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Korte Vrijstellingstoets

artemis007
July 5, 2009 12:09:30 PM CEST

Hi,

I am thinking about taking Korte Vrijstellingstoets exam for the language & cultural requirement for dutch naturalization process. Generally this exam is supposed to be of higher level than writing 3 different exams but looking at the sample of Korte Vrijstellingstoets, I found it to be rather comfortable to prepare. As of now my dutch is poor. But I have heard that folks with no or little dutch alos have comfortably prepared for Korte Vrijstellingstoets and even passed the exam. But I donot have any other contact information. So if any of you could give me pointers in terms of how to go about preparing for this exam (book, websites, CD/DVD or some institute) would be of great help. Any other tips as well pls......thank, ks
Deleted Member
- 7371 posts
July 5, 2009 12:12:59 PM CEST

artemis007 (Jul 5 2009, 11:09 AM) said: > original post
Hi,

I am thinking about taking Korte Vrijstellingstoets exam for the language & cultural requirement for dutch naturalization process. Generally this exam is supposed to be of higher level than writing 3 different exams but looking at the sample of Korte Vrijstellingstoets, I found it to be rather comfortable to prepare. As of now my dutch is poor. But I have heard that folks with no or little dutch alos have comfortably prepared for Korte Vrijstellingstoets and even passed the exam. But I donot have any other contact information. So if any of you could give me pointers in terms of how to go about preparing for this exam (book, websites, CD/DVD or some institute) would be of great help. Any other tips as well pls......thank, ks

I've heard that the sample test is nothing like the real thing, which is harder.

I'm sure if you do a search on this forum (or the Learning the Language one) you can get more info. There is also some info here (with links):

http://www.buitenlandsepartner.nl/forum/vi...pic.php?t=32301
ev3nthorizon
- 17 posts
December 13, 2010 11:19:05 AM CET

artemis007 (Jul 5 2009, 09:09 AM) said: > original post
Hi,

I am thinking about taking Korte Vrijstellingstoets exam for the language & cultural requirement for dutch naturalization process. Generally this exam is supposed to be of higher level than writing 3 different exams but looking at the sample of Korte Vrijstellingstoets, I found it to be rather comfortable to prepare. As of now my dutch is poor. But I have heard that folks with no or little dutch alos have comfortably prepared for Korte Vrijstellingstoets and even passed the exam. But I donot have any other contact information. So if any of you could give me pointers in terms of how to go about preparing for this exam (book, websites, CD/DVD or some institute) would be of great help. Any other tips as well pls......thank, ks

Hello:

I took the Korte Vrijstellingstoets exam in October of 2010 and failed it the first time. Yes, you are probably thinking, why is this person saying, “First Time”, as this test can only be taken once.

http://www.inburgeren.nl/inburgeraar/exame...llingstoets.asp
http://www.inburgeren.nl/inburgeraar/exame...ts/voor_wie.asp
http://www.inburgeren.nl/inburgeraar/exame...llingstoets.asp

Well, I failed it the first time because their servers crashed and the machine I was taking the exam on “blue screened” 3 times. The computers and software are written by students using open source and the technology is about 20 years old. As a result, I was unable to finish the exam. With that being said, I wrote a complaint letter to the Education Ministry, and was able to re-take the exam. If this happens to you, make sure you get the moderator of the exam to make notes of the problems you experienced, because without them, you will have no case to take it again. They will fight you, make excuses, say it is not necessary, but stand your ground; otherwise, you will have no case.

Okay, I took it again in November 2010, and within a week, received my diploma, which needs to be registered with the city hall. Oh that is going to be a joy!

Observations:

1) This exam has nothing to do with your knowledge of the Dutch language, so do not bother wasting time studying grammar, spelling, speaking, or anything else you would expect from a language exam; apart from a little reading & listening.

