Hi all,

I was sick yesterday and unfortunately couldn't attend an exam
at the university. I will need to present a doctor's note to prove
it. People have already recommended doctors in Zürich on this
forum, but I want to ask: Are these doctor's notes hard to get
and are they expensive? (I'm pretty sure they are not covered
by the European Health Insurance Card.)

Best,
davis

I don't think (from experience) it's particularly difficult to get a doctor's note. Go and see a doctor, explain what was wrong and ask for one. It might have been better to go on the day you were actually missing the exam... but if you were so ill you couldn't get to the doctors I'm sure they would understand.

Regarding price, I'm not sure. It will depend how long the examination takes, if the doctor needs to do tests etc. I've never had a bill specifically for the certificate, just for the time in the doctor's office (including the writing of the certificate), plus tests.

On a separate note, if you are studying here, and presumably resident here, you should have Swiss health insurance. You have 3 months grace to arrange it, and any medical costs (plus premiums) will be back-dated. The European Health Insurance Card is aimed at tourists. And, as others have discovered, if you have failed to arrange insurance and have been here for some time, you could find yourself with a hefty bill of back payments.

It would have been better! A postdated doctor's note is not legally valid in most cases.

From a professor's point of view, if you are too ill to take an exam then you ought to go to the doctor. If you are too ill to go to the doctor then you ought to be in hospital. Anything else, during an exam week, looks fishy.

As it is you may or may not be allowed to re-take the exam, it depends how lenient your professor is. Students pull this every year at exam time so you can understand if some professors are a little cynical.

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Depending on the doctor you choose, you will not get a retroactive Arztzeugnis, you should have gone in yesterday. A lot of doctors are sympathetic though, so you'll probably be lucky. The Zeugnis itself is not very expensive, I usually see it billed as about 10 Francs but it's usually part of an examination if the doctor doesn't know you. If you are so sick that you can't go to an exam, then you should go to the doctor anyway.

ETA following what MathNut said: A few years back I got severe concussion six weeks before biiiig exams. Couldn't think straight, couldn't study, couldn't remember things. Absolute nightmare. I called the university to check what this means, they said I could skip the exams this time around - the next opportunity to take them was in a year's time. So I took the exams regardless. I guess you can motivate people to actually take the exams if NOT taking them is too inconvenient. I only JUST passed with a 4.0 average.

In my experience here, doctors hand out notes like candy. Never had any trouble getting a retroactive one. (Nor getting it accepted, though I guess that varies by recipient.)

Thanks for your answers. It worked out fine.