Questions from the Master students for the first, exam specific, townhall of the Spring/Summer semester 2021, 11.02   4:30 pm

(the session will not be recorded but the answers will be available after in written form)

  1. Do we have to accept it if chairs categorically deny to answer content related questions (e.g. about a particular exercise from the exercise class) with the reasoning that this would be unfair on the students that wrote the exam on the first exam date? Isn’t the whole point about writing an exam on the second date that you have to prepare for the exam later, so obviously questions are coming up now that you’re preparing and not in November already?
  • In general, content-related questions will be answered. However, if the question is about a prospective exam question, it is the lecturer’s decision not to answer a particular question.
  1. According to §24 of the Prüfungsordnung, partial exams (presentations, case studies) are not to be included in the overall grading of the course, if you move the exam to the second exam date. Upon the question of why the Prüfungsamt have set up the Prüfungsordnung this way, the following statement was provided over email: “Grundlage der Prüfungsordnung ist die technische Ausstattung (Software) für die Verwaltung der Noten. Teilprüfungen können mit der bestehenden Software bei einem Rücktritt im System nicht berücksichtigt werden.” To be honest, can students working for nothing be in the best interest of the university or the chairs? Besides, grade calculations is something you can do with an excel formula, so how is this a software issue? Second, chairs are circumventing this rule anyway – they simply report a grade to the Prüfungsamt, which includes the presentation/case study. It would be greatly appreciated if you could address this issue, thanks!
  • In general, a course concludes with one exam which can consist of two or more partial exams (e.g. written exam and case study). The lecturer defines one final grade which is conveyed to the student Services. It is not possible to withdraw from a partial exam to ensure the comparability of all exams.
  1. What are better ways to avoid the disconnect between students and university due to Corona? (for example regularly inviting the Studienbüro and Prüfungsamt into these sessions, provide phone numbers of university personnel)
  • We try our very best to keep up the connection between students and administration, e.g. is the Head of the Office of the Examination Committee, Mrs. Saia-Merkel, present at all Town Halls. Due to Corona, some departments get much more emails than usual and need some time to answer.

Most of our colleagues are working from home at the moment, thus providing a phone number is not possible. Many offer online consulting though. In urgent cases, please contact your program manager via email and we will take care of your problem asap.