WU entrance exam: WISO and WiRe, the stages, places and preparation

Two German-taught bachelor's programmes at the Vienna University of Economics and Business, the WU, admit students through an entrance procedure. WISO is the bachelor's in Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften (economics and social sciences), WiRe the bachelor's in Wirtschaftsrecht (business law). The WU runs the procedure itself, and it has nothing to do with the VWU exams.¹

The exam takes place once a year, and only when there are more applicants than places. The WU sets the number of places afresh every year.²

Stages of the WU admission procedure

Both procedures run in three stages: online registration, an Online Self-Assessment (OSA) and a written exam on site. The self-assessment isn't graded, but you have to complete all of it before the deadline, or you drop out of the procedure. In 2026 the deadline was 28 May, 12:00.²

The registration fee is €50 and isn't refunded, even if you don't get a place. In 2026 registration ran from 2 March to 19 May.²

The 2026 exams took place on 30 June and 1 July.³

The WU publishes the details of the 2027/28 procedure in mid-November.²

The WISO exam

The written exam lasts 2 hours, on site and in German. It covers three areas: economic basics from the WU study material "Wirtschaft verstehen", understanding German texts, and mathematics from a numbered WU topic list. Topics 01 to 13 run from logic to the binomial distribution, at the level of the Austrian Matura.¹

There's no English in the WISO exam. If you've read otherwise on another website, check against the WU's own page.¹

The WiRe exam

The WiRe exam also lasts 2 hours on site. 35 law tasks make up 70% of the points: each has five options, of which one to five are correct, and is worth 2 points. 20 German tasks on three newspaper extracts make up 30%: each has exactly one correct option and is worth 1.5 points. That's 100 points in total.²

The material for the law part is just two WU scripts, one on private law and one on public law. The WU also publishes sample law tasks to go with them. You don't need any legal knowledge for the German part.²

How the points are scored

In the WiRe law tasks with several correct answers, the WU gives partial credit: a partly correct set of marks earns you part of the 2 points.²

The WU doesn't publish a pass mark, nor how the results are distributed.³

Places and candidates per programme

Across all three WU bachelor's programmes there were about 13,000 applications, and almost 10,500 people turned up for the exams.³

How to prepare for the WU exam

1. Complete the self-assessment before the deadline: without it you aren't admitted to the exam.
2. For WISO, work through "Wirtschaft verstehen" and maths topics 01 to 13. Solve tasks at exam pace, and practise your German on economics texts against the clock.
3. For WiRe, read the two law scripts and work through the WU's sample law tasks.
4. Before the exam, do at least one full paper in 2 hours to get a feel for the pace.

If you're only moving to Vienna for the start of your studies, the paperwork and the first weeks are covered in the article on first steps.

Sources

· 3 checked 01.10.2026

1. 1Aufnahmeverfahren Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, WU Wien
2. 2Aufnahmeverfahren Wirtschaftsrecht, WU Wien
3. 3Über 10.000 Studieninteressierte bei den WU-Aufnahmeprüfungen, WU Wien · dated 02.07.2026