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Admission procedure

The WISO entrance test at WU

Procedure, syllabus, scoring and preparation for 2027, every statement backed by a WU source.

By unipass editorial team, 7 min read

Last updated: 26 September 2026. Sources last checked on 26 September 2026.

If you want to study Business, Economics and Social Sciences (WISO) at WU Vienna, you get a place only through the admission procedure whenever more people register than there are places. The procedure has three parts: registration with a fee, an online self-assessment, and a written entrance exam. If you complete it successfully, you can enrol.1

The honest answer to how hard it is: many more people sit the exam than there are places, and if you miss the date or do not get a place, you can only try again the following year, because the procedure takes place once a year.1

You can prepare without a course: WU itself publishes practice questions, the formula sheet and the reader for the economics part online.1

When the 2027 WISO admission procedure takes place

The 2027 dates are not set yet. On its page about the procedure WU writes: "Informationen zum Aufnahmeverfahren 2027/28 werden Mitte November veröffentlicht" (information on the 2027/28 procedure will be published in mid-November). Until then, the 2026 procedure shows what to expect.1

Step2026 procedure
Online registration in WU's registration tool2 Mar to 19 May 2026
Registration fee of €50, must arrive by the deadlineby 19 May 2026
Online self-assessment (OSA)by 28 May 2026, 12 noon
Entrance exam in person, Messe Wien (VIECON)30 Jun 2026, 10:00 to 12:00
Result by e-mail and in the registration toolwithin ten days of the exam

You can register before your school-leaving exam (Matura) if you are in your final school year. The exam only takes place if, after the registration deadline, more valid registrations have come in than there are places.1

The fee is not refunded, even if you do not get a place. If you pass and enrol, WU gives you a welcome voucher worth the fee.2

The OSA, WU's online self-assessment, is a self-evaluation test. It is not graded, but it is compulsory and must be completed by the deadline.3 The 2026 dates for all three WU programmes are also on our entrance-test page.

How many places there are in the WISO entrance test

For the 2026/27 academic year WISO had 2,703 places. According to WU, about 6,370 people were admitted to sit the exam.4

On 30 June 2026, 5,356 actually sat it. For comparison: 2,260 people sat the Business Law (WiRe) exam for 870 places, and 2,872 sat the Business and Economics (BBE) exam for 240 places.5

Places go by the results: after the 2026 exam WU wrote that the places would then be allocated according to the ranking of results. How applications and places have developed since 2019 is on our page on the WU admission rate.5

How the WISO entrance exam is structured

The exam lasts two hours and takes place only on the set date, in person; there is no alternative date. It consists only of multiple-choice questions from three areas: basic economics and business, German reading comprehension, and mathematics.1

In each question one option can be correct, several, or all of them. In the practice questions WU writes decimals with a point rather than a comma, as in 3.2 %, and separates thousands with a space.6

WU does not publish how many questions the exam has, how many points each area carries, or whether there is a minimum score: neither the procedure page nor the FAQ says. Figures on this that circulate online do not appear in any WU publication we have found.

In 2025 the WISO exam was still held online, on the WISEflow exam platform.7

Since 2026 WU has held it on site again, in its own words "um faire Bedingungen und die Integrität der Prüfungen sicherzustellen" (to ensure fair conditions and the integrity of the exams). If you sat it in 2025, you know a different format.3

You may bring a calculator as long as it cannot solve systems of linear equations, multiply matrices, differentiate or integrate, and has no text memory. The TI-30X Pro MathPrint is explicitly not allowed.8

A formula sheet is provided with the exam.1

It does not cover everything, though. The sheet has a table of interval notation and twelve formulas, from the quadratic formula to the geometric sum. Compound interest, the probability of a binomial distribution and the rules for logarithms are not on it, so you need to know those yourself. What is on the sheet and what is missing is shown in our guide to maths in the WISO test.9

How partial credit works in the WISO test

Every question has its own maximum score. For each correct option you tick, you get the maximum divided by the number of correct options; for each wrong option you tick, the maximum divided by the number of wrong options is deducted. No question scores below zero.10

An example from our own question bank, in the same format: the question is worth 3 points, and two of the five numbers are prime. Each correct option therefore earns 1.5 points and each wrong one costs 1 point.

Points per tick patternExample: “Which of these numbers is/are prime?”, at most 3 points, a and c are correct
Answer options a to e: a 2, b 9, c 11, d 15, e 21. Five rows, each a tick pattern and its points on a line from minus 2 to 3. Right ticks hop forward above the line, wrong ones back below it. a and c ticked: plus 1.5 plus 1.5, 3 points. Only a ticked: plus 1.5, 1.5 points. a, c and d ticked: plus 1.5 plus 1.5 minus 1, 2 points. a and d ticked: plus 1.5 minus 1, 0.5 points. d and e ticked: minus 1 minus 1, makes minus 2, the question scores 0 points.below 001.53a2b9c11d15e21points+1.5+1.531.5−120.50below 001.53a2b9c11d15e21+1.5+1.531.5−120.50
Our calculation

Our own question in WU’s format, not an exam question. Answer options a to e: 2, 9, 11, 15, 21; a (2) and c (11) are correct.

