DaF – Placement & registration

There are two steps involved in enrolling in an A1.1 course:

1) You complete the online application form.

• The form is available to you from October 1st (for the winter semester) or from April 1st (for the summer semester) for the duration of the enrolment period.
• At the same time, please check the available course times in the DaF course catalog, as you must select one or more A1 courses in the form.
• Submit the form. You will then receive an automatic confirmation of receipt.

2) The DaF team will check the information and offer you a place in an A1.1 course.

• At the Zessko we collect the registrations and distribute the course places as much as possible according to your wishes and the available capacities. This can take a few days. So please be patient.
• Admission to the courses is based on a list of priorities. Current students and employees of the University of Potsdam will take priority.
• We will inform you of the results and enrol you in the courses if possible.
• Enrolment via PULS is neither possible nor necessary.

If you have previously learned German and would like to attend a DaF course at the Zessko for the first time, ...

... we would like to offer you a DaF course that fits your current language skills. Therefore several steps are necessary for the registration:

1) Placement test:

• You take the placement test, which is temporary available on the Zessko-DaF website from the beginning of October (for the winter semester) or April (for the summer semester). Please see the top of the page for details about the current test.
• The test is available for free on Moodle -EFP. You can take the test with your account at the University of Potsdam or you can set up an account for Open.UP if you do not have a UP account. Depending on your previous knowledge, you can register there for the A2 placement test or for the B1-C1 placement test.
• We usually need two days to evaluate your test. Then you will find your result and our recommendation for suitable DaF courses on Moodle.
• As an alternative to the placement test, we currently accept language certificates from the Goethe-Institut, telc certificates, UNIcert certificates, the DSH and the TestDaF if they are not older than 12 months.
• Full-time Bachelor students who would like to take DaF courses as a key competency (Studiumplus), please register directly in PULS for a suitable DaF course without a placement test.

2) Communicate your desired course via email:

• Together with our recommendation, you send your desired course  during the enrolment period by e-mail to the Virtual DaF Office.  We need the following information to complete the registration:
  - Name, first Name
  - date and of birth (in case you want to receive a certificate later)
  - Certification of enrolment at the University of Potsdam containing information about study program and matriculation number (if available)
  - Gender
  - Your email address
  - Status: Student at the University of Potsdam (Bachelor, Master or exchange student + name of the course) // doctoral student or postdoc at University of Potsdam (+ faculty name) // student at another University (name) // doctoral student or postdoc at the XYZ reseach institute in Potsdam (GFZ, PIK, AIP, ATB, AWI, MPI, ...) // guest
  - Test result (course recommendation)
•  The enrolment period is usually in early October or early April. The exact dates can be found at the top of this website.

3) DaF team assigns places:

• We assign the places in the courses according to the order in which we received your registrations.
• At the end of the registration period, we will inform you of the admission by email.