Exams
At the end of the semester, your learned knowledge will be tested in an examination.
The exams usually take place during the lecture-free period.
The period usually extends from shortly after the end of lectures until shortly before the beginning of the next semester.
Some professors allow a bonus to improve the exam grade, for which e.g. a certain number of points must be collected in the exercises.
In this case, timely registration for the exercise is necessary.
Exam registration
The registration for the exams takes place online in TUCaN.
To do this, log in and click on “My exams “ in the top menu and then on the left.
You will get an overview of the exams you have registered so far, which should be empty at the moment.
To change this, we now click on “Register for exams “ in the middle on the right.
A list of possible exams will now appear, i.e. only exams for the events for which you have registered.
It is therefore important to register for an event before you can register for an exam.
You can find the registration deadlines in the notices of the Prüfungssekretariat and they will also be displayed in TUCaN when the time comes.
You now pick the corresponding event and click on “Register “ on the right side behind this event.
A small overview about the affiliation to a module or the date of the exam follows.
A click on “Submit “ registers the exam afterwards.
(Note that registration is only possible in the registration periods).
Exam deregistration
You can deregister from most exams up to eight days before the exam date. To do so, go back to the exam overview and click on the link behind the corresponding exam. If this link is not available, the deadline for deregistration has already expired. Now comes a special feature of TUCaN: If you deregister from an exam, it will still appear among the exams, but it will not have a deadline. In other words, the system simply assumes you want to write the exam again at a later date, which the person must then set by logging in again. But don’t worry: Even if this exam continues to show up, you are no longer directly registered for the exam, nor will you get a fail. In case of doubt or ambiguity, it is best to ask at the Prüfungssekretariat.
Sick at short notice
In case of illness, it is of course possible not to take part in the exam, but you must submit a certificate to the Student Secretariat within three days (not a certificate of incapacity for work).
It is important that the following is noted on the certificate:
Beginning and end of the illness (the examination must be within the period).
Absolutely the word unable to take the exam.
The certificate can also be submitted online.
Orientation Module
As of the winter semester 2018/2019, Mentoring has been declared as an orientation module. As a result, participation in mentoring is mandatory for all students of electrical and information engineering, mechatronics and medical engineering. You will all be automatically registered for this course work if you have not previously registered yourself. Please note that non-participation in the event may have further consequences. In the worst case, you will not be able to take any further exams in your course of study.
Medizintechnik - Minimum CPs
A different regulation has been introduced for the Medical Technology program than for the other programs in Department 18.
The regulations of the study program state:
“By the end of the second semester, a minimum of 20 CP must be achieved in modules of the study program; of which completed modules amounting to at least 14 CP from the “Fundamentals of Electrical Engineering and Information Technology” must be proven.”
In other words, you must have passed 14 CP from the subjects by the end of the 2nd semester:
ETiT 1, ETiT 2, Math 1, Math 2, Physics 1, Physics 2, Internship Electrical Engineering and General Computer Science 1.
Procedure of a exam
An exam at university is different from those at school. The exams are probably most similar to a school-leaving exam. In order to make copying impossible from the start, you usually have to leave two seats free to people sitting next to you and one row free to the front and back.
In most exams you will be given writing paper. Exceptions are, for example, the mathematics exams, where you sometimes have to bring your own paper. Under no circumstances should you forget your student ID and an official photo ID, because these will be checked during the exam to rule out cheating. You will receive more detailed information about individual exams and the permitted aids in the respective lecture. Finally, it should be said that the time in exams is often calculated in such a way that it is just possible to finish when everything is almost mastered. Some exams are also designed in such a way that it is not possible to achieve 100% of the points in the exam time, but in these cases the 1.0 is then awarded even with fewer points. Therefore: Always divide the time in exams exactly. And don’t go crazy after the exam if you haven’t completed all the tasks.
