The ''Begabtenprüfung'' (, "aptitude examination", literally "examination of the gifted") is a

college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...

admission examination in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

which provides an alternative to the

Abitur ''Abitur'' (), often shortened colloquially to ''Abi'', is a qualification granted at the end of secondary education in Germany. It is conferred on students who pass their final exams at the end of ISCED 3, usually after twelve or thirteen year ...

or qualifies the student for a "field-specific Abitur" ('' Fachgebundene Hochschulreife''). Its formal German name is ''Prüfung für den Hochschulzugang von besonders befähigten Berufstätigen'' (Examination for College Attendance by Specially Qualified Workers).

Eligibility

Candidates must be 25 or older, unable to enroll in an educational institution and take the non-student Abitur (see below) and not in possession of a field-specific Abitur with the possibility of upgrading it to the general Abitur, and have completed an

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeships can also enable practitioners to gain a ...

, trade school training, or governmental/military training and then worked for 5 or more years in that profession, or completed secondary school with a non-college-bound certificate and then have seven or more years of employment and/or as a single head of household with dependents, and show evidence of independent preparation. Those who have failed the examination twice are ineligible to re-take it, subject to the right of individual states to grant exceptions.

Alternative examinations

Instead of the Begabtenprüfung, the states of

Brandenburg Brandenburg (; nds, Brannenborg; dsb, Bramborska ) is a states of Germany, state in the northeast of Germany bordering the states of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Saxony, as well as the country of Poland. With an ar ...

Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

and

Saarland The Saarland (, ; french: Sarre ) is a state of Germany in the south west of the country. With an area of and population of 990,509 in 2018, it is the smallest German state in area apart from the city-states of Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg, and ...

offer a ''Nichtschülerprüfung'' (examination for non-students) or ''Externenabitur'' (external Abitur), formally called a non-student Abitur, ''Abiturprüfung für Nichtschülerinnen und Nichtschüler''. This has a minimum age of 19 and requires the candidate not to have been enrolled in an educational institution during the preceding year, except for special cases such as

Waldorf school Waldorf education, also known as Steiner education, is based on the educational philosophy of Rudolf Steiner, the founder of anthroposophy. Its educational style is holistic, intended to develop pupils' intellectual, artistic, and practical ...

Examination

The Begabtenprüfung is regulated and administered at the state level by a commission. The examination consists of an oral and a written component, to be graded at a standard corresponding to the Abitur. The written examination consists of 3 components each of 4–5 hours: * a German language test * a test in the candidate's choice of mathematics or a foreign language * a test in the subject the person wishes to study, which must be offered by a college in the state (this may be waived for demonstrably qualified candidates) The oral examination consists of * a test in mathematics or a foreign language, whichever the candidate did not elect for the written examination * a test in the subject the person wishes to study * a test in another subject chosen by the examiners from one of two groups such that it is remote from the candidate's employment expertise but demonstrates his or her well roundedness

History

The Begabtenprüfung dates to before World War II. For example, Fritz Behrens, a communist who became a professor at the

University of Leipzig Leipzig University (german: Universität Leipzig), in Leipzig in Saxony, Germany, is one of the world's oldest universities and the second-oldest university (by consecutive years of existence) in Germany. The university was founded on 2 Decemb ...

immediately after completing his Habilitation in 1947, entered university after taking the Begabtenprüfung and received his doctorate in 1935. After the war, making further education available to those who had been unable to graduate from a '' gymnasium'' was a priority in both Western and Russian sectors of Germany, but in the Soviet zone and later the GDR responsibility for the Begabtenprüfung was placed with the college or university rather than the locality; institutions were required to provide ''Vorstudienanstalten'' (pre-study institutes) to prepare workers for the examination, and after 1949, to have integrated departments for workers and farmers."Nr. 9 Hochschulkonferenz Wiesbaden (17.6.1946)" in Mannfred Heinemann, Klaus-Dieter Müller, Michael Reinbold and Thomas Heerich, ''Süddeutsche Hochschulkonferenzen 1945-1949'', Berlin: Akademie, 1997,
p. 76 and note 2

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Begabtenprufung Education in Germany Academic terminology