What Is the Staatsexamen NT2? Dutch Exam Levels and Integration Exams

The staatsexamen NT2 is the Dutch state exam for adults who learn Dutch as a second language. The CvTE, a government exam board, makes it, and DUO handles sign-ups and results. Its diploma shows that your Dutch is good enough to work or study in the Netherlands.

1. Integration exams

   Civic integration

   For integration under the 2013 law, for naturalisation, or when your municipality moves your route down to A2.

   • CEFR A2
   • €50 per exam
2. Programme I

   Staatsexamen NT2

   For work or study at mbo level 3 or 4, and for the B1 and education routes of the 2021 integration law.

   • CEFR B1
   • Pass with 500 or more
   • €50 per part
3. Programme II

   Staatsexamen NT2

   For work or study at hbo or university level.

   • CEFR B2
   • Pass with 500 or more
   • €50 per part

Every NT2 part is on a computer, and each one is on its own day. In Reading and Writing, you may bring one dictionary, the Van Dale Pocketwoordenboek Nederlands als tweede taal.

• NT2 Programme I (B1)
  • Reading36 tasks · 110 min
  • Listeningabout 40 tasks · 90 min
  • Writing12 tasks · 100 min
  • Speaking16 tasks · about 25 min

  Pass with 500 or more on each part

• NT2 Programme II (B2)
  • Reading36 tasks · 100 min
  • Listeningabout 40 tasks · 90 min
  • Writing9–12 tasks · 100 min
  • Speaking13 tasks · about 25 min

  Pass with 500 or more on each part

• Integration exams (A2)
  • Reading65 min
  • Listening45 min
  • Writing4 tasks · 40 min
  • Speaking35 min

In NT2 Listening, you hear each recording once. In NT2 Speaking, you talk into a microphone, and a computer plays the questions. The A2 Writing exam is on paper, and A2 Speaking asks about short films.

On the B1 route, you can ask your municipality about moving down to A2 if you have taken at least 600 hours of lessons and still can't pass at B1.

Programme I runs on several days most weeks, and Programme II on a few days each month. Both are held in six cities: Amsterdam, Eindhoven, Rijswijk, Rotterdam, Utrecht and Zwolle. You can't take it abroad or online. Each part costs €50, so all four cost €200, for either programme.

1. Find a date in the official schedule for Programme I or Programme II.
2. Sign up in MijnDUO with your DigiD. Sign-up opens about eight weeks before the exam and closes about three weeks before, and busy dates fill up sooner.
3. About 12 days before the exam, DUO sends you a letter by email and post. Bring it and a valid ID, and come half an hour early.
4. Your result appears in MijnDUO from 15:00 on the date the schedule gives.

For the A2 integration exams and KNM, you sign up in Mijn Inburgering instead. It can take more than six weeks to get a date, and the result comes by letter within eight weeks. Each of these exams costs €50 too.

NT2 texts and recordings are about work, study and everyday life in the Netherlands, and the speakers sound like real people, with some accents but no dialects. The exam gets easier the more of this Dutch you read and hear, as long as you can follow most of it. That's called comprehensible input.

• 🎧Read With the Audio OnChoose Dutch about work, study and home where you know almost every word, and play the audio while you read. Plan a few short sessions each week.
• 📖Look Words Up in Van DaleGet used to finding words fast in the Van Dale Pocketwoordenboek NT2 before exam day.
• 📝Do the Practice ExamsThe official practice site has exams and tasks like the real Speaking and Writing parts. It works best on a computer.

Talking About the Weekend

🌱

Praten over het weekend

Lv 2

Daan en Lisa praten over het weekend.

Daan and Lisa are talking about the weekend.

Daan

Wat heb je dit weekend gedaan?

What did you do this weekend?

Lisa

Ik ben naar het museum geweest.

I went to the museum.

Daan

Heb je daar een leuke dag gehad?

Did you have a nice day there?

Lisa

Ja, het was heel gezellig en ik heb veel gewandeld.

Yes, it was very nice and I walked a lot.