# Are German 'Klausuren' limited to 'Oberstufe Gymnasiasten'? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 23, 2020, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416 "2020-04-23T07:55:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 7:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/1 "2020-04-23T07:55:35Z")
Are German ‘Klausuren’ limited to ‘Oberstufe Gymnasiasten’? or do junior Gymnasium students also take “Klausuren” rather than just “Prüfungen”.? I look forward to your feedback ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 8:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/2 "2020-04-23T08:28:34Z")
When I attended gymnasium in Bavaria in the 1990s, indeed we started to use the word _Klausur_ (to refer to a pre-announced supervised written test) only from _Oberstufe_ onwards (either 11th or 12th grade, I don’t remember which was the year when the line was drawn - at the time, gymnasium ended after 13th grade, which by now has been shortened to twelve). Before that, we would call the same thing a _Schulaufgabe_. The [disambiguition page](https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schulaufgabe) on German Wikipedia, however, states that this is Bavarian usage, so other states might call it differently. ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/3 "2020-04-23T17:34:53Z")
My experience from late 1970s/early 1980s, Schleswig-Holstein Up to grade 10 (i.e. up to and including _Mittelstufe_) written tests always were a _Klassenarbeit_. Never a _Prüfung_ - a _Prüfung_ in German always is not any test but the decisive test at the end of a course, or before graduation e.g. _Fahrprüfung_ for driving license test. From grade 11 (_Oberstufe_) what before was a _Klassenarbeit_ became a _Klausur_. It is my impression that this was part of terminology becoming university-like - e.g. we had not one school year but two semesters. The final written tests (one per subject) for the _Abitur_ graduation (the graduation that qualifies for university) were a _Schriftliche Prüfung_ (see above for _Prüfung_) The written tests in university were a _Klausur_. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/4 "2020-04-23T19:00:10Z")
> [@Mops](#): > > My experience from late 1970s/early 1980s, Schleswig-Holstein > > Up to grade 10 (i.e. up to and including _Mittelstufe_) written tests always were a _Klassenarbeit_. Never a _Prüfung_ - a _Prüfung_ in German always is not any test but the decisive test at the end of a course, or before graduation e.g. _Fahrprüfung_ for driving license test. > > From grade 11 (_Oberstufe_) what before was a _Klassenarbeit_ became a _Klausur_. It is my impression that this was part of terminology becoming university-like - e.g. we had not one school year but two semesters. > > The final written tests (one per subject) for the _Abitur_ graduation (the graduation that qualifies for university) were a _Schriftliche Prüfung_ (see above for _Prüfung_) > > The written tests in university were a _Klausur_. Exactly my experience making Abitur in 1987 in North Rhine-Westphalia. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2020, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/5 "2020-04-23T21:04:56Z")
Terminology was the similar as described by @mops in Lower Saxony in the 90s. For Abiturprüfung we had three written Klausuren and one oral exam (“mündliche Prüfung”). Klassenarbeit (up to class 10) or Klausur (from class 11 to 13 and also later in university) counted toward “written grades”. In addition, there were also written tests (simply called “Test”) which counted towards oral grades. Oral grades and written grade were then combined to give a final grade after each semester (“Halbjahr”). ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [April 26, 2020, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/6 "2020-04-26T20:01:25Z")
> [@Remember\_me](#): > > Terminology was the similar as described by @mops in Lower Saxony in the 90s. For Abiturprüfung we had three written Klausuren and one oral exam (“mündliche Prüfung”). > Klassenarbeit (up to class 10) or Klausur (from class 11 to 13 and also later in university) counted toward “written grades”. In addition, there were also written tests (simply called “Test”) which counted towards oral grades. Oral grades and written grade were then combined to give a final grade after each semester (“Halbjahr”). Thank you all. Very helpful indeed. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [April 27, 2020, 9:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-german-klausuren-limited-to-oberstufe-gymnasiasten/852416/7 "2020-04-27T09:36:15Z")
> [@Remember\_me](#): > > In addition, there were also written tests (simply called “Test”) which counted towards oral grades. At my school, that type of written test (unannonced) was called an “Extemporale”, colloquially shortened by pupils to “Ex”.