You can apply for an extension if you are unable to meet the deadlines stipulated in the examination regulations due to disability or illness.
If you are ill for a longer period of time during the current semester and are therefore unable to take any examinations at all, the best course of action would be to apply for a leave semester due to illness. Please talk to our advice service, especially if you are receiving BAföG.
If you have already registered for examinations taking place during a leave semester, please note:
If you are only ill on a single exam date, please promptly submit the Inability to Attend Examinations due to Illness Form to the Examinations Office.
If you require a general extension of deadlines for written assignments due to a disability, chronic or mental impairment, you can apply for an academic adjustment. This application can also include an extension of the writing time for your dissertation or thesis.
However, if you are acutely unable to complete your term paper in the time available due to illness or an impairment, please discuss this with the supervisor of the term paper immediately after you become aware of the illness or impairment and submit a medical certificate (see information sheet). If you need help with this, please contact the Student Disabilities Officer.
Examples:
If you need to apply for an extension of the writing time for your dissertation or thesis due to an acute illness, an acute deterioration in your state of health in connection with an existing disability or chronic or mental illness, or for other reasons outside your control (e.g. serious illness or death of a close relative), please contact your examinations officer immediately after you become aware of the illness/change in your state of health. Please refer to the information sheet on how to apply.
If you require a general extension of the submission deadline for your dissertation or thesis due to a disability, chronic or mental impairment, e.g. because you can only work a limited number of hours per day, you can apply for an academic adjustment.
If you wish to request an extension of the maximum duration of study due to a disability or chronic or mental illness, you must apply in writing to the relevant examinations officer for your degree programme in the Examinations Office. Your application can be a simple e-mail or letter – there is no specific form for this. Please describe in the application the illness-related symptoms that lead or have led to the fact that you were unable to complete your studies within the maximum period of study and therefore require an extension of the period of study beyond the maximum period of study.
You must enclose a certificate from a specialist or general practitioner or a report from a psychotherapist or, if you are below the age of 21, a child and adolescent psychotherapist describing how your illness affects your studies and why, from a medical perspective, you require an extension to your period of study due to your illness. Please also refer to the information sheet on the certificate.
If you are studying at the Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics, please submit your application to as soon as you become aware of your disability or health impairment.
If you are studying at one of the other faculties, you should submit the application shortly before the end of the maximum period of study. However, the Examinations Office should be informed of the existence of a health impairment early on.
In the degree programmes of the Faculty of Business, Economics and Information Systems and the Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics, there is a regulation that a certain number of ECTS points must be achieved during the first semesters. When studying law, the intermediate examination must be passed after the fifth semester and the University examination after the 16th semester at the latest.
If you can foresee that you will not be able to fulfil this requirement due to disability, chronic or mental illness, you can submit an informal application for an extension of the deadline, enclosing a certificate from a specialist or general practitioner (see information sheet).
You send the informal application together with a certificate and a transcript of the passed and failed examinations by e-mail directly to the chairperson of the Board of Examiners of the Faculty of Computer Science and Mathematics. You must submit the application as soon as the disability or mental or chronic illness occurs.
To apply for an extension of the deadline, submit an informal application letter or e-mail and a certificate to the relevant examinations officer, who will check the application and forward it to the Board of Examiners.
Applications for deadline extension should be sent to the relevant examinations officer for the Juristische Zwischenprüfung at the Examinations Office; they should be addressed to the Dean of the Faculty of Law, who will decide on the application.
If you wish to apply for a deadline extension for the Universitätsprüfung, please also send it to the examinations officer for the Juristische Zwischenprüfung at the Examinations Office, but address it to the chairperson of the Board of Examiners of the Faculty of Law, who will decide on the application.
