STEOP exam

STEOP at WU: the VWL + ZuWi exam, points, dates and preparation

What the STEOP blocks, how the economics exam VWL + ZuWi is scored, the winter-semester dates, a points chart and sample questions.

By Redaktion unipass, 11 min read

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

The STEOP (Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase, the introductory and orientation phase) is the first stage of the German-taught bachelor's programme in Business, Economics and Social Sciences (WiSo) at WU Vienna. One of its three exams is Volkswirtschaftslehre und Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften, economics and sustainable economics, usually called VWL + ZuWi. Until you have passed every STEOP exam, you cannot register for any further course or exam of your programme. The one exception is free electives, for which one passed STEOP exam is enough.¹

If you fail the exam on your last permitted attempt, your admission to the programme ends. After that, WU will not admit you again to any programme that requires the same exam.²

You can prepare without a place in the course: on Canvas, WU's learning platform, the STEOP courses are open for self-study.³

The student group AG WU publishes study plans for this exam. How the points add up is shown in the chart in this article.⁴

The exam has 25 multiple-choice questions worth 4 points each and lasts 90 minutes. More than one answer can be correct, and partial points are awarded. You need at least 55 points overall and at least 20 in each of the two parts. The course is taught in German, and the syllabus is written in German.⁵

Dates in the winter semester 2026/27, according to WU's exam plan:

Wednesday, 7 October 2026⁶
Wednesday, 25 November 2026⁷
Wednesday, 27 January 2027⁸

You have at most four attempts; after that, your studies are closed.⁹

What the STEOP blocks in a WU bachelor's programme

The WiSo STEOP is worth 16 ECTS credits in three courses: Betriebswirtschaft und digitale Ökonomie (business administration and digital economy), VWL + ZuWi, and Europäisches und öffentliches Wirtschaftsrecht (European and public economic law).¹

The curriculum expects you to finish them in the first half of your first semester. Only then can you register for the Common Body of Knowledge (CBK), the next stage with 11 courses, among them mathematics and statistics.⁹

All three STEOP courses are of the type LVP: the course and the exam are separate, attendance is not compulsory, and you may sit the exam after preparing entirely on your own.³

The bachelor's programme in Business Law (WiRe) has the same VWL + ZuWi exam in its STEOP; WU's course catalogue lists it for both programmes.¹⁰

If you have not started yet, the admission procedure comes first; the WiSo entrance test guide explains it.

How the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi is scored

The exam is written and has 25 questions worth 4 points each, 100 in total. Twelve questions come from the economics part (VW), twelve from the sustainable-economics part (ZuWi), and one belongs to both. You pass with 55 points or more, provided each of the two parts has at least 20.⁵

On top of that come up to 6 bonus points that you collect in the course during the semester, 3 in each of its two halves. They count towards the total only, which can then reach 106. The 20 points per part have to come from the exam questions.⁵

The syllabus does not say how many points a partly correct set of ticks earns, nor how many options a question has. For the admission exams, WU sets out its partial-credit system in separate documents. The syllabus does not say that it applies here, so we do not use it for this exam.

For the VW part, the syllabus lists these chapters of Pindyck and Rubinfeld, 2018 edition: 1 and 2 without 2.6, 6, 7 without 7.5 to 7.7, 8 without producer surplus and economic rent, and 18.1 and 18.2 without recycling. On top of that come the official slides for modules 1 to 5 with their exercises, without the "Evidenz/Fall" slides and without those marked with a star. The macroeconomic part covers the basics of national accounts and the balance of payments. For ZuWi, the whole book Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften by Novy, Bärnthaler and Prieler (second, revised edition) and the current slides are examinable.⁵

Points in the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi: parts, minimums, bonus

An example with 60 points: 36 in the VW part, 18 in the ZuWi part, none on the common question and all 6 bonus points.

Points in the VW part, the ZuWi part and in totalExample: 36 and 18 points in the parts, none on the common question, all bonus points

Result: not passed, ZuWi part below 20

Our calculation

Our own example. Rules from the syllabus of the course VWL + ZuWi: 25 questions worth 4 points each, 12 from each part and one common one; at most 48 points per part from its own questions, at least 20; passed from 55; up to 6 bonus points, 3 per part, which count towards the total only (at most 106).

Total: 36 + 18 + 0 (common question) + 6 (bonus) = 60, so 5 above 55. ZuWi part: 18, so 2 below 20. The bonus points do not count there.

Source: WU Vienna, syllabus VWL + ZuWi (STEOP), course catalogue.

