The KNM exam

KNM is one of the exams of your inburgering (civic integration). It is not about grammar or spelling. It is about how the Netherlands works: which doctor you go to, what you do if your rent is too high, who makes the laws, how school works for your children.

You take the exam on a computer. You get questions about short videos, photos and texts. For every question you choose an answer. The exam takes 45 minutes.

The subjects of KNM are laid down in law. Since the revised eindtermen (final attainment levels) there are eight. Each theme has its own knowledge guide on this site.

Marieke Schipper · NT2 teacher

Many students think that KNM is a memory test with years and names. It is not. The questions are almost always about a situation: someone has pain in their stomach, someone gets a letter from the gemeente. The question is then what you do. If you practise that with real situations, it goes much faster than learning a list by heart.

KNM is part of all leerroutes (learning routes) of the Wet inburgering 2021. But not everybody takes an exam in it.

Are you not sure? Mijn Inburgering shows exactly which exams apply to you. That is the only list that is correct for your situation.

You register through Mijn Inburgering, with DigiD. There you choose a date and a place.

Here we have to be honest: DUO does not publish the pass mark for KNM. The Examenreglement says that the limit is a cesuur (cut-off score) that is set by the Minister. There is no percentage with it and no number of correct answers.

You often do read such numbers online. They do not come from DUO. That is why we do not put them on this site. What you can do is make sure that you know the eight themes well — then the exact limit is no longer your problem.

Three things work, in this order.

Marieke Schipper · NT2 teacher

What I see going wrong most often: people learn the right answer, but not why it is right. Then a slightly different situation comes up in the exam and suddenly the answer is not correct any more. Read the explanation with every practice question, also when you had it right.

Then you take the exam again. You only have to redo the part that you did not pass — the other exams you have passed stay valid. You simply register again and pay the exam fee again, unless you still have a free attempt.

There is no maximum to the number of times you may take an exam. But do watch your inburgeringstermijn (integration deadline): it keeps running, and it takes weeks before you have a new date and weeks again before the result is there. So count back from your end date.

KNM is one of your obligations, not the whole inburgering. Next to it you have the language exams, and — depending on your route and your law — the PVT, the MAP or ONA.

Do you want to see the whole picture, with your own dates in it? Then use the timeline maker: it works out by when you have to register for each exam at the latest.