The Examination Protocol
An examination protocol (transcript) must always be prepared if an examination is conducted in a form in which the procedure and assessment are not automatically documented. Its purpose is to document an oral (19 RPO) or practical examination or other examination performance (within the meaning of § 22 RPO) in a comprehensible manner and to serve as evidence in the event of a dispute. It is therefore about legal certainty, transparency and comparability. It is a public document.
![Sample Examination Protocol [de]](/storages/uni-greifswald/_processed_/e/5/csm_Muster-Pruefungsprotokoll_4a62b199f9.jpg "Sample Examination Protocol [de]")
In principle, an examination protocol (see figure Sample Examination Protocol) should contain the following points:
Formal information
- Examination subject / module
- Date, time, duration
- Location of the examination
- Type of examination (e.g. oral examination, colloquium, practical examination)
Persons involved
- Name of the examinee / matriculation number
- Name(s) of the examiner(s)
- Name of the assessor / recorder
Procedure and contents
- Introduction / start of examination (greeting, formalities, instruction on procedure if applicable)
- Examination content (topics, questions and tasks set / order and prioritisation / references to aids or materials, if applicable)
- Candidate's answers (key arguments, approach, explanations / not verbatim, but summarised and factual / recognisable level of knowledge and technical understanding)
Valuation
- Performance assessment (brief, factual assessment of performance (strengths/weaknesses) / if applicable, suggested grade or points awarded)
- Final grade: the determined examination grade
- If applicable, justification: brief explanation of why the grade was achieved in this way
Formalities at the end
- Comments, for example, on disruptions in the process, special incidents, medical aspects (inability to take the examination), attempted cheating
- Signatures of the examiners and, if applicable, the assessor/recorder
- Date of the transcript
Important:
The protocol is not a verbatim transcript, but a factual, structured documentation. It should be written in such a way that third parties can understand what was checked and how the assessment was arrived at, even years later.
Further information on where and for how long the examination documents must be kept or stored can be found on the page Inspection of Examination Documents and Storage.
Special features of electronic examinations
On the one hand, the current status of the examination paper should be saved as often as possible in order to report a loss of the relevant examination results in the event of system malfunctions. On the other hand, the course of the examination should be documented as completely as possible in order to be able to counter complaints from the examinee that the electronic examination system has not saved or incorrectly deleted examination papers that have already been completed (Niehues/Fischer/Jeremias, Prüfungsrecht, 7. Aufl., Rn. 462).