Pre-courses

Please note:
The preliminary courses as well as the other courses are held in German, but the links to the faculty website are available in English.

Please also pay attention to the following:
The following information is excerpted from the faculty website. As you also have to register for the preliminary courses there, please also have a look at the website of our faculty!

The Faculty of Physics and the Faculty of Mathematics offer some preliminary courses for first-semester students to prepare them for the coming semester. As the name suggests, these pre-courses take place before the start of the semester (7 October 2024) and registration on the pre-course website is also required for participation.

Participation in the preliminary courses, at least the preliminary physics course and the mathematical refresher course for physicists, is strongly recommended. We can assure you that the maths you will be working with in the future will be very different from school maths. Although this is not yet particularly noticeable in the preliminary courses, they will make it much easier to start your studies, as it is quite possible that you will be left behind in the first few weeks, regardless of whether you took a maths course at school or not.

You can find an overview of the dates for the various preliminary courses in the following table, further information on registration and dates can be found on the pre-course website or as brief information below.

The mathematical pre-course

This preliminary course is offered by the Faculty of Mathematics and is aimed at all first-year students on science and engineering degree programmes. The most important mathematical basics from the upper secondary level are summarised once again in a compact format. The preliminary course is particularly recommended for all those who only took a basic maths course at school. However, this preliminary course could also be of interest to maths intermediate students, as new topics such as complex numbers are also introduced.

The pace of the lecture is faster than at school, but still slower than normal lectures, so you can get used to university life a little. The preliminary course is also a good opportunity to get to know new people, including those from other degree programmes.

The mathematical refresher course

This course is generally recommended to everyone, especially those who had difficulties with the maths self-test. It takes place three weeks before the actual start of lectures and teaches essential mathematical principles and calculation techniques once again.

The “Physics” pre-course

The physics pre-course basically covers the mathematical basics once again, but this time tailored to future physicists. It is read by the physics professors with whom you will also hear “Physics 1” in the first semester, i.e. an experimental professor and a theory professor.

Here you will already be able to make contacts with your future fellow students, which will be essential because you will work closely together during your studies, for example in the exercises of the respective subjects. Teamwork in physics is of great importance, as it not only makes studying much more bearable and you make lots of friends, but also reduces the time required, as studying alone is generally an insurmountable hurdle.