FAQ Examinations

In order to study successfully, read your examination order (Prüfungsordnung) and the subject specifications for the examination order (Prüfungsordnungsanhang).

You can find all the graded exams that need to be registered on Jogustine in your subject specifications. These include course and module exams (the column "Studienleistung" and the line "Modulprüfung").

Contact

Technical problems while you are trying to register for an exam?

Any questions concerning exams, grades, achievements?

  • Please contact Alexandra Velten, exams manager.

Active participation

If the boxes indicating 'module exam' (Modulprüfung) and 'course exam' (Studienleistung) in your examination order are empty, it means that the course requires only "active participation" (aktive Teilnahme).
Your lecturers will inform you at the start of the semester what they expect from you as active participation. Active participation can comprise short essays, homework, quizzes, presentations and/or in-class written tests (up to 45 mins.).

Active participation is marked by a green check mark on JOGUStINe. You are always granted "active participation" by registering for a course. Should you not fulfill the active participation, your lecturer will withdraw the check mark at the end of the semester.
Should the green check mark be missing from the module or should the course appear in a greyed-out background on Jogustine, your lecturer has withdrawn your check mark and has set you "inactive". In that case, you must repeat the course.
You do not get a grade for active participation!

  • How do you find the "active participation" in JOGUStINe?
    Read "Finding results in Jogustine" on this page.

Attested absence - illness

In order to facilitate things for you and your doctor, you can find a form for doctoral attested absence in the download section on this page. Your doctor can but does not have to use this form to attest your illness.
IMPORTANT! The yellow notes "Arbeitsunfähigkeitsbescheinigung für den Arbeitgeber" ("doctoral attested certificate for your employer") is NOT a valid form and we are not allowed to accept it (since we are not your employer).

The attested absence form must be handed in to Alexandra Velten (velten@uni-mainz.de)  (depending on your course of studies) within three work days.
(this can be done via mail. The post office stamp date will be our reference).

Postal address:
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
FB 05, Department of English and Linguistics
Studienbüro Englisch
Alexandra Velten, M.A.
Jakob-Welder-Weg 18
55128 Mainz

We also emphatically recommend the webpages of the faculty FB 05 examination office concerning  "Default and withdrawal from exams (Säumnis und Rücktritt von Prüfungen)" (see "Further links").

Did you know,...
... that you are allowed to miss class twice per semester - maximum (4 semester week hours)?
Read more in the interdisciplinary examination order under § 5 (5).

Bachelor's or Master's thesis

B.A. and M.A. students must register their theses with the examination office of FB 05 (Prüfungsamt of FB 05).

Exams - course work vs. module exam

  • Module exams (Modulprüfung/Prüfungsleistung)
    ... can be repeated twice only (for a total of three attempts).
    Repeat exams must always take place within six months after a failing grade has been published, or else you will have failed the exam AGAIN!
    Once an exam has not been passed within three attempts, you have forfeited your right to take any other exams in the field and cannot study the same subject any longer.
  • Course work (Studienleistung)
    ... can be repeated for as often as one needs to. Unlike module exams (Modulprüfung), these exams do not have to be repeated within six months.

Finding results on JOGUStINe

This is how you will find the results of the courses you have taken and whether you have passed a class with "active participation":

  • Overview:
    JOGUStINe → Studies → Academic records: modules you have passed are published with a grade.
  • For more details:
    JOGUStINe → Studies → Results → Module results: click on exams of the respective module for more details (e.g., the final grade column says “not set yet”). You may have to change the semester settings.
  • An example-PDF can be found in Downloads on this page.

Module is not shown in overview - no final grade

Modules can only be published, once ALL the grades from ALL the classes and for ALL the students registered for the same module (in other words: not simply your own grade) have been entered by the lecturers. As long as grades from past semesters are still missing, a module cannot be published collectively.
Please do not ask for individual publication of these grades unless you need it for important reasons (such as for a transcript in order to sign up for a Master's). In those cases, Alexandra Velten can publish grades individually. However, it is impossible to individually publish every grade for 2,600 students, so please ask for it only in really urgent cases.

This is how you can check whether you have taken all ourses required in a given module:

  • Go to the specifications for your examination order (Prüfungsordnungsanhang) (i.e. in the menu to your left named "studies- and examinations order"/"Studien- und Prüfungsordnungen"). Pay attention to the year of the examination orders (PO-Anhänge)!
  • Compare the requirements of your examination order (PO-Anhang) with the results in your modules. A detailed manual to find your result can be found on this page under "Finding results in Jogustine" (document in German only).

Plagiarism

According to a departmental resolution from June 18th, 2014, a two part proceeding to prevent plagiarisms was enacted:

First attempt at plagiarism/attempted fraud:
The exam is marked as "failed" and the lecturer contacts the studies manager. The student is then invited to a hearing. After a legal instruction, a memo signed by the student, the lecturer, and the studies manager is passed on to the faculty's exams office, where it is archived and, after graduation of the student, destroyed for data protection.

Repeated plagiarism/attempted fraud :
The student will be invited to the examination board, which can, according to the examinations regulation exempt him/her from further exams in the department. Grave and/or repeated cases of fraudulent behavior can thus lead to a excemption from all exams and thus can lead to exmatriculation for a field of studies!

In cases of grave fraudulent behavior, even the first attempt can be reported to the central examinations board, which will then decide whether a student's immatriculation will be paused or ended and whethers she/he will be excluded from further examinations in a subject.

Transcript of Records

B.A./M.A. students: Please contact the exams manager of your MAJOR subject.

