The speaking exam worries a lot of people for the same reason.

You cannot sit quietly and think for five minutes before giving an answer.

You hear Dutch. You need to understand the question. Then you need to say something back.

For someone who already lives in the Netherlands, that may sound familiar. You know enough Dutch to order something or make an appointment, but when somebody asks an unexpected question, the sentence suddenly disappears.

The A2 speaking exam is designed around fairly simple Dutch. You are not expected to give speeches or use advanced grammar. You do need to understand what is being asked and produce an answer that makes sense.

That difference is worth understanding before you start practising.

DUO calls the exam Spreken A2.

You take it on a computer. During the exam you watch short videos, listen to Dutch and answer questions by speaking. The exam takes 35 minutes.

There is no examiner sitting opposite you having a conversation.

That changes the experience.

Some learners find this easier because there is less social pressure. Others find it harder because nobody helps when they hesitate.

You hear the task, work out what is being asked and record your answer.

This is why practising only normal conversation is not enough. Conversation helps your Dutch, but you should also practise answering a question without another person guiding you through it.

DUO currently offers three official A2 speaking practice exams. These are the best place to see how the official practice environment feels before your exam

A2 is still a basic language level.

According to the CEFR description, an A2 speaker deals with simple and routine exchanges about familiar subjects. The language does not need to be sophisticated. Basic sentence patterns are expected, and mistakes are still normal at this level.

Think about the sort of Dutch you use in ordinary situations.

Explaining what you do at the weekend.

Saying why you cannot come to an appointment.

Talking about your family.

Describing what happened yesterday.

Giving someone simple information.

Explaining what you prefer and giving a short reason.

Those are much closer to A2 than discussing politics or explaining a complicated problem at work.

The challenge is usually not finding impressive Dutch.

It is producing simple Dutch when you need it.

There is no useful rule such as “always give exactly three sentences”.

Questions differ.

Sometimes one clear sentence answers everything. Another question needs a little more information.

For practice, it helps to get used to giving a direct answer and then adding one useful detail when the question allows it.

Suppose the practice question is:

Wat doet u graag in het weekend?

A weak answer would be:

Sport.

The meaning is understandable, but you are giving yourself very little language to work with.

A more useful A2 answer is:

In het weekend ga ik graag sporten. Ik ga vaak op zaterdag naar de sportschool.

Nothing about this answer is advanced.

That is exactly the point.

You answered the question, used complete sentences and added a relevant detail.

Do not turn a simple question into a one minute speech because you think longer must be better. Extra sentences also create more opportunities to lose track of your answer.

One of the biggest mistakes during preparation is trying to sound more advanced than A2.

A learner knows a simple sentence:

Ik ga met de trein naar mijn werk.

Then they try to make it more impressive and end up halfway through a sentence they no longer know how to finish.

Use the Dutch you control.

If you know how to connect two ideas with want, that is useful.

Ik ga met de trein, want mijn werk is ver weg.

If you are comfortable with omdat, use it.

Ik ga met de trein, omdat mijn werk ver weg is.

But there is no prize for choosing the harder structure.

An understandable simple answer is far more useful than an ambitious sentence that falls apart.

The examples below are written for practice. They are not questions taken from the real DUO exam. DUO's real exam content is confidential.

Suppose you hear:

Wat doet u 's ochtends voordat u naar uw werk gaat?

You might answer:

Ik sta om zeven uur op. Daarna ontbijt ik en fiets ik naar mijn werk.

That is a perfectly sensible A2 style answer.

You could also say:

Eerst douche ik. Daarna eet ik brood en om acht uur ga ik naar mijn werk.

The exact story does not matter nearly as much as whether your answer fits the question and makes sense.

Imagine the question is:

U gaat liever met de fiets dan met de bus. Waarom?

A very short answer:

De fiets is beter.

The examiner gets some meaning, but the answer is vague.

A better version:

Ik ga liever met de fiets, omdat het sneller is. Ik woon dicht bij mijn werk.

Again, the language is ordinary.

That is what you want.

Past tense makes some learners nervous because they start thinking about grammar before they speak.

Keep it manageable.

Question:

Wat heeft u gisterenavond gedaan?

Possible answer:

Gisteren heb ik thuis gegeten. Daarna heb ik televisie gekeken met mijn partner.

If you forget a more complicated verb, work around it.

You do not need the most precise sentence imaginable. You need a clear one.

A question might describe a simple everyday situation and ask how you would respond.

For example:

Uw trein rijdt niet. Wat doet u?

A useful answer:

Ik kijk eerst in de app. Misschien kan ik een andere trein nemen.

