Writing often feels harder than it should.

You know the sentence you want to say. You could probably explain it in a conversation. Then you put pen to paper and suddenly start wondering about everything.

Is it de or het?

Where does the verb go?

Should this be formal?

Do I need a greeting?

Is this sentence too short?

That is why the A2 writing exam makes many learners nervous.

The good news is that the exam does not expect beautiful Dutch. You are not writing an essay. You are showing that you can write simple, understandable Dutch for everyday situations.

That might mean a short message, a letter, a form or a few sentences about something familiar.

The best preparation is therefore quite practical.

Know the format. Learn how to read the task.

Answer everything you were asked. Keep your sentences manageable. And practise with a pen, because that is exactly how you take the exam.

DUO calls this exam Schrijven A2.

The exam lasts 40 minutes.

You complete it with pen and paper and receive four writing tasks. DUO gives a short letter and filling in a form as examples of what you might be asked to do. 

DUO also provides three official A2 Writing practice exams as PDFs. These are worth using because they show the format far better than a description ever will. 

The real exam is confidential, so nobody should be publishing the questions they received. The examples in this guide are original practice questions written in the same general style, not copied exam material. DUO explicitly says candidates must keep the exam content secret.

A2 writing is practical.

You are writing about things you might deal with in normal life.

A missed appointment. A problem with something you bought. A short message to a neighbour. A form asking why you want to join an activity. A few sentences about your weekend.

You do not need advanced vocabulary for these situations.

You do need enough control to make the meaning clear.

Consider these two answers.

Morgen niet afspraak ziek.

You can guess what the person means, but a lot is missing.

Now compare it with:

Ik kan morgen niet naar de afspraak komen, omdat ik ziek ben.

Still simple Dutch. Much clearer.

That is the level you should aim for.

DUO officially states that you receive four writing tasks, with examples such as a short letter and a form. The official practice material gives you the best picture of the range.

For preparation, it makes sense to practise four broad types.

A short email or letter

You might need to:

change an appointment
ask for information
explain a problem
apologise
request something

These tasks usually give you several points to include.

The important part is not making the email long. It is making sure none of those points disappear.

A form

A form looks easier because part of the information is already organised for you.

That also makes people careless.

Read every field.

If the form asks for a short explanation, give one.

If it asks where something happened, do not answer only when it happened.

A short message or note

Think of something you might send to a colleague, neighbour or friend.

You often need to communicate a few clear facts.

What happened?

When?

What does the other person need to know?

A short piece of text

You might be asked to write a few sentences about a familiar subject.

Your neighbourhood.

A hobby.

An outing.

Your work.

Something you did.

Again, the aim is not creativity. The aim is clear Dutch.

A writing task often tells you exactly what information needs to appear in your answer.

Do not start writing after reading the first line.

Read the whole task.

Suppose you get this practice question:

You bought a table online. It arrived damaged. Write an email to the webshop.

Write:

what you bought
what is wrong
what solution you want

A learner might write:

Beste meneer/mevrouw,

Ik heb vorige week een tafel gekocht. De tafel is kapot aangekomen.

Met vriendelijke groet,
Sara

The Dutch is understandable.

But the answer is incomplete.

The task also asked what solution you want.

Add one sentence:

Kunt u een nieuwe tafel sturen?

Now all three points are there.

This is why reading the task carefully matters as much as grammar.

Practice task:

You have an appointment at the dentist on Tuesday. You cannot come because you have to work. Write an email.

Include:

when the appointment is
why you cannot come
ask for a new appointment

A good simple answer could be:

Beste meneer/mevrouw,

Ik heb dinsdag om tien uur een afspraak. Helaas kan ik niet komen, omdat ik moet werken. Kan ik een nieuwe afspraak maken voor donderdag of vrijdag?

Met vriendelijke groet,
Maria

There is nothing advanced here.

The answer works because everything the task asked for is included.

No.

Do not force grammar you do not control.

This would also work as practice:

Ik kan dinsdag niet komen. Ik moet werken. Kan ik donderdag een nieuwe afspraak krijgen?

The sentences are simpler, but the message is clear.

A common mistake is thinking the exam rewards the longest sentence.

Long sentences create more places for word order to go wrong.

If you know how to use omdat confidently, use it.

If you do not, two simple sentences are often safer.

Practice task:

Your friend Amir is coming to your house tonight. You will be home later than planned. Send him a message.

