SFU Medicine Admission Test 2027: Complete Preparation Guide

Buselmaier & Haussig, Biologie für Mediziner, 14. Auflage, Kapitel 1 & 2. Sixty-seven pages, and nothing outside them.

• Cell organisation and organelles: the cell as the basic unit of life, prokaryotic and eukaryotic organisation, compartmentalisation, the nucleus, ribosomes and the endomembrane system, mitochondria and the remaining organelles and their functions, and the cytoskeleton and cell shape
• Membranes and transport: plasma membrane structure, passive and active transport, diffusion and osmosis, carrier and channel proteins, endocytosis and exocytosis, cell junctions and the extracellular matrix
• Cell cycle and cell division: the phases of the cell cycle and its control, mitosis stage by stage, meiosis and recombination, chromosome behaviour and ploidy through division, apoptosis and the basics of cell regulation
• Genetic material and protein synthesis: DNA and chromosome structure, replication, the genetic code, transcription and translation as they are treated within the official page ranges, and genes and gene products

Buselmaier & Haussig, Biologie für Mediziner, 14. Auflage, Kapitel 7.1 to 7.9. Thirty-six pages, at introductory medical level.

• Mendelian and human inheritance: genotype and phenotype, the Mendelian rules, autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive inheritance, X-linked inheritance, pedigree reading and recurrence-risk reasoning at introductory medical level
• Mutation and chromosomal disorders: gene mutations and their effects, variation, numerical and structural chromosome abnormalities, karyotype notation, and the clinical relevance of genetic diagnosis and counselling

SFU names five domains and publishes nothing further: no item counts, no time limits, no task descriptions, and no recommended literature. What follows is the shape of each domain as SFU names it, with the official German term. Practice here trains a transferable skill; it is not, and must not be presented as, an SFU task or past paper.

• Memory and recall (Merkfähigkeit): encoding, retention and delayed retrieval of verbal, numerical and visual material under time pressure (word pairs, number spans, symbols, locations, short tables, and recall after an interfering task)
• Logical reasoning (logische Denkfähigkeit): inferring rules and relationships rather than pattern-matching (syllogisms and quantifiers, conditional statements and what does not necessarily follow, number and figure series, matrices, odd one out, and checking which assumptions have actually been used)
• Visual-spatial perception (visuell-räumliche Wahrnehmungsfähigkeit): mental rotation, paper folding and cube nets, mirror images, block counting, map and orientation tasks, and the comparison of shapes and spatial relationships
• Numerical understanding (rechnerisches Grundverständnis): arithmetic without a calculator, fractions and decimals, percentages, ratios and proportion, the rule of three, unit conversion, estimation, and small quantitative problems read out of a data table
• Verbal comprehension (Sprachverständnis): working with German academic prose (main idea, detail retrieval, inference, contradiction, paraphrase recognition and word meaning in context). SFU's own document names this domain Sprachverständnis; unofficial material rendering it as Textverständnis is not using SFU's wording

It is Sigmund Freud University's own admission test for Bachelor Human Medicine in Vienna. Two written blocks are assessed: a Biology block of 30 multiple-choice questions, and a cognitive ability test across five domains. Both are computer-based, sat on SFU's own computers on a single assigned day at its Vienna campus, and, as far as SFU's documents show, in German. A Zoom admissions interview follows for candidates who pass the cognitive ability test.

No. The MedAT is Austria's standardised test for its public medical universities. SFU is a private university and runs its own test, with a different structure, and, importantly, the MedAT's convention of five answer options with one correct answer is not an SFU statement and should not be assumed here.

In person. It is computer-based but sat on SFU's own computers at Freudplatz 1 or 3 in Vienna's 1020 district, on a single testing day assigned to you. Those assigned dates are binding and cannot be moved. The separate admissions interview is conducted over Zoom.

German, as far as SFU's documents show, although they do not name the test's language in a separate sentence. The whole programme is German-taught and SFU requires C1 German. One of the five cognitive domains is Sprachverständnis (verbal comprehension), which we read as working with German texts, and the textbook SFU prescribes for the Biology block is German. This is not a programme to approach with functional German.

SFU defines the scope by page range rather than by topic list, which is unusually precise. The prescribed source is Buselmaier & Haussig, Biologie für Mediziner, Springer, 14th edition, and the examinable extracts are chapters 1 and 2 on general cell biology (pages 1-67) and chapters 7.1 to 7.9 on human genetics (pages 107-142). That is 103 pages carrying 30 questions (about one item for every three and a half pages), and nothing outside those ranges is in scope. There is no chemistry and no physics anywhere on the test.

SFU does not publish this, and it says so explicitly: its official admissions document asks for candidates' understanding that it cannot disclose detailed information about the individual tasks. That covers the option count, the marking scheme and any numeric pass mark, and the absence was re-confirmed on 21 September 2026 in the document's own section on how results are determined.

No numeric pass mark is published. The only threshold SFU states anywhere is qualitative: an invitation to the admissions interview requires the cognitive ability test to have been passed. That makes the cognitive block, rather than Biology, the stage that determines whether you progress, which is worth knowing before you decide how to split your preparation.

By training the five named domains rather than chasing the format. SFU publishes the domains (memory and recall, logical reasoning, visual-spatial perception, numerical understanding without a calculator, and verbal comprehension of German academic prose) and states that it will not release task details or recommend any literature. Short, frequent, timed practice across all five is what moves these skills; any practice material you use is transferable training, not an SFU task or past paper, and should never be presented as one.

