The setting
The FSP is an individual exam: you, a board of two or three examiners (at least one of them a doctor), one room, one case. The case is a typical clinical picture from the emergency department or ward – abdominal pain, chest pain, headache, shortness of breath, an injured joint. You only learn your case in the room; which cases come up frequently is shown by our analysis of exam reports.
The order is the same everywhere: first the conversation with the patient, then the written documentation, then the presentation to the senior physician. Each part takes about 20 minutes. There is no break between the parts – your notes from the conversation are the basis for the report and the presentation.
The exam clock
Tap a part of the clock
Exam day as a timeline
Your exam day in 60 minutes
Tap a phase — the timeline shows what happens in those minutes and what the examiners look for.
Doctor–patient conversation
Minute 0–20One examiner plays the patient. You greet them, introduce yourself, take the complete history and end the conversation with a summary and the next step. You take notes – on the paper provided or on the history form.
- Plain language: no medical jargon with the patient
- Completeness: all areas of the history
- Responding to the patient’s questions and worries
- Structure and conversation management (open → targeted questions)
Tip: Running out of time is a more common problem than having too much. Work through the areas in a fixed order and note only keywords – full sentences cost minutes.
What the examiners grade
The chambers do not publish their grading sheets uniformly, but the criteria are very similar. For each part, the question is whether the language goal was reached – and in the end the overall picture counts. One weak part can be partly offset by two strong ones; a part in which you are practically not understood usually cannot.
| Part | What counts most | What costs points |
|---|---|---|
| Doctor–patient conversation | Intelligible plain language, complete history, engaging with the patient | Medical jargon, reading off a question list without responding, missing areas (substance use, allergies, social history) |
| Documentation | Correct medical terminology, structure of the form, suspected diagnosis + plan | Spelling mistakes, plain language in the report, gaps, illegible handwriting |
| Doctor–doctor conversation | Fluent, structured presentation, reasoning for the diagnosis, confident answers | Reading the report aloud, flood of details without a key message, inability to explain medical terms |
The five most common mistakes
Medical jargon with the patient
No layperson understands „Haben Sie Dyspnoe?“. The examiners mark every medical term you fail to translate for the patient. Practise the plain form of every term before you use it – our public glossary helps with that.
Working through the list without listening
The patient says „Ich habe Angst, dass es Krebs ist“ (I am afraid it is cancer) – and you ask about allergies. Every worry, every question from the patient is an exam situation: respond briefly, then move on.
Too long on the first area
Ten minutes of pain history, and then substance use, family and social history are missing. Set yourself internal markers: after about eight minutes the current history must be done.
Plain language in the report, medical terms with the patient
Registers swapped. The report says „Nausea und Emesis“, the patient hears „Übelkeit und Erbrechen“. If you have both forms ready, you switch automatically.
Reading the presentation off the sheet
The senior physician wants a conversation, not a reading. Speak freely following a fixed structure – you can learn that by heart; the content comes from the case.
Your checklist before the exam
The week before
The day before
On exam day
Your progress stays saved on this device.
Frequently asked questions about the format
May I take notes during the conversation?
Yes, in all chambers. Paper or a history form is provided. Your notes are the basis for the documentation and the presentation – without them you will lack the details in the second part.
Do I know the case in advance?
No. You learn it immediately before the conversation, often only as a leading symptom. That is why it pays to practise by leading symptom (abdominal pain, chest pain, headache, shortness of breath, joint pain), not by diagnosis.
What happens if I do not understand a word?
Ask. „Können Sie mir das genauer beschreiben?“ (Could you describe that in more detail?) is a normal medical follow-up question and is graded positively. The only thing graded negatively is pretending you understood.
When do I get the result?
As a rule directly after a short deliberation of the board, orally. The written certificate follows or goes directly to the licensing authority.
Is the exam also offered as a group or online exam?
No. The FSP is an individual, in-person exam at the responsible body of your federal state.