Advice for Students – Department of Mathematics

Get informed

Find out about the requirements and regulations of your degree programme and examinations at an early stage. Do not rely on information given by other students – use the following sources instead.

The Degree Program and Examination Regulations contain, among other things, information about the compulsory and elective modules of your degree programme, a sample study plan to help you organise your studies, as well as information about the duration of your studies, about examinations such as the GOP and about final theses. The General Degree Program and Examination Regulations for Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree Programs at the Faculty of Sciences also apply to you and contain the non-subject specific regulations.
Information on the organisation of your studies, exam registration, the possible minor subjects in the Bachelor’s degree programmes and the specialisations in the Master’s degree programmes can be found on the information pages of the student advisors:
Module descriptions, which also contain information on the required prerequisites and references, can be found in campo by calling up the corresponding module. On the website of the Student Advisor BSc Mathematics and the Student Advisor MSc Mathematics you will find instructions on how to view the major and minor modules, how to access the module descriptions and how to register for examinations in the MSc Mathematics.
The website of the Examinations Office provides general information on examinations at FAU. On the website of the Examinations Office of the Faculty of Natural Sciences you will find information on the registration period for module exams, on exam registration, on withdrawal from examinations due to illness, general forms, programme-specific forms and the relevant clerk in the Examination Office.
Regularly check whether the coursework and examinations you have completed have been properly recorded in campo. If this is not the case, please contact your clerk in the Examinations Office. Also check the certificates issued to you directly for correctness and report any errors to your clerk in the Examinations Office.

Seek advice

Don’t sit on problems and difficulties in your studies. Tackle them early on and seek advice. If you are affected by a chronic illness or disability during your studies, you can apply for compensation for disadvantages. In the event of pregnancy, the relevant rules on maternity protection apply during your studies. The Family Service offers advice and practical help for students with children. There are also support services for first generation students and for international students.

For non-subject-specific advice and information contact the Student Service Centre (SSC) of the Teaching Unit of Mathematics and Data Science, which can also refer you to FAU Advice Services. This is always a useful first point of contact if you do not know who to turn to.
For subject-specific advice contact the Student Advisor of your degree:
Your first point of contact in a Master’s degree programme is your mentor, assigned to you at your admission into the programme. You will draw up a study agreement with them right at the start of your studies, which must be approved by the mentor and the Examinations Committee and then submitted to the Examinations Office before the first examination. If this is updated during your studies, the new study agreement must be approved and submitted to the Examinations Office before the examinations affected by the changes take place. This is not a tedious buerocratic exercise, but helps you to structure and organise your studies sensibly.

Inability to sit examinations

Inability to sit examinations means that you are so severely impaired due to illness or other serious circumstances that an examination can no longer provide a meaningful assessment of your performance.

If you are unable to sit an examination, you must declare this before the start of the examination and you cannot participate in the examination. If you took part in the examination nevertheless, it is not possible to annul the examination retrospectively. An exception to this is illness that starts only during the examination. In this case, the inability to take the exam due to illness must be documented by a medical certificate from a special doctor, which must fulfil certain requirements. Read the documentation and explanations of the Examinations Office carefully to avoid problems later on.

If you cannot withdraw from the examination and are unable to take the examination for reasons other than illness you must also notify the Examinations Office before the start of the examination, for example by sending an email. Please note that inability to sit an examination applies only to really serious circumstances for which you are not responsible. You must communicate these serious circumstances and provide evidence.

This does not include general life problems such as stress, nervousness before exams, difficulties in motivating yourself to study, relationship problems or conflicts in your social environment. Problems that existed already in the same form before the end of the withdrawal period are also not a plausible reason.

If it becomes apparent that you will not be able to study regularly for a large part of a semester due to long-term illnesses, problems or circumstances, you should seek advice and guidance early on. A leave of absence may be advisable in this case. Contact the Student Service Centre (SSC) and in a Master’s degree also your mentor.

Extension of the study period or GOP deadline

If possible, you should avoid having to apply for an extension of the period of study or the GOP deadline. The legal hurdles for the approval of such an application are high. Find out about deadlines early on, plan realistically how much time you will need for the parts of your degree programme and how many ECTS points you can complete in a given semester. Do not make full use of deadlines and plan buffers. You should tackle long-term problems, such as exam nerves or financial difficulties, at an early stage, not just when you are in danger of exceeding the maximum duration of study or GOP deadline. Use the resources and counselling services mentioned above. If you have to submit an application for extension, please consult our information on extension applications first.

Annulment of Examinations

An annulment of an examination examinations is only possible in very exceptional cases, for example in the case of an examination with serious deficiencies or in the case of an inability to sit the examination that was only apparent in hindsight. For this reason, there is no application form for an annulment of an examination. In such a case, please contact the Mathematics Examinations Committee first.