WU admission test for WISO: stages, exam content and preparation

The German-taught bachelor in Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften (business, economics and social sciences) at WU Vienna, known as WISO, has an admission procedure. It runs once a year and ends with a written exam on site, but only if more people register than there are places. You can register in your final school year; your school-leaving certificate is only needed at enrolment.¹

The dates for the 2027/28 academic year have not been published yet. WU says the information will come out in mid-November. Every date below is from the last cycle, 2026/27, and only shows roughly how the year runs.¹

The WISO procedure in the last cycle

The exam took place in 2026 because there were more valid registrations than places. There is no make-up date. Those who passed could start in the winter semester 2026/27 or the summer semester 2027.¹

Registration, fee and self-assessment

The registration fee is €50 and must reach WU's account before the deadline. It is not refunded. If you pass and enrol, you receive a welcome voucher worth the same amount. Late registration is not possible.²

The Online Self-Assessment (OSA) is stage one. It is meant to help you judge whether the programme suits you, with tasks on reading in German and English, maths and basic economics. It is not graded and has no time limit. You must still complete it in full by the deadline, since it cannot be done later, and a green tick must then appear in the registration tool.¹

The whole procedure is in German. WU advises taking part only from level B2 upwards, and by the start of your studies you need C1.²

What the WISO admission exam covers

The exam lasts two hours and consists only of multiple-choice questions in three areas:

• Basic economics, from WU's own study text "Wirtschaft verstehen", 2026 edition.
• German reading comprehension. The tasks follow the reading sections of high-level language certificates. WU recommends reading quality media such as Der Standard, Die Presse or Die Zeit regularly.
• Maths, from a list of 13 topics: logic, elementary algebra and financial maths, equations and inequalities, linear, quadratic, power, polynomial, exponential and logarithmic functions, derivatives and optimisation, probability and the binomial distribution. The level matches the Austrian standardised Matura in maths. A formula sheet comes with the exam, and WU publishes practice questions.

English is not tested in the exam, only in the OSA.¹

Any calculator is allowed as long as it cannot solve systems of equations, multiply matrices, differentiate or integrate, and has no text memory. WU lists the TI-30XS MultiView, TI-30X Plus MultiView, TI-30X Plus MathPrint and TI-30X IIS as examples; the TI-30X Pro MathPrint is not allowed. Anyone caught with a banned device is out of the procedure.³

Bring an original, physical photo ID (a digital one is not accepted), the printed exam invitation, a blue or black pen and your calculator.¹

How WU awards partial points

In questions with more than one right answer, every cross counts. Each correctly ticked option earns an equal share of the maximum, each wrongly ticked option takes a share away, and a question never drops below zero. Questions with only one right answer are marked all or nothing.

WU explains this with its own example: which rivers flow through Austria? The options are the Danube, Inn, Elbe, Volga and Seine, and the question is worth 3 points. Two answers are right, so each is worth 1.5 points. Three are wrong, so each costs 1 point.⁴

The practical rule follows directly: in multiple-answer questions, an extra cross you are unsure of eats points you already had. Tick only what you can justify.

Places and applicants at WU

For 2026/27 there were 2,703 WISO places, and 5,356 people sat the exam, about two per place. Across WU's three bachelor programmes, around 13,000 applications came in, and almost 10,500 people sat an admission exam on 30 June and 1 July 2026.⁵

How to prepare for the WISO admission exam

1. In mid-November, check WU's page for the 2027/28 registration window and put the deadline in your calendar.
2. Do the OSA right after registering. It shows you, without pressure, where you stand in maths, economics and reading.
3. Work through "Wirtschaft verstehen" and the 13 maths topics. Solve WU's practice questions with the formula sheet and the calculator you will use in the exam.
4. Read the business pages of quality newspapers regularly for months, not only in the last few weeks.
5. Finish with timed practice, keeping the partial-points rule in mind so you do not tick too much out of habit.

If business informatics appeals to you more, TU Wien runs its own procedure with a very different test, covered in the article on the TU Wien informatics admission test. If you finished school outside Austria, sort out your enrolment documents early: university documents, certification and translation.

Sources

· 5 checked 03.10.2026

1. 1Aufnahmeverfahren Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, WU Wien
2. 2FAQs Aufnahmeverfahren Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, WU Wien
3. 3Informationen zu den erlaubten Taschenrechnern 2026/27, WU Wien
4. 4Informationen zum gemischten Teilpunktesystem, Aufnahmeprüfung WISO, WU Wien
5. 5Über 10.000 Studieninteressierte bei den WU-Aufnahmeprüfungen, WU Wien · dated 02.07.2026