The EPE English exam

The EPE is the English exam a Viennese university can attach to your admission. Whether you've been assigned it or not is written into the admission decision itself, the Zulassungsbescheid: without that line, the VWU won't register you for the exam at all.¹

How the EPE written exam works

The written exam runs 150 minutes and has three parts: reading, Language in Use, and writing. Each is worth up to 20 points, and each has its own time limit that you can't borrow from another part.²

The tasks are pitched at B1, the midpoint of the European scale that runs from A1 to C2. Dictionaries aren't allowed, and only those who pass the written exam are admitted to the oral.²

How many points you need to pass the EPE

You need at least 9 of 20 in every part and at least 36 of 60 overall. Both thresholds apply at once, so extra points in one part don't make up for failing the minimum in another.²

The task types in the EPE

The VWU model paper has ten tasks across reading and Language in Use, and it's worth practising all of them.²

Reading, four tasks:

• True/false, justification. Ten statements about the article: mark each true or false and copy out the first four words of the sentence the answer rests on. The longest task in the part.
• Who said what. Three short texts about three people: match each statement to the person it's about.
• Missing pieces. Chunks have been cut from the article; put them back from a list that has two extra ones you don't need.
• Multiple choice. Six questions on the text, each with four options.

Language in Use, six tasks: each one is a text with gaps or errors.

• Word formation. Turn the word in brackets into the right form: in the model paper, (probable) becomes probably.
• Multiple choice. Four options for each gap.
• The odd word out. Most of the ten lines contain a word that shouldn't be there: write it down, and mark the two to four lines that are already correct.
• Word completion. You're shown the first letters of a word and fill in the rest, one letter per blank: nee_ _ _ is needed.
• Open gap. One word per gap, no options given.
• Words from a list. You're given a word list for the gaps, and four of the words in it are extra.²

Every one of these task types has its own article in the EPE theory, with worked examples of how to solve it and where students usually lose points.

Text Production: the blog comment

The third part is a single text: a comment on someone else's blog post, 250 words long. In the model paper, the blogger complains that everyone on the train was staring at their phone. Your comment has to do three things: sum up the writer's position in one sentence and respond to it, explain why young people spend so much time on screens, and propose rules for phones in public places. It's also a blog comment, so you need to address the readers directly.²

Each of the three requirements gets checked. The text is marked up to 5 points on each of four criteria: whether you did the task, whether the text holds together, how varied the language is, and how accurate it is. The first criterion is the one that matters most: score zero on it — say, by writing about something else — and the other three drop to zero with it.²

Length is counted strictly, and a contraction like don't counts as one word:²

• From 225 to 275 words, nothing is deducted for length.
• At 210–224 or 276–375 words, you lose one point.
• At 200 words you already lose two, and the shorter the text, the more you lose, up to six points.
• Under 110 words, the part isn't marked at all: it scores zero, and the whole written exam fails with it.

So count the words in every practice comment: a minute spent counting is cheaper than a point lost on length.

The EPE oral part

You're given two topics, pick one, and get material for it: in the model paper that's pictures to compare and two questions on the topic. You get about 20 minutes to prepare, the conversation itself runs about seven minutes, three people sit on the panel, and there's no dictionary.^1·2

Topics come from a list the VWU publishes alongside the model paper. There are ten: family and relationships, hobbies and celebrations, health and nutrition, housing and cities, shopping and fashion, work, education and language learning, media, travel and transport, the environment. You're assessed on whether you complete the task, how fluently and accurately you speak, and how wide your vocabulary is, but the model paper gives no points table for the oral part.²

If you already hold IELTS or another certificate

Upload everything that might exempt you from the exam along with your university application. Uni Wien specifically advises attaching every transcript and certificate you have, so no exam gets assigned to you in the first place. Once you're enrolled at the VWU, an assigned exam can only be taken there: TU Wien states it no longer accepts outside certificates after that point, and Uni Wien states that assigned exams are taken at the VWU. Attach a certificate like IELTS too — whether it exempts you from the EPE is the university's call.^3·4

A passed EPE doesn't expire: Uni Wien accepts its certificate as proof of English with no time limit.⁵

When to take the EPE, and what an attempt costs

The exam is offered three times a semester: in the winter semester in September, November and January, and in the summer semester in March, April or May, and in June. Each attempt costs €66, and you can retake the exam up to four times. The written and oral parts are counted separately, so each one gets five attempts. How the EPE fits into the whole path through the VWU alongside the other exams is covered in the overview of the preparatory course. What to do after a failed attempt, and how it counts against the semester limit, is covered separately, and every cost together with the course fees is worked out in the article on costs.^1·6

How to prepare for the EPE

The VWU's English course runs for two semesters, 6 to 8 class hours a week depending on the level you start with. Before the English course, some students sit a separate placement test, which isn't the EPE itself. It's for anyone who has a place at the VWU itself, is going into the German track with subjects — FF1 or FF1+ — for the first time, and has been assigned the English exam. It's held in person at the VWU building; it ran on 14–16 September 2026. You can register for the exam without taking the course at all. With or without the course, the order of preparation is the same:^1·7·8

1. Solve the VWU model paper like a real exam: three parts back to back, 50, 40 and 60 minutes, no dictionary. Our EPE trainer isn't open yet, so you'll have to work through the model paper on paper.
2. Check both thresholds and count the words in your comment: that's how you'll see which part is falling short and whether you're losing points on length.
3. In your weakest part, find the task type where you're making the most mistakes.
4. Go through that task type in the EPE theory.
5. Solve that task type again from the model paper, without looking back at your earlier answers, and compare the result.
6. For the oral part, go through the topic list and, for each one, compare two pictures out loud and answer the questions, just like in the model.

Sources

· 8 checked 25.09.2026

1. 1Ergänzungsprüfungen — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten · checked 22.09.2026
2. 2Modell Ergänzungsprüfung Englisch, Stand September 2024 (VWU) · checked 22.09.2026
3. 3Zulassung zum VWU (BA) — Universität Wien · checked 25.09.2026
4. 4Additional and supplementary examinations — TU Wien · checked 25.09.2026
5. 5Englischkenntnisse — Universität Wien · checked 25.09.2026
6. 6Statut des Vorstudienlehrganges der Wiener Universitäten (VWU) · checked 25.09.2026
7. 7Modulbeschreibung Englisch (VWU-Kommission, 20.11.2017) · dated 20.11.2017, checked 22.09.2026
8. 8Erstanmeldung — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten · checked 20.09.2026