With 60 points you are 5 above the pass mark, but 2 short of the 20 in the ZuWi part, so the exam is not passed. The bonus points do not make up for it.⁵

The reverse also holds: 20 points in each part are not enough on their own. Even with the common question and all 6 bonus points you reach only 50, 5 short of the pass mark. Arithmetically, 20 points are five fully correct questions; with partial points they can also be more questions that are only partly right.

The syllabus does not say which part the common question counts for. If a part reaches 20 only together with it, whether the exam is passed is therefore open.

Dates of the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi in the winter semester

WU holds exams in three exam weeks per semester: at the start, in the middle and at the end. If you take a STEOP course in the "Sommeruni", a block in September before the semester starts, WU says you can sit your first exam in early October; there is a similar "Winteruni" in February.³

Exam week	Day on the exam plan	Time slot
5 to 9 October 2026	Wednesday, 7 October 2026⁶	10:30 to 12:30
23 to 27 November 2026	Wednesday, 25 November 2026⁷	10:00 to 12:00
25 to 29 January 2027	Wednesday, 27 January 2027⁸	10:00 to 12:00

The times are the slots on the plan. A footnote on each plan says it may still change until the semester starts.⁶

The course in the first half of the semester runs from 13 October to 12 November 2026, so it ends before the November date.¹¹

The one in the second half runs from 1 December 2026 to 19 January 2027, before the January date.⁵

The next exam week starts on 1 March 2027. WU had not published its plan on 26 September 2026.¹²

Before that, the course runs in the Winteruni from 8 to 19 February 2027.¹³

If you need a retake in the summer semester: in 2026 the exam was on the plan in all three exam weeks.

Exam week	Day on the exam plan	Time slot
2 to 6 March 2026	Wednesday, 4 March 2026¹⁴	9:00 to 11:00
27 to 30 April 2026	Wednesday, 29 April 2026¹⁵	8:30 to 10:30
22 to 26 June 2026	Wednesday, 24 June 2026¹⁶	8:30 to 10:30

You register for the exam separately in LPIS, WU's registration system, even if you attend the course. According to the syllabus, registration opens about two and a half weeks before the date, and you can withdraw until about one week before. If you are registered and do not show up, you are blocked from registering for 10 weeks from the exam date; if you were ill, you send a medical certificate to the exams office.⁵

For 7 October that means, by this rule of thumb: registration has been open since about mid-September, and you can withdraw until about the end of September. LPIS shows the exact deadlines.

Attempts at the STEOP exam and what happens after the last one

You have 4 attempts at each STEOP exam and 5 at the exams after it. After the fourth failed attempt, WU closes your studies.⁹

This comes from the Austrian Universities Act: admission ends when a STEOP exam is failed on the last repetition.¹⁷

After that, the same university may not admit you again to any programme in which the same exam is compulsory.²

For VWL + ZuWi at WU, that means both programmes the course catalogue lists for this exam: WiSo and Business Law.¹⁰

All attempts at the same exam at the same university count. If an exam consists of a single sitting, as this written exam does, it is held before a board of examiners from the third repetition on, that is, at the fourth attempt.¹⁸

WU counts attempts across curricula and, after the last failed one, closes every programme that contains the exam. You register for and sit the fourth attempt like the earlier ones; it is graded by a board of three examiners.¹⁹

Sample questions in the format of the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi

These are our own questions, written from the topics the syllabus lists. The real exam is in German; ours are in English here so the economics is the only difficulty. As in the exam, more than one statement can be correct, and each question is worth at most 4 points. Ours have four statements each; WU does not publish how many the exam has. The solution names the correct statements and why; we do not work out partial points.⁵

VW part

Question 1. In a market, demand is $Q_{D} = 100 - 2 P$ and supply is $Q_{S} = 20 + 2 P$ .

(a) A price floor of $25$ causes excess supply of $10$ units.
(b) The equilibrium price is $P = 20$ .
(c) A price ceiling of $15$ causes excess demand of $20$ units.
(d) In equilibrium, $60$ units are traded.

Solution

(b), (c) and (d) are correct. From $100 - 2 P = 20 + 2 P$ you get $P = 20$ and $Q = 60$ . At $P = 15$ , buyers want $70$ and sellers offer $50$ : $20$ are missing. At $P = 25$ , $70$ are offered and $50$ demanded, so the surplus is $20$ , not $10$ .

Question 2. A firm in a competitive market has the short-run cost function $C (q) = 100 + 4 q + q^{2}$ .

(a) Marginal cost at $q = 5$ is $9$ .
(b) Average cost is lowest at $q = 8$ .
(c) At a market price of $20$ , the firm supplies $8$ units.
(d) Fixed costs are $105$ .

