First steps in USOSweb at UW, PW, and UKSW

Enrolment in courses, monographic lectures, language courses and physical education takes place through registration modules in USOSweb. Each of Warsaw’s universities has its own specifics and deadlines that must be strictly adhered to.

University of Warsaw – Token and Basket Registration

At the University of Warsaw, registrations for foreign language courses, PE classes and university-wide subjects (the so-called OGUNs) take place centrally using tokens. At the beginning of their studies, each student receives a specific package of virtual currency (tokens) dedicated to specific groups of subjects (e.g. PE, language and exam tokens).

Registration takes place at ‘rejestracja.usos.uw.edu.pl’. Enrolment in major courses (at individual faculties, e.g. at the Faculty of Management at Szturmowa Street or at the Ochota Campus) takes place directly in the USOSweb of a given faculty using the method of dedicated rounds (often with a limit on the average grade or on a first-come, first-served basis).

Warsaw University of Technology — enrolment in courses and division into faculties

At WUT, faculty enrollments play a key role. They take place directly in the USOSweb WUT system or through integrated faculty systems (e.g. at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering or Electronics). Enrolment dates are closely linked to your stage of study. At WUT, the so-called credit debt and the number of ECTS credits are important — if you fail a course, USOS will block the possibility of registering for courses in the higher semester that require passing the so-called subject sequences.

Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński University — logistics of two campuses

Enrollment at UKSW requires special attention to the location of classes. The university has two main campuses a few kilometers apart:

• Campus at Dewajtis Street (Bielany) – located in the Bielański Forest (access by trams to Marymoncka Street, and then on foot or by bus line 181/121).
• Campus at Wóycickiego Street (Młociny) – access, m.in. by bus 114 from the M1 Młociny metro station.

When registering in USOSweb UKSW, check the room markings. Travel between Dewajtis and Wóycickiego during a 15-minute break by public transport is sometimes logistically impossible due to traffic jams on Marymoncka Street and Wisłostrada.

Scholarships and social issues in Warsaw’s USOS

The high cost of living in Warsaw (e.g. the prices of renting a room in Mokotów, Wola or Ochota oscillating around PLN 1300-1800 per month in 2026) make material assistance from universities a key element of the budget of many students. Applications for scholarships (social, rector’s scholarship for the best students, allowances and scholarships for people with disabilities) are submitted electronically via the USOSweb module.

Step-by-step procedure in the applications section:

• Go to the For Students tab, and then select the Applications section.
• Select the appropriate form (e.g. Application for Social Scholarship for the academic year 2026/2027).
• Fill out a declaration of income. This requires the prior generation of the so-called declaration of income in the system, where you enter data from tax offices and the Social Insurance Institution of all household members.
• After filling out the application in the system , click Next/Register.

Important (E-E-A-T): Just clicking “Register” in USOSweb does not mean that you have submitted an application. In accordance with the regulations of the UW, WUT and UKSW services, the application should most often be signed with a trusted profile (ePUAP) directly in the system or printed, hand-signed and submitted in person to the dean’s office or sent by traditional mail. Detailed instructions and income limits are published on the websites of the Student Affairs Offices of individual universities at the beginning of each academic year (usually in September).

What to do when USOSweb stops working? Survival Manual

Overloading of USOSweb servers during the first minutes of registration for classes (especially for popular seminars, PE or language courses) is a recurring technical problem at every university.

Practical advice in case of a breakdown:

• Prepare permalinks: Instead of refreshing the USOSweb homepage, log in 15 minutes ahead of time and go directly to the subpage of a specific item (you can find it in the item catalog). Add these subpages to your browser’s bookmarks.
• Avoid continuous refresh (F5): Each page refresh sends a new query to the database, which adds to the load on the server and increases the response time for your account. If the page freezes, wait a dozen or so seconds.
• Check the migration schedule: If you don’t see the grade that the lecturer entered on the same day in USOSweb, don’t panic. Data between local faculty databases and the main USOSweb portal is synchronized once a day during the night technical break.
• Use an alternative network connection: During mass enrollment in dormitories (e.g. in DS “Riviera” WUT or in the “Przyjaźń” housing estate in Bemowo), local Wi-Fi connections can be overloaded. At a critical moment, a hotspot connection from a mobile phone may be more stable.

How does a “group exchange” and token recovery work?

Official university guides usually describe registration as a one-step process: you choose a subject, click “save” and complete the procedure. The systemic reality during mass enrolment at the University of Warsaw, Warsaw University of Technology or UKSW can be more complex.

Chip Recovery and Return (UW)

At the University of Warsaw , the mechanism of returning tokens during registration is crucial. If you sign up for a language course or PE class, and then you decide that the date interferes with your faculty plan:

• You have the right to unregister from classes before the closing of a given dedicated turn.
• The system will automatically return the full pool of tokens to your account (e.g. 60 tokens for a course, 30 for PE).
• Note: Unregistering after the registration round closes, even before the start of the semester, results in the irreversible loss of chips. In order to regain the opportunity to enrol in another subject, it is necessary to submit an application to the foreign language coordinator or the head of the Physical Education and Sport School.