Or:

Ik bel mijn werk en zeg dat ik later kom.

Both answers show that you understood the situation.

You do not need to list every possible solution.

This sounds obvious, but it causes plenty of mistakes.

Learners hear one familiar word and start constructing an answer immediately.

They hear:

weekend

and prepare to talk about what they did last Saturday.

But perhaps the question was:

Wat gaat u volgend weekend doen?

Now the tense and the answer have changed.

Train yourself to listen for the small words that determine the task.

Wanneer

when

waar

where

wie

who

waarom

why

hoe

how

wat

what

If the question asks waarom, give a reason.

If it asks wanneer, include a time.

If it asks met wie, mention a person.

You would be surprised how often a speaking problem is really a listening problem.

Memorising useful sentence patterns is smart.

Memorising twenty complete speeches is not.

The exam question will not necessarily arrive in the form you prepared.

Learn structures you can reuse:

Ik vind ... leuk, omdat ...

Meestal ga ik ...

Gisteren heb ik ...

Volgende week ga ik ...

Ik kies voor ..., want ...

Eerst ..., daarna ...

Ik denk dat ...

With these patterns, you build a new answer when the topic changes.

That is much closer to what you need during the exam.

Many learners spend too much time worrying about whether they sound Dutch enough.

You do not need to remove your accent.

Your speech needs to be understandable.

There is a big difference.

Work on sounds that change whether the listener understands the word. Make sure common words do not disappear because you speak too quickly. Finish your sentences. Give vowels and consonants enough space.

Speaking more slowly often helps more than trying to imitate a perfect native accent.

Record yourself answering simple questions and listen back.

You will notice things you never hear while speaking.

Maybe your answer is much faster than you thought.

Maybe your final words disappear.

Maybe you pause so often that one sentence becomes difficult to follow.

Those are things you can improve.

Keep going.

At A2, perfect grammar is not a realistic standard. The CEFR description explicitly allows basic mistakes at this level.

Suppose you say:

Gisteren ik ga naar de winkel...

and immediately notice the word order is wrong.

You can correct yourself:

Gisteren ben ik naar de winkel gegaan.

But if stopping to repair the sentence makes you completely lose your answer, continue with simpler Dutch.

One mistake does not mean the rest of your answer is useless.

A common problem during practice is that learners notice one error, panic, restart the sentence, make another error and eventually give almost no answer at all.

Communication matters.

Do not wait silently for the perfect word to appear.

Use another one.

Perhaps you forget apotheek.

You could say:

de winkel waar ik medicijnen koop

It is not elegant, but the meaning is there.

This skill is useful far beyond an exam.

Real conversations work the same way. Even at higher levels, you sometimes need to explain around a missing word.

Practise doing this instead of immediately switching to English.

Many people spend almost all their time reading and learning vocabulary because those activities feel safe.

Then they start speaking practice shortly before the exam.

Speaking does not work well like that.

Knowing the answer in your head and producing it quickly are different skills.

Start answering questions aloud early in your preparation.

You do not need another person every time.

Put ten simple questions on your phone. Choose one. Give yourself a moment to think, then answer out loud.

Do not write the answer first.

If you write every answer before speaking, you are practising reading your own Dutch, not spontaneous speaking.

Ten minutes is enough for a focused session.

Take one familiar theme.

For example: work.

Answer a few questions aloud.

Waar werkt u?

Hoe gaat u naar uw werk?

Hoe laat begint u?

Wat vindt u leuk aan uw werk?

Wat doet u als u ziek bent?

The next day, use another subject.

Shopping.

Family.

Health.

Transport.

Free time.

Appointments.

Your home.

Food.

Do not try to produce a different sophisticated answer every day. Repetition helps common sentence structures become automatic.

That frees up attention during the exam for understanding the question.

Do these before the real exam.

Not because you should memorise the content, but because you need to know what the computer based experience feels like.

DUO currently provides three A2 speaking practice exams on its official practice page. DUO recommends using a desktop computer for its online practice environment, and notes that the speaking practice exam does not work in Safari.

Do one relatively early.

Save another for later in your preparation.

Use the final one when you are closer to the exam and want to see how comfortable the format feels.

That is more useful than completing all three on the same afternoon.

Bring a valid ID.

DUO lists the accepted forms of identification on its exam rules page. Without valid identification, you cannot take the exam and need to register again.

More importantly, do not spend the hours before the exam trying to learn twenty new grammar rules.

You want familiar Dutch available quickly.

Listen to some Dutch. Say a few easy sentences aloud. Review common connectors and question words.

Then stop.

During the exam, listen carefully and answer the question in front of you.

Not the question you hoped they would ask.