What Is on the Dutch Inburgeringsexamen? Free KNM Practice Questions by Topic

Where does KNM fit in the inburgeringsexamen?

Four of the five exam parts test your Dutch language skills at A2 level of the Common European Framework (CEFR): reading everyday texts, listening to short conversations and announcements, writing short messages and forms, and speaking in everyday situations. KNM is different. It is the knowledge part: multiple-choice questions about how life in the Netherlands actually works, from registering at the gemeente to what a huisarts does. The KNM questions are themselves written in simple A2 Dutch, so studying KNM trains two things at once, the civic facts and the exam vocabulary. Words like gemeente, toeslag, huurcontract, verwijzing and uitkering come back again and again, in KNM and in the language parts alike. That is why the practice questions on these pages stay in Dutch: reading them in the wording style of the exam prepares you for test day far better than a translated summary would.

Which topics does KNM cover?

KNM tests eight official themes: Werk en inkomen (work and income), Omgangsvormen, waarden en normen (manners, values and norms), Wonen (housing), Gezondheid en gezondheidszorg (health and healthcare), Geschiedenis en geografie (history and geography), Instanties (official bodies), Staatsinrichting en rechtsstaat (how the country is governed and the rule of law) and Onderwijs en opvoeding (education and upbringing). The six guides below each take one theme, explain in English what it tests, give you a table for the points candidates mix up, and let you try free practice questions in A2 Dutch drawn from the same bank that powers our offline app:

• Werk en inkomen: the BSN, your payslip and loonheffing, contracts and the proeftijd, the CAO, vakantiegeld, calling in sick, the WW benefit and the toeslagen for low incomes.
• Wonen: renting and buying, the huurcontract and waarborgsom, social housing through a woningcorporatie, huurtoeslag, energy contracts, separating waste and dealing with neighbours.
• Gezondheid: the huisarts as your first stop, referrals to a specialist, the compulsory basic health insurance, the eigen risico, the apotheek, 112 and the consultatiebureau.
• Geschiedenis en geografie: the twelve provinces, Amsterdam versus Den Haag, the king, dikes and the Delta Works, the Randstad, the Golden Age, the VOC and the Second World War.
• Instanties: which organisation does what, the gemeente, DUO, the Belastingdienst, UWV, IND and SVB, plus 112, 0900-8844 and DigiD.
• Staatsinrichting: the constitutional monarchy, the government and the minister-president, the Staten-Generaal and the Tweede Kamer, elections, the grondwet and the basic rights.

What level is the inburgeringsexamen, and what score do you need?

For integration and most residence purposes the required language level is A2 of the CEFR, and the KNM questions are written in the same simple A2 Dutch. A higher B1 route runs through the Staatsexamen NT2, so always check which level applies to your own situation. On scoring, be careful with anything you read elsewhere: DUO does not publish the exact number of questions or the raw pass mark for each part. An exam committee decides whether you pass or fail. Because there is no public cut-score, any specific number quoted on other websites is unofficial. Our own mock test uses a deliberately transparent, realistic standard instead: 40 questions drawn evenly across all eight KNM themes, 50 minutes, and a pass line of 26 correct, so you can track your progress against a consistent benchmark while you prepare. Treat that as practice calibration, not the official standard, and confirm every practical detail about registering, scheduling and fees on the official DUO pages at inburgeren.nl before you book.

How should you prepare for KNM?

KNM rewards systematic preparation, because the same everyday facts recur throughout the theme list: which organisation handles which problem, which document you need for which step, and which number you call in which situation. A good order is to start with Instanties, because the organisations it teaches (gemeente, DUO, Belastingdienst, UWV, IND, SVB) reappear inside every other theme, then work through Werk en inkomen, Wonen and Gezondheid, which cover the daily-life situations the exam loves, and finish with Geschiedenis en geografie and Staatsinrichting, where the facts are more list-like: twelve provinces, 150 members of the Tweede Kamer, King's Day on 27 April. The two remaining themes, Omgangsvormen (manners, values and norms) and Onderwijs en opvoeding (education and upbringing), are fully covered in our app alongside the six on this hub. As you practise, read the explanation after every answer even when you were right: the explanations carry the connecting facts, such as why a GP visit does not count towards the eigen risico, that turn isolated answers into a picture of how the Netherlands works.

How to use the free questions on these pages

Each topic page below exposes a free slice of the same question bank that powers our offline app, with the Dutch question, the correct answer and an explanation in both Dutch and English. Every item is original: we reproduce no official DUO exam question, audio clip or image. The questions are written from scratch in simple A2 Dutch to match the publicly documented format of the exam, the KNM facts are grounded in the public SZW endterms across the eight official themes, and each question is checked by a second, independent AI model, with a human reviewing anything flagged. If the free questions feel useful, the app contains the full set: 368 questions covering KNM, Lezen and Luisteren, 25 writing and 25 speaking tasks with model answers, and 353 flashcards, all offline with no account, for a one-time 8.99 euros. This site and app are independent study aids: they are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DUO, the Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment or any other official Dutch body. For official information, see www.inburgeren.nl. The content on this hub was last reviewed on 2026-07-20.