The A2 and B1 language exams

Your language exam is not one exam. There are four of them, and you take them at four different moments. So you can also pass them one at a time — and if you do not pass one of them, you only have to redo that part.

Here we have to be careful, and that is exactly why this site exists. DUO does not publish anywhere how many questions an exam has. What is public are DUO's own oefenexamens (practice exams): you can take them without logging in, and the start screen shows the number.

So do not tell yourself: "the exam has 25 questions". Say: "DUO's practice exams have 25". That is what you can check, and it is enough to base your preparation on.

You do not decide that yourself. Under the Wet inburgering 2021, your gemeente (municipality) chooses a leerroute (learning route) after the brede intake and the leerbaarheidstoets, and that route determines your level.

Are you in the B1-route and does B1 turn out to be really too high? Then, under conditions, you can go down to A2 (afschalen). That is only possible from the B1-route, and only if you have followed at least 600 hours of language lessons at a school with a keurmerk (quality mark) and can show that you have done your best. The gemeente checks this.

What is the difference between A2 and B1 in practice?

Marieke Schipper · NT2 teacher

The difference between A2 and B1 is not mainly more words. It is that at B1 you have to be able to give an opinion and explain it. At A2 you say "I do not think it is good"; at B1 you say why, with an example, in two or three sentences in a row. You practise that too little if you only learn words.

DUO does not publish that. The Examenreglement says that the line between failing and passing is a cesuur that is set by the Minister. It gives no percentage and no number of correct answers.

Sites that do give such a number cannot support it. That is why we do not give one. What you can do: practise until you feel comfortable in each part within the time, instead of aiming at a line that nobody knows.

You register for each part through Mijn Inburgering, with DigiD. You choose the date and the place yourself. You take the kennisexamens and the A2 language exams at one of the six DUO locations: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rijswijk, Rotterdam, Utrecht or Zwolle. B1 and B2 are staatsexamens NT2 and have their own locations.

At the moment each part costs €50. That price is indexed — check it before you register.

The result of the A2 language exams normally comes within 8 weeks. Note the current exception below.

There is no compulsory order. But there is a sensible one, and it is about waiting times, not about difficulty.

It is different for each part. That is why every part has its own guide on this site: what exactly you are given, where the time goes, and where most people stumble.

Marieke Schipper · NT2 teacher

With my students, the biggest difference between passing and failing is rarely the level. It is the time. They do know the words, but they have never practised with a clock. Take a complete practice exam with a timer at least three times before you take the real one.