PolyYapp
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Inburgering

The inburgering exam has language parts (Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking) and knowledge parts such as Knowledge of Dutch Society (KNM). A larger Dutch vocabulary helps most with Reading and Listening. PolyYapp is a vocabulary app: it does not prepare you for KNM, Speaking or Writing, and it has no exam mode. Use DUO's free practice exams for the exam itself.

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Listening exercise: typing the Dutch word you hear, with the on-screen keyboard open

Which exams you take

It depends on which law applies to you: the civic integration act of 2013 (Wet inburgering 2013) or the act of 2021 (Wet inburgering 2021). Under the 2021 act, your municipality makes a personal integration and participation plan (PIP) with you, and the PIP says which exams you need to take. Mijn Inburgering, DUO's online service, shows which law applies and which exams and level are yours.

Under the 2013 act, the exams depend on the date from which you were required to integrate, and the language exams are at level A2 or higher. Depending on that date, the list includes Reading, Listening, Writing, Speaking, Knowledge of Dutch Society (KNM), for later dates Orientation on the Dutch Labour Market (ONA), and, from 1 October 2017, the participation statement (PVT).

The language exams

DUO runs language exams at levels A2, B1 and B2. The B1 and B2 exams are also known as the Dutch as a second language state exam (Staatsexamen Nt2). At A2, Reading, Listening and Speaking are taken on a computer and Writing with pen and paper.

Reading and Listening are where vocabulary pays off most directly: you have to understand texts and spoken Dutch quickly enough to answer questions about them. Speaking and Writing need vocabulary too, but they test producing Dutch, which takes practice that a word trainer does not give.

Practise with the official material

DUO publishes free practice exams at A2 for Writing, Speaking, Listening, Reading and KNM, and practice exams for the B1 and B2 language exams, on inburgeren.nl. They show the real format, which no app can stand in for. Do them early, to see where you lose points, and again before the exam.

Where PolyYapp helps

  • Building the everyday Dutch vocabulary that Reading and Listening rely on, a little every day.
  • Recognising words by ear: every word has audio, and one exercise asks you to type what you hear.
  • Adding the words you meet in letters, at the gemeente or in practice exams to your own review list.

Where it does not

  • It does not cover Knowledge of Dutch Society (KNM) or ONA.
  • It has no speaking or writing practice, and no grammar lessons.
  • It has no exam mode, no practice exams and no CEFR levels.

Sources

Checked against the official sources on

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