You must apply to the Kultusministerium in writing. The Kultusministerium will then decide whether to admit you to the examination and specify the administrative headquarters (Regierungspräsidium) at which you are to take it.
The written examination covers the following areas:
- a science subject chosen by you
- German
- Mathematics or a foreign language (English, French, Latin)
Once you have passed the written examination, you will be required to attend for an individual oral examination. This will cover
- your chosen science subject
- mathematics if you took the written foreign language examination, or a foreign language if you took the written mathematics examination
- a subject in subject group 1 (physics, chemistry, biology) or a subject in subject group 2 (history, geography) The subject group will be determined when you are admitted to the examination. Applicants are required to choose one subject from this group for examination.
The oral examination usually lasts one-and-a-half to two hours. The examination time is distributed more or less evenly between each subject.
In order to pass the examination, you must obtain at least five points in each subject in both the written and oral parts. After passing the examination, the Kultusministerium will award you the general higher education entrance certificate.