WU’s rule: every right tick earns the maximum divided by the number of correct options, here 3 / 2 = 1.5. Every wrong one costs the maximum divided by the number of wrong options, here 3 / 3 = 1. A question never scores below 0.

The arcs above the line are right ticks, those below it wrong ones. In the last row −1 − 1 = −2, and the question scores 0.

Source: WU Vienna, Informationen zum gemischten Teilpunktesystem, Aufnahmeprüfung WISO (PDF). The letters a to e as there and on the WISO maths practice sheets 2026/27.

Tick only the 2 and you get 1.5 points. Tick the 15 as well, which is not prime, and you drop to 0.5. On this question a wrong tick costs two thirds of what a correct one earns.

WU treats two cases separately. If only one option is correct, it is all or nothing: one extra tick makes the whole question zero. If only one option is wrong and you tick it along with all the correct ones, you get half the points.10

Because you cannot see from a question how many options are correct, guessing does not pay across the board. Whether an uncertain tick gains or loses points depends on how sure you are, and that can be practised. Leaving a question blank, though, never scores more than a single tick. Where the line lies for every further tick is worked out in points in the WU entrance test.

What the WISO entrance test covers

For basic economics and business, WU names as preparation reading "Wirtschaft verstehen, 2026", a reader linked as a PDF on its page. The German reading tasks follow high-level language certificate exams in reading comprehension; WU recommends reading quality newspapers such as Der Standard or Die Presse regularly.1

In mathematics WU lists 13 topics, from logic and elementary algebra through financial mathematics, functions and derivatives to the binomial distribution. According to WU, the level is comparable to the written Matura at an Austrian academic secondary school (AHS).1

How to prepare for the WISO entrance test

  1. In mid-November, read WU's information on the 2027/28 procedure and note the registration deadline, the OSA deadline and the exam date.
  2. Work through WU's maths practice questions and read the reader once, cover to cover. You will then know which of the three areas needs the most work.
  3. Practise that area on its own, with questions in the exam format graded with partial credit. From March 2027 you can do this with unipass: questions for every topic and full mock exams, graded with WU's partial-credit system.
  4. Sit a full mock exam in two hours, check which area cost you points, and take that area back to step 3.

WU also offers something itself: in 2026 it ran preparation days on campus on 27 and 29 June, right before the exam, with study sessions and help with subject questions.1

What comes after the WISO entrance test

Getting a place does not make you a student yet: the last step is enrolment ("Zulassung"). To start in the 2026/27 winter semester, the enrolment period ran from 9 July to 5 September 2026, and you book your appointment in the registration tool.2

The programme then starts with the STEOP, three courses and their exams, one of them economics and sustainable business ("Volkswirtschaftslehre und zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften").11

Exams take place in the exam weeks, three times a semester: at the start, in the middle and at the end.11

Once you have passed the three STEOP exams, you move on to the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK).12

The CBK is 11 courses, including mathematics and statistics, that lay the foundations for every specialisation.12

Sources

  1. 1Aufnahmeverfahren Bachelorstudium Wirtschafts- und SozialwissenschaftenWU Wien · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
  2. 2FAQs zum Aufnahmeverfahren Wirtschafts- und SozialwissenschaftenWU Wien · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
  3. 3Aufnahmeverfahren 2026 an der WU startenWU Wien, News · document dated 26 February 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
  4. 4Fast 13.000 Bewerber*innen: erneut Rekord-Registrierungszahlen für WU-BachelorstudienWU Wien, Presseaussendung (APA-OTS) · document dated 2 June 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
  5. 5Über 10.000 Studieninteressierte bei WU-AufnahmeprüfungenWU Wien, News · document dated 2 July 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
  6. 6Übungsbeispiele Mathematik WISO 2026/27 (PDF)WU Wien · document dated 18 May 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
  7. 7Leitfaden WISEflow, Aufnahmeprüfung WISO 2025/26 (PDF)WU Wien · document dated 28 March 2025 · checked on 26 September 2026
  8. 8Informationen zu den erlaubten Taschenrechnern, WISO 2026/27 (PDF)WU Wien · document dated 17 December 2025 · checked on 26 September 2026
  9. 9Formelsammlung, Aufnahmeprüfung WISO 2026/27 (PDF)WU Wien · document dated 2 April 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
  10. 10Informationen zum gemischten Teilpunktesystem, Aufnahmeprüfung WISO (PDF)WU Wien · document dated 8 May 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
  11. 11Die ersten Lehrveranstaltungen, Bachelorguide (deutschsprachige Programme)WU Wien · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
  12. 12Bachelorstudium Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, ÜberblickWU Wien · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026

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How the exam is scored, who needs it, the dates in the winter semester 2026/27, how often it ends in a fail and how to prepare.

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