Fachsprachprüfung Baden-Württemberg: format, fees, telc

At a glance

The exam in Baden-Württemberg

The exam is a one-hour individual exam on a case defined in advance. A physician on the examination committee plays the patient. Our article on the FSP format explains the general structure of the three parts.

Part 1 — doctor–patient conversation. You take the history, explain your suspected diagnoses and propose diagnostics and therapy, in understandable language with few foreign words and technical terms. The chamber stresses that listening comprehension is central here and that you must respond appropriately to the patient's questions. Notes are allowed.

Part 2 — documentation. In a separate room you write a doctor's report with the help of an Anamnesebogen. Chamber staff supervise and keep track of the time. You may use your notes and a medical dictionary that is provided. How such a report is structured: documentation in the FSP.

Part 3 — doctor–doctor conversation. You present the patient to a physician on the committee in a structured handover and answer follow-up questions. At the end you receive a short list of common medical terms and give their German equivalents.

One sentence from the chamber deserves attention: medical knowledge is "keiner Bewertung unterzogen" (not assessed), yet in the doctor–doctor conversation "die eindeutige Verwendung der medizinischen Fachtermini zwingend erforderlich" (unambiguous use of medical terms is mandatory) — as is a correct definition of terms when stating the diagnosis and the therapy recommendation. Imprecise terms can therefore count against you even when the medical idea is right. Practice material: medical terminology in the FSP.

Registration, waiting time and validity

You need the Fachsprachprüfung if you apply to the RP Stuttgart for the Approbation (full licence) or a Berufserlaubnis (temporary licence) and can show neither a German-language degree, nor at least ten years at a German-language school, nor vocational training of at least three years in German. Your B2 certificate must come from an ALTE-certified provider (e.g. Goethe-Institut, telc, ÖSD) and be submitted as an officially certified copy.

How you get to an exam date:

1. The RP Stuttgart checks your documents and passes your data to the chamber. Even the acknowledgement of your application currently takes about one to two months.
2. The responsible district chamber sends you an acknowledgement and a request for the €420 fee.
3. The invitation follows only once payment has arrived; the chamber offers the next available date and asks you to confirm it.

You are registered once your documents are complete; from then on the RP currently expects about four to six months until the exam date. A passed exam is generally valid for three years; periods of medical work under a Berufserlaubnis extend this. In every new procedure — for example after a refusal, a withdrawal or a move to another federal state — the RP checks validity again. All chambers' fees: FSP fees.

telc, FaMed and ÖAK instead of the chamber exam

For human medicine, the RP Stuttgart generally recognises a Fachsprachprüfung passed in another federal state. It also accepts private language exams that another state recognises as a Fachsprachprüfung — currently:

• FaMed – Fachsprachenprüfung Medizin, taken after 13 May 2024
• telc Deutsch B2/C1 Medizin Fachsprachprüfung
• ÖAK Sprachprüfung Deutsch (the Austrian medical chamber's German exam)

The decisive condition: the certificate must already be enclosed with your application; a simple copy is enough. For procedural reasons the RP does not consider certificates submitted later — you then have to take the exam at the Landesärztekammer. The three-year validity applies to these certificates too. How telc and FaMed differ from the chamber exam is explained in recognition of telc and FaMed.

Grading, result and retakes

The committee grades according to a uniform, structured scheme; the chamber publishes no points threshold. You hear the result straight after the exam; the district chamber then reports it to the RP Stuttgart.

If you fail, you can retake the exam without limit, at €420 each time. Retake dates are given by the chambers; you do not need a new application to the RP. Neither the chamber's nor the RP's pages state a recommended minimum interval between attempts. How to approach a second attempt: failed the FSP.

Figures: in 2019, 1,225 people took the exam and 763 passed (62%); in 2020 it was 689 of 1,062, and in 2021 690 of 1,066 (65% each). As far as we know, the chamber has not published more recent figures.

Tips for the exam in Baden-Württemberg

• Send an existing certificate straight away. If you have already passed FaMed, telc or ÖAK, enclose the proof with your application — submitted later, it does not count.
• Plan around the waiting time. Four to six months until the exam is enough for structured training; plan your preparation towards the expected date.
• Keep the three-year validity in mind, especially if a Kenntnisprüfung (knowledge test) or a move to another state still lies ahead.
• Be able to define your terms. Because the chamber explicitly demands unambiguous medical terms, practise naming your diagnosis and therapy recommendation with the correct term and explaining it when asked.
• Ask when you have not understood. Listening comprehension is central in part 1 — a short "Habe ich Sie richtig verstanden, dass …?" (Have I understood correctly that …?) demonstrates exactly that skill.
• Use the dictionary selectively. It is available in part 2; look up only what you really need for the report so the 20 minutes are enough.

Sources

• Landesärztekammer Baden-Württemberg: Fachsprachenprüfung
• Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart: Fachsprachenprüfung für einen ärztlichen Beruf
• Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart: FAQ akademische Heilberufe – Sprachkenntnisse
• Regierungspräsidium Stuttgart: Anlage 1 – Informationen zum Antrag und den Unterlagen
• Bundesärztekammer (Pressemitteilung der Landesärztekammer Baden-Württemberg): Ein großer Zugewinn für die Medizin im Südwesten