Solution

Only (c) is correct. Marginal cost is $M C = 4 + 2 q$ , so $14$ at $q = 5$ ; the $9$ is average variable cost $4 + q$ . Average cost $100/ q + 4 + q$ is lowest where it equals marginal cost: $100/ q + 4 + q = 4 + 2 q$ gives $q = 10$ . At a price of $20$ , price equals marginal cost: $20 = 4 + 2 q$ , so $q = 8$ , where the price is above the average variable cost of $12$ . Fixed costs are the costs at $q = 0$ , that is $100$ ; the $105$ is $C (1)$ .

Question 3. In an economy, in billions, consumption is $C = 300$ , investment $I = 100$ , government purchases of goods and services $G = 150$ , exports $X = 120$ and imports $M = 100$ .

(a) Net exports are $- 20$ .
(b) A household buying a second-hand flat counts as investment $I$ .
(c) State pension payments are not part of $G$ .
(d) GDP is $570$ .

Solution

(c) and (d) are correct. By the expenditure approach, GDP is $C + I + G + (X - M) = 300 + 100 + 150 + 20 = 570$ ; net exports are $+ 20$ . Pensions are transfers: the state buys nothing with them, so they are not in $G$ . A second-hand flat was produced and counted earlier; selling it is not new output.

ZuWi part

Question 4. A steel plant emits pollution that harms third parties, without paying for it.

(a) This is a negative externality.
(b) A charge per tonne equal to the damage makes the plant bear the costs it now imposes on others.
(c) Without intervention, too much steel is produced from society's point of view.
(d) In emissions trading, the state sets the total amount of emissions and the price of a permit forms on the market.

Solution

All four are correct. Because the plant does not bear part of its costs, it produces more than is socially optimal. The charge and emissions trading work from different ends: one fixes the price, the other the quantity.

Question 5. On the Gini coefficient of income.

(a) Two countries with the same Gini coefficient can have very different average incomes.
(b) The Gini coefficient measures a country's average income.
(c) If all incomes rise by the same percentage, the Gini coefficient rises.
(d) A value of $0$ means everyone has the same income.

Solution

(a) and (d) are correct. The Gini coefficient measures distribution, not level. If all incomes rise by the same percentage, everyone's share stays the same, and so does the coefficient.

Common question

Question 6. On GDP as a measure of well-being.

(a) GDP per head shows how income is distributed in a country.
(b) Unpaid care work in one's own household is not part of GDP.
(c) A country with higher GDP per head always has the higher life expectancy.
(d) Paid work to clean up environmental damage raises GDP.

Solution

(b) and (d) are correct. GDP essentially records what is produced through markets or the state, apart from a few imputed items such as the rental value of owner-occupied homes. Unpaid care work is not part of it; paid repair of environmental damage is, whether or not it creates well-being. An average says nothing about distribution, and there is no "always" between GDP and life expectancy.

Preparing for the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi

Take the list of examinable material from the syllabus: the Pindyck and Rubinfeld chapters, the whole ZuWi book and the official slides. The slides and exercises are in the open Canvas course. You only get bonus points there if you are enrolled in the course through LPIS; for a schedule, AG WU's study plans are a starting point.⁴
Read the material of both parts first and split your time between them. A very good VW part does not rescue a ZuWi part below 20, as the chart shows.
Then do the exercises from the slides, separately for the VW and the ZuWi part, and count what share you get right. Applied to the 48 points of a part, the chart shows how far you are from 20. We did not find an open mock exam with 25 questions on WU's pages.
The part with the lower share gets the next week of study. Then do new exercises from that part and compare again.
In the last days, practise against the clock: 90 minutes for 25 questions is 3.6 minutes per question.

There is no unipass course for VWL + ZuWi yet. It follows the course for Mathematik (CBK).