For 2026 SFU published its Human Medicine places round by round, after each testing block: 155 after the first, 50 after the second and 15 after the third, 220 in all. It publishes no applicant volume or acceptance rate, so how competitive a given block is cannot be worked out from official figures; note only that most places go after the first block.

Within the EU, yes: automatically, as a standard Austrian medical degree. Austria has no national licensing exam after graduation: the route to practice runs through registration and supervised training, a general Basisausbildung period followed by either a roughly three-year general-practice track or a five-to-six-year specialist track, administered by the Austrian Medical Chamber and ending in the right to practise. Outside the EU recognition isn't automatic as a rule, but the UK is an exception. Under the Medical Act 1983 (section 21B, as in force on 12 October 2026), the Austrian Dr. med. univ., the degree SFU awards and the title Annex V of the EU Directive lists for Austria, is a 'relevant European qualification', so a graduate who applies to the GMC with one, whatever their nationality, is not asked to show the knowledge and skills other international graduates prove through PLAB/UKMLA; evidence of English is still required, and the rule is UK policy that can change. US-bound graduates need ECFMG certification via USMLE Step 1 and Step 2 CK, the same requirement every international medical graduate faces.

Yes. The IvyTest simulator runs SFU-format practice (timed 30-question Biology sets drawn from the prescribed page ranges, plus drills across all five cognitive domains tracked separately) in timed, tutor and review modes, with a free diagnostic available without payment.

SFU has not yet published its 2027 dates. For 2026/27 the online application ran from 7 January to 10 August 2026, and the tests ran in three blocks: 23 to 27 March and 7 to 10 April, 8 to 19 June and 8 to 9 July, and 10 to 14 August. Each candidate is assigned one day by email once the application is complete. SFU's next online information evening, for the 2027/28 winter semester, is on 21 October 2026 at 17:00. Places go out block by block: in 2026, 155 of the 220 Human Medicine places after the first block, then 50 and 15. A test day is assigned only once the online application is complete, and the assigned day is binding; SFU does not say in what order it assigns days.

Two written blocks, sat on one day at SFU in Vienna. Biology is 30 multiple-choice questions from Buselmaier & Haussig, Biologie für Mediziner, 14th edition: pages 1 to 67 (general cell biology) and 107 to 142 (human genetics). The cognitive ability test covers memory, logical reasoning, visual-spatial perception, numerical understanding and verbal comprehension, together with performance-related personality traits. Dentistry applicants also sit a manual dexterity test, and a Zoom interview follows for those who pass the cognitive test.

SFU publishes no pass mark, no applicant numbers and no acceptance rate, so its difficulty cannot be put in figures. What it does publish makes it demanding in other ways: the interview invitation depends on passing the cognitive test, for which SFU releases no task details and recommends no literature; the Biology block examines 103 pages with 30 questions; the programme is taught only in German and SFU requires C1; and you may take part in the admission procedure only once a year.

Read the 103 prescribed pages of Buselmaier & Haussig in German, and train the five cognitive domains in short timed sessions from the first week. SFU publishes no sample test, no past papers and no literature for the cognitive part. Its own two-week science preparation course (17 to 28 August 2026, €850) is for students who lack the required Biology hours or want to refresh the basics; it runs after the last testing block, so it is not a course for the admission test.

As SFU describes it: once your online application is complete, the admissions office assigns you a testing day by email, and the schedule for the day follows by email a week in advance. The cognitive ability test and the Biology block are on that one day, on SFU's computers at Freudplatz 1 or 3 in Vienna. The interview with SFU's psychological testing team follows over Zoom, and results come by email after the block; SFU does not disclose individual test results. For students' own accounts, SFU's information-evening page has a video of students describing their first year.

SFU charges €14,179 per semester for the Bachelor stage (from the 2026 winter semester) and lists the same €14,179 per semester for the Master in Human Medicine (our arithmetic: €28,358 a year, €170,148 for all twelve semesters if the rate stays the same). On top come the €700 admission fee and, if you cannot show school Latin, €480 for SFU's Latin course. Through its means-tested scholarship programme with the Vienna Healthcare Group (WIGEV), awarded on social need ('soziale Förderungswürdigkeit'), SFU covers the full tuition of 10 Human Medicine places for 2026/27, in return for later work at WIGEV; that year's application window (7 January to 20 May 2026) has closed.

You need a school-leaving certificate that qualifies you for university (Matura, Abitur or equivalent, which can follow by the start of studies), four weekly hours of Biology across upper secondary school (or SFU's preparation course and its Biology exam), German at C1 and very good English. You apply online, uploading your documents and a study-specific written task, pay the €700 fee, and are then assigned a testing day. Latin is not needed to apply but must be completed by the end of the Bachelor.

In two stages of six semesters each. The Bachelor (180 ECTS) ends with a Bachelor of Science in Medical Sciences and is taught in modules and longitudinal Skills Lines, including compulsory paramedic training; its first-semester module 'Grundlagen des Lebens' covers Biology, Physics and Chemistry. The Master in Human Medicine (180 ECTS) ends with the Dr. med. univ., with 23 weeks of clerkships and the clinical practical year in semesters 5 and 6. Graduates of the Human Medicine track of SFU's Bachelor enter the Master without a further admission procedure, Dentistry-track graduates only if places are free and they show equivalence; both curricula are PDFs on SFU's programme pages.