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Inburgering exam prep

Spreken: the speaking exam

How the speaking exam works at B1 and at A2, from the official descriptions, and practice in the same format.

Practice

At B1 the CvTE gives you 20 seconds to speak on a short task and 30 on a medium one. It does not publish how long you get to read each task before the beep, only that a task with pictures or a text gets extra time, so our reading times of 10 and 20 seconds are an estimate. Pictures are described in words here.

  • Korte spreekopdracht

    B1, short task. Answer a question about a situation briefly, in one or two sentences.24 tasks, not started
    See an example with its model answer

    U staat bij de bushalte. Een vrouw vraagt wanneer de volgende bus komt. U ziet op het bord dat de bus over vijf minuten komt. Wat zegt u?

    At a bus stop a woman asks when the next bus comes. The board says five minutes. What do you say?

    De volgende bus komt over vijf minuten. U kunt hier gewoon wachten.

  • Middellange spreekopdracht

    B1, medium task. Give a longer answer of a few sentences or more: advice, an opinion with reasons, a description or a short story.24 tasks, not started
    See an example with its model answer

    Uw collega wil Nederlands leren. Hij twijfelt tussen een cursus overdag en een cursus 's avonds. Hij werkt overdag. Welke cursus raadt u hem aan? Leg uit waarom.

    Your colleague, who works during the day, cannot choose between a daytime and an evening Dutch course. Which do you recommend, and why?

    Cursus overdag: dinsdag en donderdag, 9.00 tot 12.00 uur, € 300

    Cursus 's avonds: maandag, 19.00 tot 21.30 uur, € 250

    Ik denk dat je beter de avondcursus kunt nemen. Je werkt overdag, dus dan hoef je geen vrij te nemen. De avondcursus is ook goedkoper: hij kost 250 euro in plaats van 300. Het nadeel is dat je 's avonds misschien moe bent, maar het is maar één avond per week.

  • A2 spreekopdrachten

    A2, everyday questions. Simple everyday questions in the style of the A2 exam. The real A2 exam (DUO) shows short films and also has multiple choice questions, which this course cannot copy; DUO publishes no time per answer, so these use 10 seconds to read and 30 to speak.8 tasks, not started
    See an example with its model answer

    Stel uzelf voor. Vertel hoe u heet, waar u woont en met wie.

    Introduce yourself: your name, where you live and who with.

    Ik heet Nadia. Ik woon in Arnhem, in een appartement. Ik woon daar met mijn man en mijn twee kinderen.

  • Timed mock exams8 short tasks and then 8 medium tasks at B1, one after the other with the exam's beeps, and no way back.3 mock exams, none taken yet

How your answers are marked, and how our rubrics work

At B1, two trained raters mark every recording with a marking scheme, and each task can earn one or more points (CvTE, Beoordeling examen). The CvTE does not publish that marking scheme, so the rubrics here are ours. They start with what each task asks you to do, because Cito’s study of these exams found that answers which skip part of the task lose points even when the Dutch is good. Then come the B1 criteria Cito used to relate the exam to B1, taken from the Raamwerk NT2 (Cito, Het gewenste niveau, deel 4, read 2026-10-20):

  • Vocabulary: the words fit the situation, and where you miss a word you describe it.
  • Grammar: everyday sentences are mostly correct, such as the verb in second place and at the end after "omdat", "dat" or "als".
  • Pronunciation: a listener understands every word, even with an accent.
  • Fluency: you keep going; short pauses to find a word are fine.
  • Coherence: your points follow in a logical order, linked with words like "want", "omdat", "daarom" or "maar".

Shorter tasks are checked on fewer of these. At A2, DUO says only that trained raters mark the exam; it publishes no criteria or pass mark.

How the exam works

Spreken at B1

Set by
CvTE (staatsexamen Nt2, Programma I), booked through DUO
Time
25 minutes. The CvTE says about 25 minutes; inburgeren.nl says about 30.
How
You wear headphones and speak into a microphone. You talk to the computer, not to a person.
Format
  • Part 1: 8 short tasks. You answer a question briefly, with 20 seconds to speak.
  • Part 2: 8 medium tasks. You answer in a few sentences or more, with 30 seconds to speak.
  • A beep tells you when to start, and another when time is up. The exam moves on by itself: you cannot go back or skip ahead.
  • Some tasks show pictures or a short text you must use, with extra time to look at it.
Passing
Two trained raters mark your recordings with a marking scheme. Your points are converted to a scale score. You pass with a score of 500 or higher. The CvTE does not publish how many points 500 takes, and it varies between exam days.
Dictionary
Not allowed.

Spreken at A2

Set by
DUO
Time
35 minutes
How
On a computer, with 15 minutes of instructions first.
Format
  • You watch films and answer questions by speaking.
Passing
Multiple choice answers are marked by the computer, spoken answers by trained raters. DUO does not publish the pass mark.

This is an independent, free course. It is not made by DUO or the CvTE, and its practice questions are written for this site. Nothing you answer, write or record is uploaded: it stays in this browser.

Official sources

Rules and amounts change: your letter from DUO and Mijn Inburgering always win.

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