30-Day Inburgering Study Plan: A Simple Day-by-Day Schedule

If your inburgering exam is about one month away, do not try to study everything. Use the first days to confirm your exact route, use official practice once, and find your weak tasks. Then spend 30 days repeating practical Dutch: reading instructions, listening for key words, writing short messages, speaking aloud, and reviewing KNM or KNS if your route includes it. A clear small plan beats random long study sessions.

• Start with the exam you actually need: A1 abroad, A2 inburgeringsexamen, KNM, ONA/MAP/PVT, or Staatsexamen NT2 B1/B2.
• Use official practice early, not only at the end. It shows the screen, task style, timing and instructions.
• Plan short daily sessions. Even 45 focused minutes is useful if you repeat the right task.
• Give extra time to speaking and writing if nobody is correcting you, because these are harder to judge alone.
• Do not memorise random question lists. Learn the task pattern, useful words and simple answer structure.
• Use the final week for review, computer practice, documents, travel planning and sleep.

Inburgering is not one exam for everyone. DUO says the required exams depend on the law that applies to you, and under Wet inburgering 2021 your PIP says which learning route and exams you follow. This is why the first step is administrative, not grammar.

Use this rhythm on most days. If you have less time, keep the same order but make each part shorter.

• 10 minutes: repeat yesterday's mistake words or phrases.
• 20 minutes: one input task, such as reading a short text or listening to one official-style recording.
• 20 minutes: one output task, such as speaking aloud or writing a short practical message.
• 10 minutes: write down three errors and one thing to repeat tomorrow.
• Extra time: KNM/KNS, a longer writing task, or computer-based official practice.

• Day 1: Check your route, level, deadline and required exam parts. Save the official practice links.
• Day 2: Try one official reading or listening practice task. Do not worry about the score; write down what confused you.
• Day 3: Try one speaking or writing task. Record yourself if you are practising speaking alone.
• Day 4: Make a small word list from your own mistakes, with short example sentences.
• Day 5: Practise one weak task again, slowly and without a timer.
• Day 6: Do a short mixed session: 15 minutes reading, 15 minutes listening, 15 minutes speaking or writing.
• Day 7: Review the week and choose your two weakest tasks for next week.

Speaking and writing need active practice. You cannot only read examples; you need to produce answers yourself.

• Day 8: Write five useful sentences about yourself, work, family, health, appointments or school.
• Day 9: Speak those sentences aloud, then change details and say them again.
• Day 10: Practise one form, short email, note or message. Keep sentences simple and clear.
• Day 11: Answer ten short speaking questions. Use a timer only after you understand the question type.
• Day 12: Ask someone to correct one text or listen to one recording if possible.
• Day 13: Repeat the corrected task and fix only the most important mistakes.
• Day 14: Do a small test: one writing task and one speaking task without stopping.

• Day 15: Read short official-style texts: signs, letters, work messages, appointment information or school information.
• Day 16: Listen for the main message first, then listen again for names, times, places and numbers.
• Day 17: Practise KNM or KNS themes if your exam includes them. Explain each answer in simple words.
• Day 18: Do one reading task with a timer. Mark where you found the answer in the text.
• Day 19: Do one listening task with a timer. Afterward, write the key words you missed.
• Day 20: Mix knowledge and language: read or listen to a daily-life topic, then say what it means.
• Day 21: Review weak words and repeat the official practice task that felt hardest.

Now make practice feel more like the real exam. Use a computer or laptop when the official practice works best that way, especially for NT2 and many DUO practice tasks.

• Day 22: Do one longer official practice session on the correct device.
• Day 23: Review every wrong answer and write the reason: vocabulary, grammar, speed, instruction, stress or computer use.
• Day 24: Repeat your weakest skill with a timer.
• Day 25: Practise the second-weakest skill with a timer.
• Day 26: Do a mixed session and stop when the time is finished, even if the answer is not perfect.

• Day 27: Make a final list of phrases you can use safely in speaking and writing.
• Day 28: Check the exam-day rules, your ID, location, travel time, login letter or appointment details.
• Day 29: Do light review only. Repeat familiar tasks; do not start a new course or big new topic.
• Day 30: Rest, prepare your bag and sleep. A tired brain makes simple Dutch feel harder.

The same 30 days can work for different routes if you change the materials. For A1 abroad, give more time to Naar Nederland, KNS photos, simple reading and short spoken answers. For A2, rotate language exams with KNM. For NT2 B1/B2, practise longer computer tasks and use the official NT2 practice environment. If your PIP includes MAP, PVT or other appointments, place those actions in your calendar separately; they are not solved by language practice alone.

• Studying Dutch in general but not practising the exam task.
• Watching many videos without speaking or writing anything yourself.
• Using only a phone when the official practice is better on a computer.
• Memorising long answers that you cannot adapt to the real question.
• Ignoring ID, travel, location and exam-day rules until the night before.
• Doing a hard mock exam every day and getting exhausted before the real exam.

If you still do not know your route, start with which Dutch exam you need. For a wider preparation guide, read how to prepare for the inburgering exam. Then use free official practice tests and the free exam practice hub for actual exercises.

If self-study is not working, compare self-study and language school. If your exam date is already booked, read the exam-day rules before you travel.