Ergänzungsprüfung Deutsch (EPD) in Vienna: exam sessions, registration and results

The EPD, the German exam for admission to Vienna's universities, is run by the VWU, the preparatory course of the Vienna universities. If your admission decision assigns it to you, the practical questions remain: which session to register for, how to do it, what to bring and when to expect your result. The table below loads the session dates from our exam calendar every time the page opens, so it always shows what is currently published.

EPD session dates

The EPD is held six times a year. The oral exams of each session run in their own window a few weeks after the written part, and only those who passed the written part are invited.¹

Two of the six sessions fall outside the universities' admission window: the November one for the winter semester, and the April or May one for the summer semester. If you pass at one of these sessions you get a grade, but you can no longer use it to move into regular study in that same semester. So if you're going straight to university after the EPD, choose a different session.²

How to register for the EPD

Registration is online only, through the VWU student portal, portal.vwu.at. Each session has its own registration period, and once it closes you can no longer register. For a later session you register when its own period opens: you can't sign up for two at once.²

To register you need a valid Zulassungsbescheid, the Vienna university's admission decision that assigns you the EPD. You don't have to attend the course at the VWU: you can register without it. The fee is €66 per attempt (an Antritt, in German).²

What to bring to the EPD

For the written part, bring an official photo ID, such as your passport.²

Dictionaries and electronic devices are banned in the written part, phones and smartwatches included, and your scrap paper is collected with your paper at the end.¹

In the oral part, on the other hand, there is a dictionary: the VWU provides a monolingual one for the preparation time, and you can jot down key words. How the oral part runs step by step is covered in the article on the oral exam.

The EPD written part in brief

The written part takes 180 minutes and has four sections: reading, listening, grammar and vocabulary, and writing. You pass with at least 45 of 75 points in total and the minimum in each section separately.¹

The section minimums, and who can have the written part credited without sitting it, are in the EPD overview. Every section is shown on a real task with its solution in the sample exam.

EPD results and certificate

The result of the written part arrives by email, after about a week and a half. With a grade from 1 to 4 you have passed that part and are invited to the oral. A grade of 5, nicht genügend, means you retake the written part at one of the next sessions.¹

The result of the oral part is announced straight after it. You download your certificate from the VWU student portal, from the date the VWU gives for your session.²

How many attempts you get at the EPD

You can retake the written part four times and the oral part four times as well, and they are counted separately. That gives you up to five attempts at each part.¹

What to do after a failed attempt and how to choose your next session is covered in the article on retakes.

Sources

· 2 checked 23.09.2026

1. 1Modell Ergänzungsprüfung Deutsch (gültig ab Juni 2026)
2. 2Ergänzungsprüfungen — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten