EPE in your Zulassungsbescheid: what now? The Ergänzungsprüfung Englisch at the VWU step by step

If your Zulassungsbescheid, the admission decision from a Vienna university, lists the Ergänzungsprüfung Englisch (EPE), the university found substantial differences between your school-leaving certificate and an Austrian one and prescribed an English exam. You take it at the VWU, the preparatory programme of the Vienna universities, and only after passing it are you admitted to regular degree studies. You can register without attending a VWU course and prepare on your own. If the first attempt fails, you have four retakes left.^1·2

Step 1. What to check in your Zulassungsbescheid about the EPE

Find the list of Ergänzungsprüfungen in the decision. English, maths, or history/geography are prescribed when your certificate comes from outside the EU and EEA, you apply for a bachelor's or diploma programme, and the certificate differs substantially from the Austrian one; German is added when you did not upload proof of C1. You have to pass every prescribed exam before you are admitted to regular studies. If history/geography is prescribed, you choose one of the two subjects. You have at most four semesters at the VWU to pass all of them. Keep the document itself: without a valid Zulassungsbescheid that prescribes the EPE, you cannot register for the exam.^1–3

Step 2. Do TOEFL or IELTS replace the EPE?

An accepted proof of English can spare you the EPE. It is checked while your application is processed, and a prescribed exam can only be struck off before you are admitted to attend the VWU. The University of Vienna keeps a list with TOEFL, IELTS and Cambridge on its page on English, and a passed EPE itself counts as B2 proof on it. The exams are prescribed by the university that issued your decision, and the VWU is not part of it, So if your certificate came after the decision, ask that university's admissions office (Studienzulassung) whether it still accepts it, and do so before you register at the VWU.^1·3·4

Step 3. How to register for the EPE without a course

Registration is online only, through the VWU student portal at portal.vwu.at, and only during your sitting's registration window, which closes at noon Vienna time on its last day. If you have never attended a VWU course or registered for an exam there, create an account and choose "Möglichkeit 2 – Anmeldung zu einer einzelnen Ergänzungsprüfung". You pay the €70 fee for each exam in the same portal, under Prüfungen. You can withdraw from the written part up to one week before the first day of the written exams.²

Step 4. The next EPE sittings

Each semester has three sittings: September, November and January in winter, March, April or May, and June in summer. If you pass your last exam in November or April, you cannot move to regular studies in the same semester, because those sittings fall outside the admission period (Zulassungsfrist) for regular studies. The table shows the dates on the VWU page as of 28 October 2026; each written exam starts at 14:15.²

Check the date on the VWU exam page before you register. How to plan another attempt if the first one fails is in the article on retakes.

Step 5. Where to find the official EPE sample

The VWU's official sample, "Modell Ergänzungsprüfung Englisch", is on vwu-info.at as an archive with tasks. The written exam takes 150 minutes in three parts: 50 minutes of reading, 40 of Language in Use and 60 of writing. You need at least 9 of 20 points in each part and at least 36 of 60 in total; dictionaries are not allowed. Every task type in the sample is explained in the article on the EPE.^5·6

Step 6. Take a timed EPE mock exam

The sample shows you the format. Whether you finish in time only shows on a whole paper. In our EPE practice exams each part has its own clock, as in the real exam, and the blog comment has a word counter. The list of papers is open without registration; starting one needs access to the trainer. What each part tests is on the page about the written EPE exam.

Sources

· 6 checked 28.10.2026

1. 1Der Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten (VWU), Universität Wien · checked 28.10.2026
2. 2Ergänzungsprüfungen — Vorstudienlehrgang der Wiener Universitäten · checked 28.10.2026
3. 3Ich will in den VWU: häufige Fragen, Universität Wien · checked 28.10.2026
4. 4Englischkenntnisse, Universität Wien · checked 28.10.2026
5. 5Informationen zu den Fächern und Modelle der EPD und EPE, vwu-info.at · checked 28.10.2026
6. 6Modell Ergänzungsprüfung Englisch, Stand September 2024 (VWU) · checked 22.09.2026