Inburgeringsexamen Oefenen: Free Practice and a Study Plan

The best practice for the inburgeringsexamen is free: inburgeren.nl offers 15 official practice exams in the real exam software, and oefenexamensnt2.nl has complete Staatsexamen NT2 exams with answer keys. This guide shows where to find each one, how to use it well, and how to plan 6 to 8 weeks of inburgeringsexamen oefenen part by part.

Which exam are you practising for?

Under the Wet inburgering 2021 (the civic integration law for everyone obliged since 1 January 2022), most people follow the B1 route. That means the Staatsexamen NT2 programma I (Dutch as a second language at B1 level) for reading, listening, writing and speaking, plus the KNM exam (Kennis van de Nederlandse Maatschappij, knowledge of Dutch society).

Older cohorts under the Wet inburgering 2013 take the A2 inburgeringsexamen. On the B1 route, after at least 600 hours of lessons at an approved school, your gemeente (municipality) can switch you to A2 per exam. A2 practice will not prepare you for a B1 exam, so check which one is yours.

Where to practise for free

A2 exams and KNM: inburgeren.nl

The official practice page on inburgeren.nl has 15 free practice exams in the same software you use at DUO:

• 4 reading practice exams
• 3 listening practice exams
• 3 speaking practice exams, recorded in your browser (not in Safari, and best on a computer)
• 2 KNM practice exams
• 3 writing booklets as PDFs to print, because the real writing exam is on paper

There are no model answers, and the player does not show the answer keys in advance. Nobody rates your speaking or writing, so you judge those yourself with the official rubric.

Staatsexamen NT2: oefenexamensnt2.nl

For the B1 route, oefenexamensnt2.nl is the richest free source. It has single speaking and writing tasks, complete interactive exams for all four parts, and the 2023, 2024 and 2025 public exams to download with answer keys, rating models, cut scores and the audio and video.

Exam vocabulary comes from a published frequency list plus the CvTE's supplementary word list. The materials are for personal study only.

The exam abroad: naarnederland.nl

If you need the basisexamen inburgering buitenland (the A1 civic integration exam abroad) for an mvv (provisional residence visa), use the practice exams on naarnederland.nl. You get 5 KNS questions, 19 reading questions that show which answers were right, and the 22 speaking items without feedback.

Even more useful is the free self-study pack (zelfstudiepakket) in 33 languages: every KNS question and answer is in its photo book.

How to use each A2 practice exam

Reading

The A2 reading exam gives you 65 minutes for 25 questions on short everyday texts such as emails, letters, flyers and web pages. Each item tells you to read the question first and then the text, so practise exactly that, with a timer running.

Listening

Listening takes 45 minutes for 25 questions, with headphones. You hear video clips (conversations, a teacher, news, a company film) and audio only, such as voicemail and announcements. Each question is shown on screen, and the question and every answer option are also read aloud.

Wear headphones at home too, and learn the words that caused your mistakes.

Speaking

Speaking has 16 questions in 35 minutes, recorded on the computer with no examiner in the room, and up to 60 seconds per answer. The practice exams use four groups of questions:

• A person on video asks you something and you answer.
• You describe or explain one picture.
• You see two pictures, choose one and say why.
• You describe three pictures, a set or a sequence.

Record yourself, listen back and score each answer with the DUO speaking rubric. Each answer can earn 12 points: adequacy and comprehensibility 0 to 3, vocabulary 0 to 2, grammar 0 to 2, fluency 0 to 2, coherence 0 to 1 and pronunciation 0 to 2. If adequacy is 0 because you did not do what was asked, the whole answer scores 0.

Illustration: scoring your own answer

Vraag: U ziet twee foto's. Op foto 1 ziet u een park. Op foto 2 ziet u een bibliotheek. Waar gaat u op zaterdag liever naartoe met uw kinderen? Kies één foto en vertel waarom.

Model answer: Ik kies foto 1, het park. Op zaterdag ga ik graag met mijn kinderen naar het park, want ze kunnen daar buiten spelen en rennen. In de week zitten ze veel binnen, op school. Ik neem brood en fruit mee en we eten samen op het gras. De bibliotheek is ook leuk, maar ik ga liever naar buiten als het mooi weer is.

