Take-Home-Exams (Students)

The following flyer [PDF, in German] provides you with a compact overview on take-home exams. Here, you can find out what you need to consider and how to prepare for the examinations.

Please note that your faculty and department may have their own specific requirements and modalities for online examinations.

In the vast majority of cases, you do not need any special software to complete take-home exams. However, you will perform certain steps more frequently, such as editing and creating PDF files. Likewise, many examinations are conducted via learning platforms such as OpenOlat, Moodle, or CommSy / AGORA. The following links lead to instructions that may help you to prepare yourself for digital examinations and to practice common workflows.

Creating and Editing PDF Files

In general: There are digital examination formats where you have to work on a PDF file. These are often designed as forms and can be filled with Acrobat Reader [external link]. However, the program's "Edit PDF" function is misleading, as it allows you to edit the design of the file itself – therefore, do not use this function ("editing" a PDF in the sense of a digital examination differs from editing the PDF as a function of the program).

Note for Mac users: You should also use Acrobat Reader to fill out PDF files, as the Preview program on Apple devices can lead to errors.

• Exporting PDF files from Microsoft Word and LibreOffice

OpenOlat

• Brief introduction (Video, in German)

Creating Scans with a Smartphone

Some examinations require working on the tasks with pen and paper. To hand in your results you must scan these in order to submit them digitally. You can create simple scans using a smartphone and suitable scanner apps. In contrast to merely taking a photo, scanner apps often allow the photographed pages to be edited directly and exported as a PDF. The instructions linked here also explain how to upload scans to OpenOlat and Moodle.

• Clean scans with a smartphone – submitting examination work [external link, in German]