Admission test

General information

Before you can study at the Studienkolleg, you must pass an entrance test.

The entrance test takes place twice a year in Zittau at the Studienkolleg, once at the end of January or beginning of February and once at the end of August, usually on a Tuesday.

The exact dates for the entrance test in the respective semester can be found under Procedure/Dates.

The test always refers only to the following semester, i.e. the test in January applies to the following summer semester and the test in August to the following winter semester.

In this test, you should prove that you already have sufficient knowledge of the German language and mathematics to be able to participate successfully in the Studienkolleg courses.

Whether you receive a place at the Studienkolleg depends on your performance in the entrance test. After the test, applicants are ranked for the individual courses according to their results. You will be placed in a course. This is why the entrance test is sometimes referred to as a placement test.

You will usually find the results of the entrance test on the homepage of the Studienkolleg under "Results of entrance test" in the same week that you take the test.

However, if you pass the entrance test, you are not entitled to admission to the Studienkolleg. Even if you have passed the entrance test at another Studienkolleg in Germany, it cannot be recognized.

You can only repeat the entrance test once - after one semester at the earliest.

1. registration and verification of your identity

Once you have arrived at Studienkolleg Zittau, you must first confirm your participation in the entrance test with your signature. To do this, you must present your invitation to the test and a suitable identity document (identity card, passport or similar).
2. assignment of test number and room of the test

You will now be given a small piece of paper on which you will find the room where the test will take place and your test number.
3. information about housing options in Zittau

You will also receive an information sheet with options for living in Zittau and deadlines for registration in the student hall of residence that you must observe.
4. output of the test tasks and solution sheets

You will now receive the test. On the first page, write down your personal details and your test number.
5. test
The test begins!
Implementation:
The test is written.
Duration:
The German section lasts 90 minutes, the math section 30 minutes.
The math section is not required for applicants of the DSH course.
Aids:
You may not use any aids.
Prohibitions:
Cell phones must not be switched on.
You may not write with a pencil.
You may not write with red or green ink.
It is forbidden to use "cheat sheets" and to talk to your neighbor.

Contents of the German section

Your German language skills are tested in three areas:

1. basic knowledge of vocabulary and German grammar

The tasks on your basic knowledge test your vocabulary and whether you have mastered the basic grammar.
2. advanced grammatical knowledge

In some grammar tasks, you will have to grammatically transform simple sentences, for example an active sentence into a passive sentence or vice versa, and you will be tested on how confident you are in using the most common subordinate clauses in German, for example relative clauses and causal or conditional clauses.
3. reading comprehension

Finally, you will be tested on how well you understand German texts by

a)   answering questions in bullet points

b)   assigning information to lines of text

c)   decide whether statements are true or false

d)   supplement main clauses with suitable subordinate clauses, etc.

The texts come from areas such as studies, travel, current world events or regional studies. They can be texts from personal experience, media reports or factual texts.

Tips

Don't be afraid of the test, we are not testing you, but only your German and math skills so that you can study successfully in Germany.
Nevertheless, you need to prepare well. Above all, remember to take enough time to prepare for the test.
You should read the instructions for the entrance test carefully and complete an entrance test once in the allotted time so that you get a feel for the level of difficulty and the time limit.
When you are waiting for the test to start, do not allow yourself to be influenced by the other test takers. They are no better than you and are probably nervous too.
When you are sitting in the test room, you should not allow yourself to be distracted. Work with concentration!
Read the tasks in the test carefully and only do what you are supposed to do. If you do more than is required in the tasks, you may make additional mistakes.
Do the tasks that are easy for you first, then the more difficult ones.
If you cannot solve a task, do not think too long, but move on to the next task so that you do not lose too much time.
Allow enough time for the reading comprehension tasks, as reading comprehension takes longer than the simple grammar tasks.