From in-person classes to week-long sequestering, there are several Dutch language courses out there to choose from. But if you are looking specifically to pass your inburgering exams, an online course at home could be your best option, especially if you have a busy schedule.

Passing the inburgering exams is a requirement for obtaining a permanent residence permit or a Dutch passport—whether you’re a refugee or a highly-skilled migrant. They consist of four language exams (reading, listening, writing and speaking) and the KNM, and all non-Dutchies seeking to stay here must reach the A2 level.

Inburgering Online – an internet-based, guided self-study course of lessons – has already helped some 40,000 students pass their inburgering exams over the past few years.

Pass the tests

“I took Inburgering Online with the goal of specifically passing my exams,” says India native Akhil Chhibber (32), a machine-learning engineer who now lives in The Hague. “The course was quite to the point. I passed all five of my exams and am now at the A2 level. Without this course, it would have likely taken me a few more months to pass.”

And this is especially the case, he says, when it comes to the test about Dutch culture and society, the KNM. “I know people who took three to four months to pass that part,” he says. “It took me only one week of studying.”

Inburgering Online has kept abreast of recent changes to the KNM test, which have become more focused on diversity, says Inburgering Online’s Liz Gommans.

“In the history part of the exam, for example, there’s more talk about slavery and the Holocaust,” she says. “Thers’s also more of a focus on different celebrations in the Netherlands, like [the Surinamese] Keti Koti and Suikerfeest.”

Women’s rights and legal and social self-determination now also feature prominently in both the KNM test and the course’s written and video explanations.

“Digital skills are a big part of it,” says Gommans. “There are the privacy aspects and practical things like learning how to use DigiD. It’s really important that people can help themselves learn how to live here, and that includes navigating the healthcare system and public institutions.”

Speedy success

Panamanian Edgar Solis Booth (33) took three other Dutch classes before a friend recommended Inburgering Online. “One was a heavy course at University of Amsterdam. The second was an online course during Covid, which wasn’t very successful. The third was with a private tutor who charged me €300 for 10 classes to learn how to read a clock!” says Booth.

Needing to pass his inburgering classes in a hurry, he turned to Inburgering Online. “It’s been incredibly helpful and affordable,” he says. “[Founder Bart Nawijn] is great and explains in detail how the exams work, about key words and tricks you can use. The practice exams and his videos are amazing.”

Booth says he passed four out of the five exams in a very short time and is now just waiting for the results of his speaking test. “I would recommend this course 10,000 percent,” he says.  “Taking it is the best decision I’ve made in the Netherlands!”

The course also fits in nicely with his hectic work schedule as a cook. “I can do it in my own time and pace,” says Booth. “I’m not dependent on classes that were sometimes too fast and other times too slow.”

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