Preparing For The German Medical Language and Knowledge Exams

There are two exams you must prepare for in order to be able to complete your residency in Germany, the German medical Language exam (Fachsprachprüfung or C1 Medizin) and The German Medical Knowledge exam (Kenntnisprüfung).

1. German Medical Language Exam

a. Applying for the German Medical Language exam:

Here you can select one of two exams depending on the state you are applying to. The first one is called "Fachsprachprüfung" and is required in 14 out of the 17 states to get your permanent allowance to practice medicine in Germany or “Approbation”. The exam date will be set by the German authorities after you get the "Bescheid". The second test is called "C1 Medizin" and is required by the other 3 states (Hessen, Saarland, Schleswig-Holstein). This test is independent from the German authorities and is offered by the Telc German institution, so you must register for this exam. After taking and passing the "C1 Medizin" exam, you will need to present the certificate to the German authorities. This exam is generally easier to pass and faster to do since you can pick the date that suits you.

b. Content and Preparation For The Fachsprachprüfung/C1 Medizin:

The “Fachsprachprüfung” and the “C1 Medizin Prüfung” are divided into 4 parts and require around 2 month of study time:

i. Listening:

For this part, you need mostly to practice listening to German conversations as much as possible, in the exam the topics are mostly conversations between doctors and nurses, doctors and doctors, and doctors and patients.

ii. Reading:

For this part, the more you know German vocabulary and especially German medical vocabulary the easier it is to pass this part. Memorize as much German words as possible and you will ace this part. You can use the application “Anki” which help you memorize huge vocabulary in a short amount of time. (I memorized almost 4000 words using this app). I have uploaded 2 set of cards containing relevant German vocabulary on Anki, these sets of cards are called “Safi German B1-B2 wordlist” and “M3 Innere Fälle – Safi”.

iii. Writing:

For this part you are mainly supposed to write an “Arztbrief” or a summary progress note. I have uploaded couple of examples that might help you practice writing one. The more you practice writing, the better you will get, It would be a great advantage if your writings were corrected by an expert.

iv. Oral:

For this part you will be basically taking history from a patient, and then you will present the case to your colleague doctor (the patient is your fellow examinee, and the colleague doctor is the examiner). You should just practice speaking in German and prepare general questions that you usually ask during history taking. You should also practice presenting your patient. Many examples are uploaded to orient you regarding this part.

2. German medical knowledge exam, “Kenntnisprüfung’’

After passing the German medical language exam, you still have a medical knowledge exam, the ‘’ Kenntnisprüfung’’. This exam is set by the German authorities and it allows you to finally earn the permanent allowance to practice medicine in Germany or “Approbation”. Before doing this exam, you are eligible to apply for a ‘’Berufserlaubnis’’ or a transient allowance to practice medicine in Germany for usually a maximum of 2 years. The requirements to get this transient allowance is to have passed the German medical language exam, and to have a job offer (residency). With this certificate you can practice medicine as a resident for a maximum of 2 years, while earning money as normal resident, however the time spent working will not be counted as part of your residency training duration.

a. Exam Structure:

The exam consists of 2 parts. The first part is a history taking and physical examination of a real patient in the hospital followed by writing a complete report (POMR) about this patient. The report will be submitted to the examiners and then you will present the case to them, and they will ask you about it. The second part consists of a 1h of random medical questions asked by the 3 examiners. The examiners focus on the basic knowledge of the general concepts in medicine and on your ability of critical thinking.

b. Preparing for the Kenntnisse Prüfung:

Studying time is 4 to 6 Months. For this exam you should study the well known books: 50 Wichtigsten Fälle Innere, 50 Wichtigsten Fälle Schirurgie and Fallbuch Anästhesie, Intensivmedizin und Notfallmedizin. These books are comprehensive and present the most frequent asked cases during the exam. They are usually enough if you prepare them well. The previous protocols of the specific committee that will exam you are a plus if you could collect them.

C. Final note

It is important to note that there is a way to avoid doing the "kenntnisprüfung" but still get the "Approbation". This used to happen by providing the state department of medical practice with the detailed curriculum of your medical studies so that they can assess whether your studies are equivalent to the German medical curriculum. This process is called “Gleich” and it is usually time consuming. If the decision was positive. i.e. stating that your medical education is equivalent to the German medical education, you get the "Approbation". If not then you have to pass the "kenntnisprüfung" to get the approbation. All the “Gleich” applications will be sent to the city Bonn where they will be processed there independently from the state they belong to.