Sources

1Studienplan Bachelorstudium Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften (Version 2023, PDF)WU Wien · document dated 13 June 2024 · checked on 26 September 2026
2Universitätsgesetz 2002, § 63 Zulassung zu ordentlichen Studien (RIS)Republik Österreich, Rechtsinformationssystem · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
3Die ersten Lehrveranstaltungen, Bachelorguide (deutschsprachige Programme)WU Wien · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
4VW + ZuWi: Lernpläne und Infos (AktionsGemeinschaft WU)AktionsGemeinschaft WU (Studierendenvertretung) · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
5Syllabus Volkswirtschaftslehre und Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften, WiSe 2026/27 (VVZ)WU Wien, Vorlesungsverzeichnis · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
6Prüfungsplan Semesterbeginn WiSe 2026/27, Prüfungswoche Oktober 2026 (PDF)WU Wien, Prüfungsorganisation · document dated 12 March 2026 · checked on 27 September 2026
7Prüfungsplan Semestermitte WiSe 2026/27, Prüfungswoche November 2026 (PDF)WU Wien, Prüfungsorganisation · document dated 30 March 2026 · checked on 27 September 2026
8Prüfungsplan Semesterende WiSe 2026/27, Prüfungswoche Jänner 2027 (PDF)WU Wien, Prüfungsorganisation · document dated 30 March 2026 · checked on 27 September 2026
9STEOP & CBK, Bachelorstudium Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften (BAWISO23)WU Wien · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
10Vorlesungsverzeichnis WiSe 2026/27: Volkswirtschaftslehre und Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften (Studienplanpunkte)WU Wien, Vorlesungsverzeichnis · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
11Syllabus Volkswirtschaftslehre und Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften, WiSe 2026/27, erste Semesterhälfte (VVZ)WU Wien, Vorlesungsverzeichnis · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
12Studienjahreinteilung 2026/2027 (PDF, korrigierte Fassung)WU Wien, Senat · document dated 28 March 2024 · checked on 26 September 2026
13Syllabus Volkswirtschaftslehre und Zukunftsfähiges Wirtschaften, WiSe 2026/27, Winteruni Februar 2027 (VVZ)WU Wien, Vorlesungsverzeichnis · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
14Prüfungsplan SoSe 2026, Semesterbeginn: Prüfungswoche 2. bis 6. März 2026 (PDF)WU Wien, Prüfungsorganisation · document dated 27 October 2025 · checked on 26 September 2026
15Prüfungsplan SoSe 2026, Semestermitte: Prüfungswoche 27. bis 30. April 2026 (PDF)WU Wien, Prüfungsorganisation · document dated 4 November 2025 · checked on 26 September 2026
16Prüfungsplan SoSe 2026, Semesterende: Prüfungswoche 22. bis 26. Juni 2026 (PDF)WU Wien, Prüfungsorganisation · document dated 20 January 2026 · checked on 26 September 2026
17Universitätsgesetz 2002, § 66 Studieneingangs- und Orientierungsphase (RIS)Republik Österreich, Rechtsinformationssystem · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
18Universitätsgesetz 2002, § 77 Wiederholung von Prüfungen (RIS)Republik Österreich, Rechtsinformationssystem · undated page · checked on 26 September 2026
19„Good to know“ – Alle Infos für eure Prüfungen, Welcome Days 2025 (PDF)WU Wien, Studieninformation · document dated 8 September 2025 · checked on 26 September 2026

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The unipass course for VWL + ZuWi follows Mathematik

We are building the Mathematik (CBK) course first, then VWL + ZuWi. Join the waitlist and we will write to you when new courses start.

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Points in the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi: parts, minimums, bonus

Dates of the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi in the winter semester

Attempts at the STEOP exam and what happens after the last one

Sample questions in the format of the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi

VW part

ZuWi part

Common question

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Sources

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Points in the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi: parts, minimums, bonus

Dates of the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi in the winter semester

Attempts at the STEOP exam and what happens after the last one

Sample questions in the format of the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi

VW part

ZuWi part

Common question

Preparing for the STEOP exam VWL + ZuWi

Sources

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Compound interest, sequences (CBK), read, fits your answers

Derivatives and chain rule (CBK), read, fits your answers

Mathematik (CBK) exam dates, read, fits your answers

Expected value and distributions (CBK), read, fits your answers

Marginal cost and elasticity (CBK), read, fits your answers

Conditional probability (CBK), read, fits your answers

Arithmetic sequences (CBK), read, fits your answers

Cost, revenue, monopoly (CBK), read, fits your answers

Mathematik (CBK) at WU Vienna, read, fits your answers

Negative marking in Mathematik (CBK), read, fits your answers

The WISO entrance test at WU, read, fits your answers

Maths in the WISO entrance test, read, fits your answers

The admission rate at WU Vienna, read, fits your answers

Points in the WU entrance test, read, fits your answers

The unipass course for VWL + ZuWi follows Mathematik

Annuities and compounding (CBK)

Compound interest, sequences (CBK)

Derivatives and chain rule (CBK)

Mathematik (CBK) exam dates

Expected value and distributions (CBK)

Marginal cost and elasticity (CBK)

Conditional probability (CBK)

Arithmetic sequences (CBK)

Cost, revenue, monopoly (CBK)

Mathematik (CBK) at WU Vienna

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Points in the WU entrance test