Failing a course as an international student (Uni)

[void lance]

Hello, I have heard that failing a course 3 times in Germany would not allow you to study any longer in Germany at any university, is this true? I have heard different versions of this regulation and I am not sure what to believe

[faint pawn]

It's partly true and partly not. I don't have this is writing, so take it with a grain of salt, but this is my understanding of the matter:

If you fail one course three times, you are barred from taking this course again. If it's an elective, you can just take another one (if there is another one). If it's mandatory, you're likely forced to drop out. And you're barred from taking any course similar to the one you dropped out of, so if it's something that's mandatory for your field of study in all universities, you might not be able to study the same subject again. Some course content might be incuded into multiple fields of study, so that might bar you from other fields of study as well - statistics would be such a content which is included in some way or another in a lot of fields. I'm not sure how exactly it is determined that two courses are similar, but in other contexts as a rule of thumb it's said when 70% of content overlaps, then they're similar - I'm not sure if this applies here, though.
Some universities might offer "Viertversuch[e]" ("forth try/tries"), where you can have an oral exam even after you failed three times before you're barred from the course. But special rules may apply, like only being allowed a limited number of such tries or you only being able to get a barely passing grade at best no matter how well you perform.
By the way, the first, second and third try sometimes are referred to as "Erstversuch", "Zweitversuch" and "Drittversuch".

A lot of people are really stressed when they get to their Drittversuch, so that was a boon, although I was confident to pass anyway. And some people are already stressed with their Zweitversuch, knowing that failing it would get them to their Drittversuch.

I actually found a (although rare) case where you could somewhat circumvent that system - even though it was only by chance. I had a subject which could be registered as one of two types of electives. I had to complete homework tasks in order to be allowed to take the end-of-semester-exam. I failed two times. Then I switched the type of elective. I was presented with the choice to either carry over my two failed attempts or drop my progress of the subject, erasing both the record of the homework exams and the failed exam attempts. They would still be there on my transcript of records and would count Iift I switched back, but for the new elective type it didn't count, so again I could start with my Erstversuch. I'm not sure this would work in any university, though.

[void lance]

So from what I understand changing the uni/course before the third time gives you a clean sheet?

[void lance]

That's good to know, I was stressed about failing so I thought about taking something safe like business but i guess i can do IT now!

[faint pawn]

I'm not sure if that would actually work, but it might...

[faint pawn]

If you are not hard pressed for time, you can do it slowly. At university, noone really cares if you just do less subjects per semester and take longer, so there are students that do like a third of the exams which you are theoretically supposed to take every semester, so you take about thrice as long, but have less academical stress and more time to digest the material and apply it. I know a few people who did that.

[void lance]

so you can prolong how much time you spend studying? can you also shrink the time with the same way?

[faint pawn]

Yes, as long as there is visible progress you won't get in trouble with the university. You might get into trouble, though, if you have been enrolled for multiple years without taking a single exam. What it might interefere with would be state subsidies (like BaFöG) or scholarships, which typically require for you not to be too far behind (how far exactly is fixed). If this doesn't apply to you, you should have no trouble at all. I knew a student that had been studying on their six-semester Bachelor's for 17 semesters and still wasn't done - just as an illustration that it is doable to extend the time.

To a certain degree, you can shorten the time as well. There are prerequisites to some exams, and you can't take some exams unless you complete tasks during a semester, but it theoretically is possible to shorten the amount of time used for a six-semester course to five or maybe even four semesters. There are very, very few people who try that, though, as it tends to be an unreasonable amount of work unless you have a lot of skills in those courses even before you'd have to take them. If you pick your electives based on where you can get an easy passing grade - if that is possible with your subject - it might be easier to archieve.

[void lance]

Thats quite comforting to hear thank you :)

[faint pawn]

Anything else you'd be interested in?

[void lance]

Yes actually, I receive my school leaving certificate in july, while unis expect me to have applied a month before the deadline (july 15) meaning I can't have enough time to verify my documents and send them and receive an admission letter, is there a way around it? keep in mind im talking about next year not july this year

[faint pawn]

Usually, if you have to apply at an uni, this is a two-step process: First, you apply - this is non-binding/committing. This step is not required for all subjects. Second, you enroll - that is the actual binding step. This is done on a later date.
If you don't have all your certificates, you can try to ask your current school for a preliminary certificate or something, and ask the university if they conditionally accept that (and/or they have special requirements for that), as you will provide the actual certificate on enrollment.