Information on Examination Procedures

The grading scale at the Faculty of Electrical and Computer Engineering of the TU Dresden ranges from 1 to 5:

• 1 = very good
• 2 = good
• 3 = satisfactory
• 4 = sufficient
• 5 = not sufficient

Passing grades may also be qualified decimal numbers such as 0.3 or 0.7 to indicate tendencies towards the next grade. The grades 0.7, 4.3, 4.7 and 5.3 do not exist.

Ungraded assessments are evaluated as "passed" or "failed".

The module grade is determined according to the specification of the module descriptions, which are part of the study regulations. If a module grade is composed of several sub-grades, only the first decimal place after the decimal point is taken into account. All other decimal places are dropped without rounding. The module grade is as follows:

• until including 1.5 = very good 
• from 1.6 until including 2.5 = good
• from 2.6 until including 3.5 = satisfactory 
• from 3.6 until including 4.0 = sufficient 
• from 4.1 = not sufficient

Upon successful completion of all modules and the final thesis, an overall grade is calculated according to the examination regulations. The calculation rules that apply to the module grade apply to the final grade, too, with one exception:

Examination regulations before 2010: If the grade of the thesis is 1.0 and the final grade of the "Diplom" exam is better than 1.3, the overal rating "passed with distinction" is awarded.
Examination regulations as of 2010: If the student has achieved an average of up to and including 1.2 and the final grade of the thesis is up to including 2.0, the overall grade is "passed with distinction" instead of "very good".  

Students have to register for all exams via the portals:

• HISQIS: Study courses ET, IST, MT, and RES matriculated before 2020
• selma: Study courses NES, as well as ET, IST, MT, and RES matriculated after 2020, BMT

The exception is examination barrier 3rd semester in diploma study courses.

The registration period is announced by the examination office. Usually, the registration period in the winter semester is in January/February, in the summer semester in June/July.

The registration for exams includes lab courses that have been completed in the current semester, compulsory language modules as well as exams that the student has taken during the lecture period (e.g. introductory project).

If there is an exam missing in the list, please contact the examination office.

Cancellation and withdrawal differ considerably with regard to the legal consequences.

The following applies in principle:

• You are registered for an exam and now you don't want to take it in this exam period? Then cancellation is the right way. Please note that all examination deadlines continue (first retake within one year; second retake at the next possible examination date). Do not deregister from a second re-examination without consulting us!  If you have any doubts, please contact the Examination Office!
• Are you registered for an exam and are unable to take it on the exam date through no fault of your own (illness, accident, etc.)?
  Then withdrawal is the right way. With regard to the examination deadlines (first retake within one year; second retake on the next possible examination date), an approved withdrawal has the same effect as taking the examination.

Cancellation:
Students can cancel their exam registration up to 3 working days (Monday–Saturday) before the exam date without submitting any reasons. Cancellations have to be done by the student via HISQIS or  SELMA. If the cancellation is technically not possible (e.g. in the case of oral examinations outside the core examination period), the student must cancel directly with the examination office via the examiner. Before deregistering from an examination, please check whether a retake period is running. If you are unsure, please contact the Examinations Office.

3-working-days-period: The 3-working-days-period includes the weekdays Monday to Saturday only. Sundays and holidays are not counted. The day of the exam will count towards the 3-working-days-period. Which means: When the exam takes place on a Thursday, the student can cancel his registration for the exam until Tuesday 11:59 p.m. without giving any reason.

Withdrawal:
If you are unable to take part in a registered examination through no fault of your own (illness, accident, etc.), you must immediately apply in writing to the Examinations Office to withdraw from the examination and provide credible reasons for this.

Due to illness please use this form and submit a medical certificate (not a certificate of incapacity for work). The certificate must contain the symptoms of the illness. This form can be used for the certificate. Informal certificates are also accepted, provided they contain the required information. The examination board reviews the validity of the withdrawal based on the symptoms.

The Diplom/Master's thesis is an assessment. If the student is ill while working on his/her thesis, a medical certificate must be presented. This form can be used for the medical certificate. The certificate must give the symptoms of the disease. On the basis of these symptoms, the examination board decide whether the student was incapable of working on his/her thesis. If the examination board decide that the student was incapable of working, the student's deadline for handing in the thesis is extended for the time of the recognized sick days (calendar days).

If the student fails a module exam, s/he has the possibility to repeat the failed assessment. Regarding the repetition, there are deadlines to be considered: 

Failed for the 1st time: 

• The student has to take the 1st re-examination within one year.

Failed for the 2nd time:

• The student has to take the 2nd re-examination at the following exam date (last possibility).

If these deadlines are exceeded, the examination is graded as "5" or "failed".

Passed examinations cannot be repeated (exception: free trial).

After the completion of written examination performances, the professorships regularly offer appointments to view the examinations with the possibility of consultation. In these consultation views, copies or notes may only be made if this has been expressly permitted by the examiner. Accompaniments also require the consent of the examiner.

For more information, please refer to the leaflet of the examination board for electrical engineering.

Students of Electrical Engineering, Information Systems Engineering, Mechatronics and Renewable Energy Systems are automatically registered for the exams in

• Algebraische und analytische Grundlagen
• Grundlagen der Elektrotechnik
• Algorithmen und Datenstrukturen (Information Systems Engineering only)

(Not valid for students following the new study guides from 2024 on)

If a student has not passed these exams until the end of the 2nd semester, s/he is not allowed to register for the exams of the following semesters.

NB: If a student has failed one or several of these exams, s/he will be automatically registered for the following exam date for the failed exam. If the students does not want to retake the exam at this date, s/he has to cancel her/his registration via HISQIS / SELMA . The deadlines for cancellation/withdrawal/re-examination have to be considered.

The study guides indicate which modules contain which course(s) and which assessment(s) has/have to be taken within a module. The website ist available in German only. 

What is a free trial? – When the student has taken the complete module assessment (i.e. all the assessments that are part of the module) before the semester in which the complete module assessment is planned according to the study plan of the degree programme, it is a free trial.

If the student passes the module assessment, s/he is allowed to retake all the module assessments or only parts of it at the following exam date if s/he wants to improve her/his grade. The student has to submit an application in this case. The better grade is valid. If the student does not retake the exam at the following exam date, the possibility to improve her/his grade expires.

A failed module assessment that has been taken in the frame of a free trial is regarded as not taken. 

Application form

Use of calculators in basic studies  

Overview allowed calculators

Regulations on multiple choice procedures 

If you withdraw from the university despite having open repeat examinations in the current examination procedure, you should be aware that the examination deadlines will continue to apply. You are therefore generally obliged to complete the repeat examinations at TU Dresden.  If you do not attend the examination, you will be given a grade of 5.0. If, for example, you have definitively failed electrical engineering, you will no longer be able to study electrical engineering at any other university in Germany.
In such cases, please seek advice from the relevant examination office.