Unofficial seat exchange (“group exchange”)

There is no automatic “swap group with another student” button in USOSweb. When all laboratory groups (at WUT) or conversational groups (at UW/UKSW) are full, students coordinate the exchange manually:

• Arrangement stage: You find a person willing to switch on student groups on Facebook or dedicated Discord channels (e.g. for a specific year of a given faculty).
• Synchronization stage: You log in to USOSweb at the same time, preferably at night (e.g. at 2:00 a.m. – 3:00 a.m.), when the load on the servers and the risk of someone “stealing” the free space is minimal.
• Execution step: Person A unsubscribes from the group, and person B immediately refreshes the page and clicks the save button. Then the procedure is repeated in the other direction.

A safer alternative, recommended especially with small limits of places, is to go together to the secretariat of the course of studies or the dean’s office. An employee with the permission to edit the database (role: USOS Coordinator) can make such a change directly in the system, without the risk of losing places for any of the students

The “Hook Up” Trap (ECTS) – A Mistake That Can Cost You Your Scholarship or Student Status

The “Connections” module is technically the most important element of USOSweb from the point of view of settling study stages. Errors in this section are the most common cause of not automatically passing a semester.

Your Study Programme (e.g. Computer Science Cycle I)

• Stage: Year 1, Semester 1
• Subject A (Attached and applied to the program) -> ECTS passed
• Subject B (Attached, but NOT registered for the program) -> ECTS do NOT count towards the stage!
• Subject C (Untrained) -> Hanging status, no effect on average and passing

What is the connection mechanism?

Each course you sign up for must be:

• Connected to the relevant study program (if you are studying more than one field of study, e.g. simultaneously at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Warsaw and the Faculty of Mathematics of the University of Warsaw).
• Submitted to pass a given stage (semester or year).

If you pass the exam with a grade of 5.0, but the course is not correctly connected to the current semester, the USOSweb system will show a deficit of ECTS credits when generating a decision to pass a stage. In extreme cases, this may lead to a decision to remove students from the list or the need to pay for a probation.

After logging in to USOSweb, go to the ‘For students’ tab -> ‘Connections’. Check the status of each course awarded for a given semester. If there is a red message next to the course name about no connection, use the “Change connections” option and indicate the correct program and stage of study. These changes must be made before the end of the exam session.

Average ratings in USOSweb: Why are your calculations different from the system ones?

Many students applying for the Rector’s Scholarship for the best students try to calculate their grade point average on their own using a simple arithmetic average. This result is often inconsistent with the official data presented in USOSweb.

Weighted average ECTS

At both the University of Warsaw, Warsaw University of Technology and UKSW, the basis for settlements is the ECTS weighted average. Each final grade is multiplied by the number of ECTS credits assigned to the subject, and the sum of these products is divided by the total number of ECTS credits that can be obtained in a given period.

$$text{Weighted Average} = frac{sum (text{Grade} times text{Course ECTS Credits})}{sum text{All ECTS Credits}}$$

Impact of Failing Grades (2.0)

If you receive an unsatisfactory grade (2.0) in the first term, and you pass the exam for 4.0 in the retake session, the method of calculating the average depends on the regulations of a particular university and faculty:

• Variant A (common on the WIP): Both grades are included in the weighted average – both 2.0 (first term) and 4.0 (second term). This lowers the final scholarship average.
• Option B (common at the University of Warsaw): Only a positive grade obtained in the second term is included in the average for scholarship purposes, unless the specific regulations of the faculty state otherwise.

You can check the exact algorithm used in your field of study in USOSweb in the ‘For students’ -> ‘Grade averages’ tab. Different types of averages are presented there (e.g. stage average, average to scholarship, cumulative average for the entire studies).

External tools, plugins and automation

The desire to get a place in the best class groups prompts students to look for technological facilitations. On online forums and on GitHub, scripts automating the registration process in USOSweb (e.g. auto-clickers, scripts refreshing and monitoring the availability of places) regularly appear.

How do the security systems of the University of Warsaw, UTP and UKSW react to bots?

All three universities use security systems at the level of application servers and central authentication systems (CAS).

• IP blocking: Querying the USOSweb server at a frequency of more than a dozen per minute (which is natural for refresh scripts) is classified by protection systems as a Rate Limiting or DDoS attack. This results in an immediate, automatic blocking of the student’s IP address for a period of several hours to a day. If the ban occurs 5 minutes before the start of registration, you will lose the ability to register.
• Disciplinary consequences: The use of scripts that interfere with the structure of the website code or automatically send registration packages is a violation of the Regulations for the Use of the University Information Infrastructure. In extreme cases, when system logs show deliberate falsification of HTTP requests to bypass the queue, the matter may be referred to the university’s disciplinary committee.

