Really depends on the program. A friend taught CS in the US, Germany and now UK, and (Sanierung to him) the German university has the hardest requirements of th

Really depends on the program. A friend taught CS in the US, Germany and now UK, and (Sanierung to him) the German university has the hardest requirements of the three. One barrier are also tedious requirements like "do the exercises and attend tutorial lessons if you want to be allowed to take the exam". For a lot of people that's a good idea, but for some it's just a waste of time (tutorials/exercise sheets don't influence the final score at my Alma mater, but larger software projects sometimes did). Not to say it's impossible here, just harder. I know a few people who were faster than the average student, which means they either took the expected time for their BSc/MSc or a semester less, since the average student took a semester or two more (or didn't finish at all). But people who really broke the speed limit? One, maybe two. Though of course that's biased since I didn't know everyone in the dept. For the one I'm sure of, I vouched that he should be allowed to take the exam without the formal requirements (I was his tutor in that course). He obviously passed, and IIRC he had one of the best exams while doing twice the courses everyone else did. A real genius & also a nice person as well!