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Proof of General Knowledge in the Social Sciences

University Admission for Applicants Without a General University Entrance Qualification

Here you will find information about the exam to demonstrate general knowledge in the field of social sciences. Please refer to the overview of the topic and the required subjects on the “Studying Without a High School Diploma” page.

If you have any questions, please contact the Student Advising Office of the Faculty of Arts and Humanities.

phil: Student Advising
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Exam Date

July 22, 2026, 2: 00–4:00 p.m., Online Exam

If you have received an invitation from the Office of Student Affairs at the University of Siegen, you may request the exam via email starting at 1:45 p.m. on July 22, 2026, using the following email address. The exam will be sent to you immediately as an attachment in a reply email:
yasemin.niephaus@uni-siegen.de 

You may return your typed exam in PDF format as an attachment to the same email address no later than 4:00 p.m. on July 22, 2026.

You are responsible for meeting the 4:00 p.m. deadline.

Note: For organizational and content-related reasons, no alternative or make-up dates will be offered.

About the Exam

Contents

The exam in social sciences consists of a 2-hour written exam. There are three questions to choose from, one from each of the three subject areas listed below. One of these questions must be answered during the exam. If the exam is not passed, it cannot be retaken until the following year.

The following subject areas are available:

  • Modernization and Social Change
  • Demographic Trends in Germany 
  • The welfare state and social inequality 

Preparation

To prepare for the exam topics, we recommend reading the following literature:

  • Huinink, Johannes, and Torsten Schröder. 2019 (3rd ed.). Social Structure and the Welfare State. In The Social Structure of Germany, Johannes Huinink and Torsten Schröder, 271–288. Munich: UVK Verlag.
  • Geißler, Rainer, and Thomas Meyer. 2014 (7th ed.). Structure and Development of the Population. In The Social Structure of Germany, Rainer Geißler, 27–58. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.
  • Steuerwald, Christian. 2016 (3rd ed.). The Benchmark: The Modernization of Social Structure. In The Social Structure of Germany in International Comparison, Christian Steuerwald, 5–32. Wiesbaden: Springer VS.

The literature is not provided; applicants must obtain it on their own.