certificate to the Examinations Office (helga.jahreis[at]fau.de). If you suddenly feel ill during the exam, you have to inform your exam supervisor immediately, leave the exam and directly go to an officially recognized doctor (Vertrauenssarzt). After you have finished the exam, it is generally not possible to declare it invalid  retroactively (for example due to illness or personal crises).

If you have failed your exam in the last attempt, this means that you will lose your enrollment status in our program by the end of the semester. If you don’t have admission for another program you can transfer to, you won’t be an enrolled student anymore and subsequently lose your student status. If you are in Germany on a study visa this visa becomes invalid, meaning that you become “illegal” and may have to leave Germany and the Schengen area immediately. PLEASE TAKE THIS MATTER VERY SERIOUSLY! You must inform your local immigration authority as soon as you learn that you will lose your student status. Your responsible immigration officer will inform you of your next steps. If you have a student job, you will also lose it from the moment you are not an enrolled student anymore. The same applies if you live in a student residence/student dorm. Please make sure to inform the responsible officers in due time in order to avoid legal problems.

What else can you do?

If you have a bachelor’s degree with good to very good grades,  at least intermediate German skills (B1/B2) and are motivated and open to other options, you can try to find a STEM job in Germany and apply for a conversion of your study visa to a work visa. If this is a viable path for you, please seek advice from our officer of the German Employment Agency, Mr. Hümmer (michael.huemmer[at]arbeitsagentur.de) as soon as possible.