Why it works: it chooses one picture and gives a clear reason, so adequacy is safe, and "want", "maar" and "als" help coherence. An answer like "Allebei leuk" does not choose a picture, so it risks 0 for adequacy and therefore 0 overall.

Writing

Writing means 4 tasks in 40 minutes with a blue pen in an exam booklet: a form, a short text for a neighbourhood newspaper (at least 3 sentences) and two emails or letters covering 3 or 4 points each, one of which can be a note based on pictures.

Print the booklets and write by hand, under time. Tick off every point, write in full sentences and check your spelling, because spelling is rated in every task.

KNM

KNM has 40 questions in 45 minutes. Every question has a picture, is read aloud and has 3 options, usually about an everyday situation of a named person. A new version has been used since 1 July 2025, so check that your study material was updated for it.

Questions cover 8 themes: history and geography; housing; the state and the rule of law; work and income; public bodies; education and raising children; manners, values and norms; and health care. Study the themes directly too.

Sample: a KNM-style question

Vraag: Samira heeft al drie dagen pijn in haar oor. Het is geen spoedgeval. Wat doet Samira eerst?

• A. Ze belt 112.
• B. Ze maakt een afspraak bij haar huisarts.
• C. Ze gaat zonder afspraak naar een specialist in het ziekenhuis.

Answer: B. For a problem that is not urgent you go to your huisarts (GP) first, and the GP refers you to a specialist if needed. 112 is the emergency number.

A 6 to 8 week practice plan

Book your exam early through Mijn Inburgering with DigiD: it can take more than 6 weeks before you can take an exam, and you can change or cancel for free up to 1 week before. This plan spreads the 15 A2 practice exams so you always keep a fresh one.

Short on time? For 6 weeks, merge weeks 2 and 3, and weeks 5 and 6.

On the B1 route: the same plan with NT2 material

Use the 2023, 2024 and 2025 public exams as full mocks in weeks 1, 4 and 7, with the interactive exams in between. Timings differ from A2: reading takes 110 minutes, listening 90, writing 100 and speaking about 25.

Copy the real conditions. The Van Dale Pocketwoordenboek NT2 is allowed for reading and writing, so practise with it. Listening texts are heard once, so never replay during a mock. Speaking gives you 20 or 30 seconds per answer, so use a timer.

Writing is typed, and four of its eight sentence tasks each force one structure (a main clause, a subordinate clause, inversion or te + infinitive), so drill those. Take it seriously: in 2025 only 44 percent passed reading and 43 percent passed listening in programma I.

Abroad: the A1 basisexamen

Learn the photo book in the self-study pack and say the 22 published speaking items out loud every day. A one-word answer can be enough, but pronunciation is rated.

Common mistakes when practising

• Using every practice exam in week one. Keep fresh ones to measure progress.
• Going off task in speaking. An answer that does not do what was asked scores 0.
• Typing A2 writing practice. The real A2 writing exam is pen and paper.
• Studying old KNM material. The exam changed on 1 July 2025.
• Treating a practice score as a guarantee. DUO's practice bands are a guide, not the real pass mark, which DUO does not publish.

What paid prep is worth paying for

Free material covers format and timing well, but it cannot judge your speaking and writing.

• Worth it: a teacher who rates your recorded speaking and handwritten writing against the official rubric.
• Worth it if you need structure: lessons at an approved school, which on the B1 route also count towards the 600 hours needed for a switch to A2.
• Not worth it: so-called real exam questions. In August 2025 an NT2 speaking session was invalidated for all 898 candidates after questions leaked.
• Not worth it: anything that promises you will pass. DUO publishes no real pass mark for A2 or KNM, only the guidance in its practice exams.

Your next step

For the full picture of routes, fees, results and deadlines, read our full inburgeringsexamen guide. Mocko is building Dutch practice, and you can ask for it from that page.

FAQ

More inburgering guides

• KNM Examen: Format, 8 Themes and 6 Sample Questions
• Staatsexamen NT2 B1: Format, Scores and Sample Tasks
• Inburgering Examen A2: Sample Questions with Answers
• Basisexamen Inburgering Buitenland: The A1 Exam Abroad