The Berlin Higher Education Act (BerlHG) has been amended to include a provision (Section 126b) on how failed examinations are to be handled for a defined period of time. This states that if you fail an examination taken between April 1, 2020, and March 31, 2023, then this attempt will be considered null and void. The decision to extend Section 126b BerlHG to the 2022/2023 winter semester was approved by Berlin’s House of Representatives (Abgeordnetenhaus) on March 23, 2023, and entered into force on April 4, 2023.

This exception no longer applies to examinations as of summer semester 2023. Failed examination attempts will therefore be recorded and count as official attempts.

However, examinations scheduled to take place after April 1, 2023, but that were originally scheduled for the 2022/2023 winter semester still count as exceptions under Section 126b BerlHG (for example, retakes of exams from the 2022/2023 winter semester or exams scheduled prior to March 31, 2023, that could not be taken with just cause due to a student’s personal situation). The appropriate examination board has the final say over disputed cases.

For the sake of fairness, the same applies to exams taken between March 15 and 31, 2020. If the date of the exam or the deadline for a written assignment falls between March 15, 2020 and September 30, 2022, the attempt will be considered null and void. The regulation also applies to any assessments that fall between March 15, 2020, and September 30, 2022, so long as there was at least one day of work or processing scheduled for the assessment during that period.

The regulations stipulated in Section 126b of the Berlin Higher Education Act (BerlHG) also apply to final theses for bachelors’ and masters’ degree programs as well as to university examinations that are prerequisites for taking the state examinations (Staatsexamensprüfung) in pharmacy or veterinary medicine, both degree programs that terminate with the state exams (Staatsexamen). Said regulations also apply to all examinations in the law degree program that are prerequisites for that state exam in a required field or the university exam in an area of specialization.

Examinations that receive a failing grade because the candidate has cheated are excluded from this regulation. Similarly, this regulation does not apply if a candidate fails to submit a written thesis or show up to an obligatory examination without just cause for said omission.

If you failed an examination after April 1, 2020, but have retaken the examination since then and passed, then this regulation does not apply to your situation.

The applicable information shall be removed from the Campus Management system. You don’t have to take action unless you need an up-to-date overview of your academic performance, e.g., for an application, before your records have been updated in the Campus Management system. In this case, please get in touch with the responsible examinations office. All other cases will be processed gradually, depending on the office’s workload.