You’ve made your plans to move to the Netherlands and you’ve read about the ‘Basisexamen Inburgering Buitenland’.  Maybe you find you are required to apply for the MVV and now you have to take the exam.

But where to begin with your preparations? In a series of blogs I will give you the most important tips for how to prepare for the Basisexamen Inburgering Buitenland. 

In part one of the series ‘How to prepare for Het Inburgeringsexamen’ I will start with reading.

So first, the level of the language competences is A1. What does this mean?

Reading at A1 level

Reading at A1 level means that you can understand familiar names, words and very simple sentences. These are, for example, notices and posters or short simple sentences in catalogues.

The exam: reading part 1

In this part of the exam you will get two kinds of questions. In the first part you will hear a word, a number or a sentence. There are four multiple choice answers. You have to choose the correct answer.

For example: the word oor. You read and hear this word. In the answer you will hear different words but you don’t see the words. You have to select the right word.

In this question, the answers could be:

• A: oor
• B: oog
• C: voor
• D: rook

 

Another kind of question in this part is when you hear a word, but you do see it.

For example: deur

In the answer you will see four words, you can also listen to these four answers. You have to select the correct answer.

The exam: reading part 2

In the second part of the exam you get 6 texts. Every text comes with 2 questions in which you have to choose the right answer.

For example, you will read a weather forecast, with questions in which you show that you understand the text and the message.

Now you know what to expect from this part of the exam. Time to begin your preparations!

How to prepare?

On learndutch.org you can find videos to learn Dutch, even if you don’t know one word or sound. I selected three videos which will help you with your first steps in learning Dutch. 

1. Learn the alphabet

Important in this part of the exam is the understanding of the Dutch alphabet and the sounds. In this video on my website you can learn all about the Dutch alphabet.

2. Learn the letter combinations

In this video you can learn about the letter combinations in Dutch. Maybe you know this, but there are some really difficult combinations in Dutch.

3. Learn about the pronunciation

And to make it even more difficult, sometimes Dutch people pronounce words with letters that aren’t there. You can learn about the adding of a non-written vowel in the pronunciation in this video.

Next to these videos you can take a look at my online course. My online course #dutchgrammar-1 is designed for people who want to learn the Dutch language from scratch. In this course you will learn about Dutch grammar and vocabulary.

More information

You can find more information on the Basisexamen Inburgering Buitenland on the official website of the IND and government.

 

Bart de Pau
online Dutch teacher & founder of the Dutch Summer School & Dutch Winter School