Automation allowed

Instead of risky scripts, it is worth using official and safe solutions:

• RSS subscription/notifications: Some versions of USOSweb allow you to enable email notifications when application statuses change or ratings are entered.
• Sync with your calendar: In the schedule section, you’ll find a link to export your calendar in iCalendar format (‘.ics’). This allows for automatic, one-sided synchronization of the plan from USOSweb to Google Calendar or Apple Calendar on the phone, without the need to constantly log in to the system.

Communication logistics and timetables in USOSweb

When compiling a schedule of classes in USOSweb, it is easy to forget about the topographical realities of Warsaw. The system allows you to sign up for courses that take place directly after each other (e.g. the end of one class at 11:30 a.m., the start of the next one at 11:45 a.m.), even if they take place at the extreme points of the city.

Critical transfer points for students:

University of Warsaw

• Main Campus (Krakowskie Przedmieście) <-> Ochota Campus (Banacha/Pasteura Street). The nominal travel time by bus line 175 or trams (with a change at the Central Station) is about 20-25 minutes. During peak hours (15:00–17:00), this time can increase to 45 minutes.
• Main Campus <-> Faculty of Management (Służew, Szturmowa Street). The fastest route is the M1 metro (from the Nowy Świat-Uniwersytet station change at Świętokrzyska to the Służew station), and then a short walking distance. Minimum time: 30 minutes.

Warsaw University of Technology

• Central Campus (University of Technology Square) <-> South Campus (Narbutta Street, Mokotów). It takes about 12-15 minutes to get there by tram line 10 or 14. This is the only connection that, under favorable conditions, allows you to move during a standard interperiod break.

UKSW

• A direct ride by bus line 181 takes about 20 minutes, but these buses are sometimes delayed in autumn and winter due to congestion at the Wisłostrada junction. It is recommended to avoid scheduling classes on both campuses on the same day less than 45 minutes apart.

Hidden Features of USOSweb That Most Students Learn Too Late

USOSweb hides several modules that are rarely discussed during adaptation days, and have a direct impact on the comfort of studying.

Priority of registration for completing class grade questionnaires

At selected faculties of the University of Warsaw and WUT, there is a system of bonuses for students who take part in an anonymous evaluation of the work of lecturers (a survey conducted at the end of each semester).

• How does it work? Students who complete a certain percentage of surveys for their subjects in the previous semester are entitled to enter the registration system earlier in the next round (e.g. 2-3 hours ahead of the others). In the case of very busy subjects, this determines the possibility of choosing convenient class hours.

Module of tests and colloquia

Although most lecturers use e-learning platforms (Moodle, UW Campus, MS Teams), some of them enter the dates and detailed results of partial colloquia directly into the USOS database. You can find this information in the ‘For students’ section -> ‘Tests’. This allows you to control the components of the final assessment on an ongoing basis before the official closing of the protocol in the session.

Diploma Thesis Archive (APD)

USOSweb is integrated with the APD (Diploma Thesis Archive) system. It is there, at the end of your studies, that you will enter the topic of your bachelor’s or master’s thesis, an abstract and a PDF file for verification by the anti-plagiarism system (JSA – Uniform Anti-Plagiarism System). APD is accessed using the same login credentials as USOSweb.

Frequently asked questions about USOSweb

Where can I find my timetable in USOSweb?

The timetable can be found in the For Students tab -> My Timetable (or in the calendar view on the home page after logging in). Remember that the plan for the new semester appears there only after the registration and migration of classes by the dean’s office employees is fully completed, which may take place even a day before the start of classes.

How to check the individual account number for the ID card fee (ELS)?

The bank account number dedicated to student ID card fees and possible repetition of courses is generated individually for each student. You can find it in the tab For students -> Settlements -> University bank accounts. Don’t deposit money into accounts provided by your friends – everyone is assigned a unique sub-account.

What does the “connected” status mean next to an item in USOSweb?

Connecting a course (in the For students tab -> Connections) is assigning a given course to a specific study program (e.g. bachelor’s degree in history) and stage (e.g. first year). Without the correct connection of subjects, the system will not take them into account when settling the semester and calculating the average grade for the scholarship.

What should I do if I didn’t sign up for classes on time?

If the official round of registration in USOSweb has passed, the only path is to submit a written or electronic application to the Vice-Dean for Student Affairs with a request to be added to the class group (the so-called application to be added over the limit). This usually requires the written consent of the class teacher.

How to submit a request for a repetition of an item (condition)?

The application for conditional enrolment is submitted electronically in the For students -> Applications section in USOSweb. Once you have chosen the appropriate template, you indicate the countless subject and semester in which the repetition is to take place. Submitting an application is associated with the need to pay a fee for repeating classes in accordance with the price list of your faculty.