Information on the first State Examination
Table of contents
Examination components and content
The legal basis for the first State Examination is the Teacher Training Regulations I (LAPO I). Students usually take their State Examinations in the eighth semester of their studies. According to §24 of LAPO I, the 1st State Examination covers elementary school didactics, the subject of your choice including its didactics and educational science with a special focus on elementary school pedagogy. The 1st State Examination comprises the following:
- Final thesis
- Oral examinations
- Written examinations
Upon taking the 1st State Examination, your studies at the university will be completed. According to § 1 of LAPO I, the 1st State Examination should demonstrate that you “have acquired the pedagogical knowledge, the specialist knowledge, the didactic knowledge of your subject or vocation and, if necessary, the artistic aptitude for admission to the practical training phase with the aim of becoming a qualified teacher.” The 1st State Examination is held twice a year during the specified examination periods at universities.
Registration and deadlines
The Saxon State Office for School and Education is responsible for the 1st State Examination. As a result, you must submit your application for the admission to the 1st State Examination to the Dresden office of the Saxon State Office for School and Education. The Saxon State Office for School and Education announces the examination dates and the registration deadline, and has the final say on admission to the examination. To find out what documents must be submitted for registration and what other information you should be aware of, visit the Saxon State Office for School and Education website. Once you have registered, you will find the dates for the written and oral examinations on the Saxon State Office for School and Education website.
You can find a list of frequently asked questions here.
Please also note the information on LAPO I on our Chair’s web page relating to study documents.
Completing your State Examination thesis at the Chair of Primary Education/ Mathematical Education
If you want to write your State Examination thesis at the Chair of Primary Education/ Mathematical Education, please register on OPAL here and upload the form “Request for supervision of State Examination thesis” (“Anfrage zur Betreuung der Staatsexamensarbeit”). Please be aware that this is a request only. You will receive a notification from us as to whether we can supervise you during the current examination period. Please refrain from making any further inquiries until then.
In the OPAL course, you will also find the submission deadlines for your request for the respective examination period (April–June or October–December).
The State Examination thesis is your final thesis and should therefore be written in line with the guidelines for academic writing for your degree program. Please note the guidelines for writing an academic thesis in Primary Education/ Mathematical Education.
Oral State Examination at the Chair of Primary Education/ Mathematical Education
If you want to complete your oral examination at the Chair of Primary Education/ Mathematical Education, please enter your requested examiner here on OPAL. Please be aware that this is a request only. You will be informed of your examination date and your examiner by the State Office for School and Education in due course. Please refrain from making any further inquiries until then.
We have created an information video in which we give some general tips for the oral examination at the Chair of Primary Education/ Mathematical Education and answer some frequently asked questions. You can watch the video in the OPAL course. Please also take note of the information about the oral exam, which we have summarized for you in the presentation slides.
Every year, our Chair holds an information event on the Oral State Examination at the Chair of Primary Education/ Mathematical Education You will be able to use this event to get answers to any questions that you may have. When another information event is schedules, you will find the date on our start page in the “News” section.
Here you will find a list of some of the main topics covered in the oral examination.
At the Chair of Primary School Education/Mathematics, we usually ask you to submit a handout about 2 weeks before your oral State Examination date that includes the topic and outline of your presentation, the literature you used, and the course you attended at the Chair (with the names of the lecturers). You can download a WORD template of the handout in the OPAL course. Please bring three printed copies of your handout with you on the day of the exam.
Please note that these stipulations are specific to the Chair of Primary School Education/Mathematics. Other Chairs may handle this differently...