2) The exam is timed, with 45 minutes to answer 30 questions, leaving you 1.5 minutes / question. The actual number of questions can vary from 28-32. The questions are selected at random from a database repository, comprised of unrelated and irrelevant nonsense, and housing the collective knowledge of the Dutch people. The fewer number of questions, the more difficult and vice versa.

3) The test is multiple-choice. One question and 3 choices from which to pick from. One of them is always wrong, and the other two closely match the correct answer. In fact they are almost identical, apart from the wording, where your ability to read comes into play.

4) Depending on where you take the exam, it will be littered with degenerates, who smell and aimlessly wander the corridors wondering where and why they are there. I suggest bringing a huge bottle of perfume, spray deodorant, or air freshener, so you can mask the smell. Or at the very least, bring along some nose plugs. You may look funny, but trust me, it is worth it.

5) I would also suggest bringing a bottle of hand sanitizer, easily purchased at your local AH or ETOS, as judging by the clientele who frequent these places, I would prefer to not touch the same air molecules, as they do, let alone a keyboard, mouse and headset. Yes, it is true - you must come in contact with all three of these things. The exams are usually taken in the same places that hordes of students, refugees, and street trash come to complain about their tuition, classes, register for new classes, or simply to loiter, as they are not working and need a warm or quiet place to hang out in.

6) If you are not a good test taker, you will fail this exam. Sorry, but that is a fact. It is designed for failure. As this exam is the “get out of jail free card” for the inburgeringsexam and naturalization requirements, if you want to get a Dutch passport, therefore the difficulty is level B1, which is a high level understanding of university Dutch. Yes, they do have universities here. Where do you think our taxes go – to pay for students to go to school for 8-10 years to get a bachelor’s degree. Duh, right?

7) You will get a moderator who has learned Dutch as a second, third, or fourth language. Native Dutch speakers working in this environment are few and far between. You can find them, if you look hard enough, as they are usually hiding in the back offices or skulking around in some break room. They almost never work the counters, exam rooms or interact with the public in any way, unless they absolutely have to do so. The moderator’s accents will be poor, their knowledge of Dutch will be infantile, and it will require a miracle ear (hearing aid), on your part with some form of artificial intelligence to follow what they are saying. They do this so you feel more welcome in taking the test. Yeah, right!

8) I suggest you bring something to read, as waiting to take the exam is excruciating, unless you enjoy watching the freak show. That would be me.

Survival Guide / Tips:

1) The ability to read Dutch would be helpful, especially, if you can scan it quickly.

2) Listening is also an advantage, particularly, if you can pick up key phrase words.

3) I would suggest you take the time to look at these practice exams. They are a level or so lower. Do so, not so much for the content, but the format. It will get you into the mindset of how to take the exam, the speed, and the layout. Time yourself. You should be able to do these exams in 28-30 minutes, giving you 15 minutes to go back and review the answers for correctness. If you cannot do these questions in that time, you will fail.
a. http://www.inburgeren.nl/inburgeraar/Oefen...inburgering.asp
b. http://www.inburgeren.nl/inburgeraar/exame...ktijkexamen.asp

4) The text, video, or samples related to the questions appear on the left of the screen. The question and answers appear on the right. Always read the question and answers before you watch the video, listen to the audio, or read the related question text.
a. Be advised that the video will not be in HD, will skip, automatically repeat, and sometimes stop, while your test clock keeps ticking forward.
b. Some of the videos appear in between the questions. When completed, they will take you to the question. I suggest clicking next, volgende, as you can always replay the video or audio clip while in the question screen. This “feature” is added to slow you down in the taking of the test.
c. The exam is a browser application. If you are not a techno geek, such as myself, this means, as you traverse the questions, it will take some time to load the next question, as it needs to register your current answer and get the next question to display. This is, or course, by design, in an effort to eat up as much of your test taking time as possible.

5) If you find a question too difficult, skip it, as you can always go back to it. It will have a grey color, instead of the Dutch national pride color of gleaming orange. The reason I suggest this, is that a missed or unanswered question is a wrong one. You must get 74% of the questions correct in order to pass, which means you can miss or incorrectly answer 6-7 questions, depending on the total number of questions you receive.

