Fachsprachprüfung Westfalen-Lippe: format, fees, exam dates

In short

The Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe (ÄKWL, the medical chamber for the Westphalian part of North Rhine-Westphalia) has examined in Münster since 15 February 2014 — its concept served most chambers that took on the exam later as a template, the "Westfälisches Modell". The exam takes 3 × 20 minutes in front of a three-member committee, one of whose physicians plays the patient. You write the part-2 report by hand or on a PC, a medical dictionary is provided, and at the end you fill in a short list of medical terms. The fee is €400 per attempt. About half pass at the first attempt, and 86.6% of candidates had passed overall by the end of 2023.

At a glance

Item	Westfalen-Lippe (ÄKWL)
Examining body	Ärztekammer Westfalen-Lippe, Ärztehaus, Gartenstraße 210–214, Münster
Registration via	first attempt only via the ZAG-aH of the Bezirksregierung Münster; retakes directly with the ÄKWL
Fee per attempt	€400; cancelling after the invitation €175, not showing up without notice €400 under the fee schedule
Exam dates	usually four times a month, on Thursdays or Saturdays
Duration and parts	3 × 20 minutes; the documentation takes place in a separate room
Part 2 (documentation)	report to a medical colleague on a template, in full sentences where indicated; by hand or on a PC
Terminology task	a short list of common medical terms for which you enter the German name
Permitted aids	notes from part 1 (paper and pens provided) in parts 2 and 3; a medical dictionary in part 2; no phones or bags in the exam room
Result	oral, straight after the exam; in writing the following week
Retakes	as often as needed; recommended interval 3 to 6 months, the ÄKWL proposes the date

The exam in Westfalen-Lippe

The examination committee has three members, at least two of them licensed physicians; examiners with a linguistics background also take part. For 2024 the chamber appointed 52 examiners, 49 of them physicians. Our article on the FSP format explains the general structure.

Part 1 — doctor–patient conversation. A physician on the committee plays the patient. You record their personal details, current complaints, previous illnesses, medication and family history, tell them your suspected diagnoses and respond to their questions. According to the ÄKWL, two things matter most here: understanding what the patient says reliably, and clear language with as few foreign and technical words as possible. Notes are allowed; they are not graded but are collected at the end.

Part 2 — written report. The committee chair escorts you to a separate room. There you summarise the conversation in a report to a medical colleague and set out the next steps — in full sentences where indicated. You get a template for a handwritten version but may also type the report on a PC. You may use your notes and the medical dictionary provided. More on the format: documentation in the FSP.

Part 3 — doctor–doctor conversation and term list. You pass the information on to a physician on the committee, "prägnant — bei kompetentem Umgang mit medizinischem Fachwortschatz" (concisely, handling medical vocabulary competently), and then engage in the further conversation; your notes may be used here too. Finally you enter the German name for each item on a short list of common medical terms. The ÄKWL does not publish how many terms the list contains.

Beispiel — fiktiver Fall (zur Veranschaulichung, nicht die Originalliste der Kammer): Pneumonie → Lungenentzündung · Dyspnoe → Atemnot · Sputum → Auswurf · Auskultation → Abhören mit dem Stethoskop

(Example — fictional case, for illustration only, not the chamber's actual list: pneumonia → "lung inflammation", dyspnoea → "shortness of breath", sputum → "what you cough up", auscultation → "listening with the stethoscope".) How to practise such lists systematically: medical terminology in the FSP.

Registration and exam dates

For the first attempt you are registered exclusively by the central recognition office (ZAG-aH) of the Bezirksregierung Münster, where you file your Approbation (medical licence) application; it usually registers candidates weekly, mostly on Fridays. You cannot register with the chamber yourself. After that:

The ÄKWL e-mails you asking you to transfer €400.
You send electronically: proof of payment, your B2 certificate, a current CV and the signed data-protection declaration.
If you wish, you name a period for the exam; the chamber tells you the date.

The ÄKWL advertises a "Termingarantie" (date guarantee): the first exam is possible in your preferred month or at the latest the month after; if needed, you can get a date within 2.5 to 3 weeks. If the date does not suit you, reply by e-mail within three working days. Later cancellations are "nicht ohne weiteres möglich" (not simply possible); the fee schedule sets €175 for cancelling after the invitation and €400 for not showing up without notice. All chambers' fees compared: FSP fees.

Grading and result

The committee grades according to a "uniform, structured scheme", and solely on the specialist-language and content-language aspects of what you say and write. The ÄKWL publishes no points threshold. You hear the result straight after the exam, together with an information sheet on the next steps; the written result follows the next week, and the ZAG-aH receives a copy. After the exam your strengths and weaknesses are discussed with you.

What the figures show: by the end of 2023 the ÄKWL had held 8,868 exams, 793 of them in 2023. Across all exams the failure rate is 52.4% — a gross figure, because every retake counts. Per person it looks different: of 4,868 candidates, 4,217 had passed by the end of 2023, i.e. 86.6%, about half of them at the first attempt. More on grading: how the FSP is graded.

Retakes

To retake, you register directly with the ÄKWL by e-mail or post; the chamber proposes the date. It recommends when to retake — the recommended interval is between 3 and 6 months — and advises language courses and "sprachaktive Hospitationen" (placements in hospitals or practices where you actively use the language). With your consent, the ÄKWL also talks to the head of department or a mentor in the department where you are on placement about what you should practise specifically. Further strategies: failed the FSP.

Tips for the exam in Westfalen-Lippe

For its tenth anniversary the ÄKWL published four recommendations of its own; here they are, plus what follows from its exam format:

Find an environment where you have to speak. Just being present is not enough — look for a placement where you really have to talk.
Listen carefully. Candidates who learn "cases" from internet portals by heart often fail to listen properly in the exam, repeat things wrongly or are thrown by the smallest change. Practise free speaking with changing conversation partners, including, for example, the AI patients on fsppruefung.de.
Don't let yourself be unsettled. According to the chamber, reports online are subjective and distorted, because those who passed rarely post.
Analyse your strengths and weaknesses — and use the feedback conversation after the exam for this.
Use the dictionary sparingly. It is there in part 2, but 20 minutes is tight: look up only what you really need for the report.
Decide on handwriting or PC beforehand, so you lose no time over it in the exam room.

Sources

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