Exam bonus
Many courses - especially in the basics - offer exam bonuses. For the bonus you always have to perform different tasks. Sometimes you have to do homework and hand it in, other times you have to pass a short test. You will always find out how the bonus is awarded in the respective course in the first lecture. **But beware ** No matter how high your exam bonus is, it will not help you pass the exam, you have to pass the exam on your own. Only then will you be granted the bonus and it will be offset against your result.
Grades
The grades of the exams are published in TUCaN. To do this, go to “Exams “ -> “Semester Results “ -> “Exam Results “. There you will see the grade. By clicking on “Ø” behind the grade, you can view the grade table of the exam. We would recommend you to download the TUCaN App to your cell phone. There you can see at a glance if new grades have come out and what grade you have. (Unfortunately, there is still no push notification for new results. However, since recently, there is a notification by mail).
Failed?
There is no shame in failing an exam. Don’t be demotivated if you fail an exam. The rule should be that you pass the first exam, which has the decisive advantage of having one less chunk on your to-do list.
If you fail an exam, you will have to take it again in the next semester (or maybe even later). In this case, it is advisable to visit the exam review and look for errors in the correction. These do occur and can make up for a few points.
The second exam (or retake exam) usually runs in the same way as the first exam. Registration for this is also done via TUCaN, just like for a normal exam. Any bonuses collected for the final exam grade usually only apply to the exam in the immediate next semester. If you are not successful in this attempt, you will have one last attempt. After a failed third exam you have once per study program the possibility of an oral supplementary exam (mEP). If you have already taken this opportunity or failed the mEP, you cannot continue studying the subject for the time being. Other subjects that include this exam can also no longer be studied (unfortunately, this also applies to studies at other universities). Especially in the early semesters this is problematic, because the subjects are included in many electrical engineering courses.
However, there are often similar courses at other universities or universities of applied sciences that are still possible! With a sufficiently good bachelor’s grade, it may even be possible to switch back to the TU Darmstadt for the master’s degree.
General Examination Regulations (APB)
The General Examination Regulations (APB) are the basic rules for all examinations at the university. They have existed since the beginning of TU’s autonomy and replace the examination regulations in the Hessian Higher Education Act. In the meantime, the APB has undergone four revisions, through which there have been some changes. Even if you don’t know the old regulations, there are enough older students who haven’t noticed much of the changes, which means that rumors about some regulations are always circulating. The most important regulations are already listed above.
We can only recommend everyone to skim the APB at least once. You can find the full document at https://u.fs-etit.de/apb. Be careful when searching the internet. There are still old versions or drafts floating around on many TU sites.
To explain all points of the APB would go beyond the scope of High Voltage Source. However, we do not want to leave two other important points unmentioned.
“Sneaking” attempts by jumping?
In the past, a very popular trick was to “cheat” your way into additional exam attempts by jumping between different courses. At other universities, this is still possible in some cases. The APB, however, prohibits such a procedure, since failed exam attempts are also counted when changing programs. The regulation also applies when changing from another university to the TU Darmstadt. It is also not possible to take the examinations in another study program as a so-called additional achievement and then have them subsequently recognized in the etit or MEC study program. In such a case, the examination office simply lets you write the exam again.
Supplementary oral examination (mEP)
Above we already mentioned the mEP, which you can take once per course of study. Of course, we hope that you do not have to do this, but here is some information about the mEP. The mEP is regulated in §32 of the current APB, which you can of course read in more detail if you need or are interested in it. The mEP is intended to prevent you from being kicked out of the program without the professor in question having personally experienced you and evaluated your performance. First of all, it is important that the third examination attempt was in writing, because only then will you have the opportunity to apply for the mEP within one month after the grades have been announced in the Examination Office. If this request was made, you have the chance to improve the failed exam to a 4.0 and continue your studies.
Finally, two important things to note. In order to apply for an mEP you must have participated in the third attempt at the exam, and you must not have turned in a blank sheet. It must be recognizable that you have tried to solve the task(s).