Tell him:

why you are late
what time you will be home
what he should do

Possible answer:

Hoi Amir,

Ik ben later thuis, omdat mijn trein vertraging heeft. Ik ben rond half acht thuis. Kun je om half acht komen?

Groetjes,
Lisa

A slightly simpler version works too:

Hoi Amir,

Mijn trein heeft vertraging. Ik ben om half acht thuis. Kom je dan naar mijn huis?

Groetjes,
Lisa

Both communicate the necessary information.

Imagine you want to join a sports club.

The form asks:

Name
Address
Which sport do you want to do?
Why do you want to join?

The first fields are straightforward.

For the last question, you might write:

Ik wil graag sporten, omdat ik gezond wil blijven. Ik wil ook nieuwe mensen ontmoeten.

Or more simply:

Ik wil graag meer sporten. Ik vind voetbal leuk.

Again, use Dutch you control.

Practice task:

A local website asks residents to write about their favourite place in the neighbourhood.

Write at least three sentences.

You could write:

Mijn favoriete plek is het park bij mijn huis. Ik ga daar vaak wandelen met mijn hond. In de zomer zit ik daar graag met vrienden.

Nothing impressive.

Nothing needs to be impressive.

It answers the task.

One thing worth practising is the difference between writing to someone you know and writing to an organisation or someone you do not know.

For an informal message:

Hoi Peter,

and:

Groetjes,
Anna

are fine.

For something more formal, useful options include:

Beste meneer/mevrouw,

and:

Met vriendelijke groet,
Anna Jansen

You do not need twenty different greetings.

Learn a few that you can use without thinking.

This is a good example of exam preparation going wrong.

Learners sometimes focus on tiny details because those feel easier to study than writing itself.

For A2, clarity matters more than finding the most elegant possible greeting.

Use something appropriate and move on.

Your time is better spent checking whether you answered all parts of the task.

You do not need thousands of words to write a clear A2 message.

Word order creates more trouble.

A classic example:

Morgen ik kan niet komen.

Dutch needs:

Morgen kan ik niet komen.

If another part of the sentence comes first, the verb still needs to stay in the correct position.

Another common problem appears with omdat:

Ik kan niet komen, omdat ik moet werken.

The verbs move towards the end in the subordinate clause.

If this still feels unreliable, keep your sentences shorter.

Instead of:

Ik kan niet komen, omdat ik morgen tot zes uur moet werken.

write:

Ik kan morgen niet komen. Ik moet tot zes uur werken.

You lose nothing important.

The reader understands you.

These two words both help you give a reason.

But the sentence structure changes.

Ik kan niet komen, want ik ben ziek.

After want, normal word order stays.

With omdat:

Ik kan niet komen, omdat ik ziek ben.

At A2, both are useful.

If want feels easier, use it.

You do not earn extra points simply for choosing the structure that causes you more mistakes.

De and het matter.

But learners often spend too much energy on them during a timed writing task.

Compare:

Ik heb de afspraak morgen.

with:

Morgen afspraak ik.

The first sentence might sound slightly unnatural depending on context, but the meaning is still much easier to understand.

Verbs and word order carry a lot of your message.

When checking your work, look first for missing verbs and broken sentence structure.

Then check smaller details if you have time.

You should try to spell words correctly.

But during the exam, you might forget the spelling of something.

Do not let one word stop the whole task.

Use another word if possible.

You want to write:

Mijn collega organiseert een bijeenkomst.

But you are unsure about bijeenkomst.

Perhaps you can write:

Mijn collega organiseert een vergadering.

Or even:

We hebben een afspraak met het hele team.

This is the same strategy that helps with speaking.

Use the Dutch you have.

You do not need an exact schedule down to the second.

But you do need to watch the clock.

A sensible approach is to read all four tasks first.

See which ones are short.

Notice which one needs a little more writing.

Then start.

If one task is taking far too long, move on and return to it later if possible.

Try to keep a few minutes at the end for checking.

The worst outcome is spending twenty minutes perfecting one email and then rushing through the remaining three tasks.

You have four tasks.

Treat them that way.

Do not reread your answer looking for every possible grammar error.

Use a short checklist.

Did I answer every point?

Does every sentence have a verb?

Did I write the date or time correctly?

Did I use a suitable greeting if the task needed one?

Did I finish the message?

Is my handwriting readable?

Then look for obvious spelling or word order errors.

This is much more useful than staring at one sentence and wondering if it sounds native.

It does not need to sound native.