With a vocational or technical bachelor’s degree at university? This can work for passing the Passerelle if you take a supplementary exam at the end of the year. Guest author Sina describes her experiences and gives valuable tips.
“And what’s your plan B?” This is probably the question I’ve heard the most over the past year. And always as a reaction to my visit to Passerelle with the aim of starting my studies at the university in the autumn semester of 2021. Of course, the question is not completely unfounded. Passerelle is challenging and there are several failed attempts to pass the exams each year. But it’s always doable.
It was clear to me that my path must lead through Passerelle, as I had previously completed FMS with a focus on education, but my plans had changed and I could no longer imagine studying at PH. In order to fulfill my new dream of studying English and German, I signed up for a one-year school and started studying.
With success over the year Passerelle
For a successful degree, the most important thing is to stay in it. Easier said than done, but it really pays to study regularly throughout the year. Because if you’ve been saving up all the material for the last few weeks, you’ll definitely have more trouble getting through everything. Try to learn or summarize a little each week. So it’s not a problem if you have a line and maybe a little unmotivated and less diligent than usual. You can afford such lines if they don’t happen too often and otherwise you stay on the ball.
The best thing to do is find a few like-minded people in your class to form a study group with. Then you can motivate each other and encourage each other to persevere. You can also divide the material and not have to write countless summaries for each subject. However, learning together is important. You’re much more likely to get stuck looking at flashcards and revising the material together than sitting alone in your room reading the same thing for the twentieth time without understanding it. It is an advantage to have people of different talents and talents in your study group. Then everyone can dive into the topic and expertly help others with questions.
Also important: Don’t learn everything to perfection. The biggest challenge with the passerelle is the amount of material. The sheer amount of knowledge you have to acquire in a relatively short amount of time is significantly more intense than the difficulty level. But the important thing is that you don’t have to know everything perfectly. Try to have a good overview of each subject and definitely find out more about what the teachers particularly emphasize. But not knowing every little detail won’t directly lead to failure.
How to make the transition to college
When transitioning to university, your initiative is most important. The temptation to do nothing after all the stress of studying. But before you settle down completely, it’s important that you take care of all the necessary paperwork. However, in general, the registration process for Passerelle graduates is essentially the same as for everyone else. You too must register for the course on time in the spring, pay semester fees and upload certain documents to the university’s online portal.
What is different for you is only the final part of the registration. This part can be a bit more stressful than the others, as you will receive your certificate up to three weeks before the start of the semester. Therefore, you can only complete the registration later than students who come from high school. But don’t let it stress you out too much, despite everything it will be enough and if the time doesn’t quite work out: it’s not so bad. It didn’t work for me at all and I didn’t get access data to ADAM and an email address before the start of the studies. If this happens to you, just drop by the secretariat and they will be happy to help you.
Successful breaks
Last but not least: Don’t forget to rest. The Passerelle year is really intense and mentally demanding. There is only a very short time between Passerelle exams and starting university. Try to relax during this break, give yourself a break and try to forget all the stress of studying and everyday life at least for a while. You may be worried about what awaits you later at university. And anyway: If you successfully pass the bridging course, you are more than well prepared for the exam phases of your studies.