Please note
A transcript is an official document, which cannot be printed out on the go. Plan for at least a week of processing time, which, during vacation time, can take even longer (as several  exams manager can be involved in the process depending on your subject combination).

Title page for term papers and written exams

With EACH written exam (term papers and final exams), a filled in and signed title page must be handed in.

Handing in term papers: DEL students are asked to hand in their term papers without a folder as simple stapled DIN A4 packages of paper. Make sure it contains - on the front - the title page that you downloaded, filled in, and signed.

Handing in written exams: Download the title page, fill it in and sign it and bring it with you to the exam.

After corrections are done, the exams remain with the lecturers until the beginning of the next examinations registration period. Student can look at their exams there during office hours and discuss them with their lecturers if need be. But lecturers will not hand out copies of the exams!
Then, the exams are passed on to the office managers for another six months. If needed, you can now borrow the exam for copying purposes (by depositinga valid ID) and must bring it back immediately. In case, you cannot come in person (i.e. stay abroad), a friend can copy your exam as long as the can present a letter of authorization signed by you.

By the end of a semester, alls exams that have not been collected by then, will be destroyed. All module relevant exams will be archived until two years after a student's graduation and can no longer be copied or examined.

The title page can be found in the download area in the upper right-hand corner.

Repeating an exam

In case you have already fulfilled the requirements for active participation but failed the exam or module exam, you do not necessarily need to repeat the course -  with one exception: as the head of the examinations board informed the department board on June 12, 2013, students must repeat an entire course in the course types CS I American Studies and English Literature and Culture.

  • Please note the following procedure:
  • DEADLINES:
    Pay attention to the deadlines for repeating module exams: these repeat exams MUST take place within the next possible examination phase, otherwise the exam will automatically be counted as another failed attempt!
    Course exams are not handled as strictly.

Please continue reading about:
.....repeating term papers
or
.....repeating final exams

Repeating a term paper

It is possible to repeat a term paper, as long as the SAME lecturer with whom you failed your first attempt offers to read a second exam on a new topic. In this case, a new course registration is not necessary
This is how you register for a repeat exam with your lecturer:

  • Print the form for a repeat exam/Wiederholungsprüfung  (see downloads).
  • Take the form to your lecturers OFFICE HOURS, ask for the permit to repeat the exam and set the deadline in a personal conversation. Be polite!
  • The form remains with the lecturer.
  • Registration with a repeat exam form is not limited to the regular exam registration periods. But pay close attention to keeping the deadline for the paper as well as to new registration periods for module exams!
  • You lecturer can and may recommend that you might better take the course (proseminar/seminar) again.
  • In case you decide to register for the course again, we strongly recommend to participate on a regular basis.
  • If you have acquired the active participation in a previous course, you will not have to gain it again.

Please avoid ...
... to ask some random lecturer whether you can write a repeat exam with her/him even though you did not take her/his course.
... to participate in a course without registration for it with the goal of wanting to write a repeat exam in that course. This will be counted as an inadmissible free trial, which will not be credited (no matter how brilliant the exam was).

Repeating a written exam

You have completed the active participation, but did not pass the final exam. You have the chance to repeat the exam in the following semester without having to register for the course again.

We urgently advise you to:
Take part in the class as a guest in order to be prepared for the exam. Neither a registration, nor regular attendance are necessary - with the exception of: CS I American Studies and CS I British Studies/English Literature and Culture: for these two classes, you cannot simply repeat the exam but MUST repeat the entire class (see: repeating exams)!

  • Address your respective lecturer AT THE BEGINNING OF THE SEMESTER (DURING HER/HIS OFFICE HOURS), and let her/him know that you want to participate as a guest and to repeat the exam in her/his class. Be polite!
  • If you register for the class again, you MUST PARTICIPATE regularly. Otherwise you will not meet the prerequisites for active participation in the new course and you will automatically fail again!
  • Registration for exams are done online - in Jogustine!

Please avoid ...
... to simply appear at an exam, expecting to write said exam - without having talked to the lecturer beforehand. You can't expect a lecturer to bring enough exam sheets if s/he does not know how man are taking an exam!
... to try to write an exam without registering the exam in JOGUStINe first. This will be counted as an inadmissible free trial, which will not be credited (no matter how brilliant the exam was).

Word count - Term papers literary sciences

These numbers apply ONLY to literary term papers (NOT linguistic ones). The word count should not deviate from the norm asked for by your lecturer by more than +/- 5-10%. If in doubt, please talk to your lecturer before handing in the term paper.

Course Type/Course of StudiesBachelor of ArtsBachelor of Education/WiPäd
Proseminar 115/1201500 words--
Proseminar 1222500 words 1250 words
Proseminar/Seminar 1232500 words--
Proseminar/Seminar 2102500 words--
Seminar 3135000 words2500 words
Seminar 4105000 words2500 words
Course Type/Course of StudiesMaster of ArtsMaster of Education/WiPäd
Übung 5115-10 pages--
Seminar 5126000 words4000 words
Seminar 5226000 words4000 words
Seminar 5326000 words--
Seminar 5336000 words--

Word count - Term papers English Linguistics

These numbers apply ONLY to term papers in English linguistics (NOT to literary sciences). The word count should not deviate strongly from the norm that your lecturer asked for. If in doubt, please talk to your lecturer before handing in the term paper.

Course Type/Course of StudiesBachelor of ArtsBachelor of Education/WiPäd
Proseminar3000-3500 words2000-2500 words
Seminar5000-5500 words3000-3500 words
Course Type/Course of StudiesMaster of ArtsMaster of Education/WiPäd
Seminar5000-5500 words3000-3500 words