Withdrawal

Students are unable to take an exam because of their illness if their ability to work is significantly reduced due to an illness. Their ability to work must be reduced so much that the students are unable to demonstrate in the exam how much they actually know and can do.

Especially the following cases are not considered an inability to take an exam:

• Exam stress and fear of exams: This limitation of the students’ abilities arises from the exam situation itself. It is assumed that every person being examined is subject to this limitation to a greater or lesser extent.
• Day-to-day fluctuations of abilities: One of the requirements for success is that students are able to perform “normally” even if they are having a bad day.
• Chronic problems: This includes chronic illnesses. In contrast to acute illnesses, these do not distort the students’ abilities. To compensate for their illness, students with chronic illnesses can request a disadvantage compensation.
• Health issues that are the fault of the student, e.g. too high dosage of anti-anxiety medication.

You need to decide before starting the exam whether you are able to take it or not.

If you think you might be unable to take the exam, you need to go to a doctor before the exam and then, if necessary, withdraw from the exam.

If you start an exam even though you are aware that you might be unable to take it because of an illness, then you do so at your own risk and the results of the exam will stand. It is then no longer possible to withdraw after already having started the exam.

Once you start an exam, this automatically means that you declare yourself able to take it. It is only possible to withdraw from an exam once it has started if you were healthy when the exam started and serious symptoms of illness set in after the exam has already started that prevent you from completing the exam. These symptoms of illness cannot be triggered by the exam situation. One example of a symptom of illness that is not triggered by the exam and would be a reason for withdrawing after the exam has started would be an epileptic seizure.

• You need to decide before starting the exam whether you are able to take it or not. Cases in which it is possible to withdraw from an exam after having started it are very rare!

Note: The student has the burden of proof to show that they were unable to take an exam due to an illness.

To prove the inability to take an exam, it is necessary to present a medical certificate that the examination committee can use to check whether you were unable to take the exam due to the type of illness.

In general, the medical certificate can be issued by any doctor. Please note that a certificate of incapacity for work (Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung) is not sufficient.

The Examinations Office provides a template for the medical certificate. If it is completed, then typically the necessary information has been provided.

In cases of doubt if it is not possible to determine the inability to take an exam based on the information provided on the forms, students will be required to submit a detailed medical certificate.

The medical certificate must be obtained at the latest on the day of the exam. If your doctor is not available, you must get in contact with an emergency doctor or an emergency clinic.

If you did not take an examination due to health reasons, you have to immediately request to withdraw. The request must be received by the Examinations Office at the latest 7 days after the examination date.

Please use the Examinations Office’s form:
Request to Withdraw

You can send your Request to Withdraw

• as an email attachment (scan / photo),
• by fax, or
• by post

to the Examinations Office, submit it to the Student Information Center (SIZ), or put it in the Examinations Office’s mailbox.

If you did not take an examination due to important reasons, you have to immediately request to withdraw. The request must be received by the Examinations Office at the latest 7 days after the examination date.

You can send your Request to Withdraw

• as an email attachment (scan / photo),
• by fax, or
• by post

to the Examinations Office, submit it to the Student Information Center (SIZ), or put it in the Examinations Office’s mailbox.

During the pregnancy, activities for studies are generally prohibited between 8 p.m. and 6 a.m.; in exceptional cases,  activities until 10 p.m. are possible.
However, an explicit declaration from the pregnant woman stating that she wants to participate in these activities is required, and there must be no risk to the pregnant woman or fetus.

A risk assessment is then done by the University’s Occupational Health and Safety Unit that ensures that, if you want to, you can continue to study during your pregnancy without any risk for yourself and your child. You can find general information about risk assessments on the Occupational Health and Safety website.

If you wish to withdraw from examinations due to problems during pregnancy, you must submit an informal written request to withdraw from the examinations.

The legal maternity protection period includes 6 weeks before the estimated due date and 8 weeks after birth. The period is extended to 12 weeks after birth for premature births, multiple births (twins, etc.), or if the child is diagnosed with a disability before the 8-week period after the birth has ended. During this period, you do not participate in any mandatory events and will not be admitted to examinations. 

If you have already registered for examinations, this means:

• Your exam registration will be canceled. If you still want to take the exams despite the maternity protection period, you need to submit the Declaration of a Waiver of the Maternity Protection Period.
• For final theses (Bachelor’s or Master’s thesis) that have already been registered, you will be withdrawn, that is, the attempt at the examination is re-set. You can then start again with the thesis.

It is possible to waive the protection period both before and after birth, but this requires an explicit declaration. This declaration may be revoked at any time during the duration of the protection period.

Form “Declaration of a waiver of the maternity protection period”

As previously, you can also take a leave of absence during your pregnancy to interrupt your studies. More information on leaves of absence and the request form.

You can find information on the new Maternity Protection Act (Mutterschutzgesetz) in the guidelines on maternity protection (only available in German) from the Federal Ministry for Family, Seniors, Women and Youth.