6) Questions you “may” get in your exam:
a. Mortgages, loans, mortgage write off, and how to pay your taxes.
b. Reporting a crime, how to describe what happened, forms you need to fill in, and how to work with the police.
c. Having a party at your house and how to interact with your neighbors.
d. Questions about gay marriage and what that is. If you are not gay, have no gay friends, or come from a country where this kind of thing just simply does not happen, then you will get this one wrong.
e. Educational system in the Netherlands, what levels they are, and how to get financing for school. This relates to yourself and potentially your children.
f. Woman’s menstrual cycles, pregnancy, birth, and immunizations of newly born children.
g. How to register a newly born child, what papers are needed, and what last name the child can take.
h. How to interact with your neighbors, if there is an issue and how best to resolve it.
i. Public displays of affection (PDA) and how a person should respond to it.
j. Going for a job, interview, what to say in an interview, and what to ask/say when leaving the interview or job.
k. CAO, for employees, and what your rights are if you want to screw over your employer. Here is a helpful link: http://www.caoweb.nl/
l. Questions about Dutch holidays. I would suggest reading and memorizing the dates and meaning of these dates
m. How to handle power outages or issues with your house. You will find numerous ads for NUON/KPN, etc. You can guess who helped pay for the making of the software for this exam.
n. How to fill in an acceptgiro when paying bills. They want to make sure you can pay your bills.
o. Some Dutch history, as it relates to the glory years of the 16th and 17th century of the Dutch colonial empire, basically, trading and slavery.
p. Political questions with regards to trading with other countries, the position of the Dutch government as a financial powerhouse in world finance.

I have one last and final comment/suggestion on this exam. It relates to choosing one of the two answers, after you have eliminated the obviously wrong one - go against your gut feeling. The right answer is always the most tolerant, or perceived tolerant, socially acceptable, safe, prideful, and moderate answer a person could or would ever give. Do not let your emotions get the better of you, even though you, yourself, would pick a different answer. Remember, you are there to beat the system, not to make a political statement. If you do not do this, you will fail.

If you do pass, you will get the chance to join the ranks of the few, the proud, and the privileged, with the right to live and hopefully work here in the Netherlands, that is, until they make a new law and retroactively enact it on all of it's residents.

Good luck!

Ev3nt
dsr
- 2 posts
December 13, 2010 1:56:45 PM CET

Thank you very much for your insights and tips for this exam..I will be taking it shortly..
ev3nthorizon
- 17 posts
December 13, 2010 3:59:38 PM CET

dsr (Dec 13 2010, 12:56 PM) said: > original post
Thank you very much for your insights and tips for this exam..I will be taking it shortly..

No problem, I am glad I could be of help. When I took this, there was almost nothing about the experience. Just "paying it forward".... - Ev3nt
raviap
- 36 posts
January 7, 2011 4:54:20 PM CET

Great description! Thank you so much for such detailed and comprehensive post..
sps
- 259 posts
January 10, 2011 2:47:26 PM CET

Good info, good humour, Ev3nt you should write more often..
ev3nthorizon
- 17 posts
March 23, 2011 6:12:55 PM CET

sps (Jan 10 2011, 01:47 PM) said: > original post
Good info, good humour, Ev3nt you should write more often..

Hello SPS,

I'm glad you enjoyed it. The sad part is that it is all true. :-)

Ev3nt
dmc83
- 13 posts
March 28, 2011 12:29:08 AM CEST

Ev3nt, thanks a lot for your info. I have a question: how long did it take you from the day you sent the registration form to the day you actually took the test? And how long after the test, did you know the result?
craigamsterdam
- 1 posts
May 14, 2011 12:23:49 AM CEST

see my experience of the test here. I managed to remember about 25 of my 29 questions.

http://community.expatica.com/index.php?showto...st&p=892218

now I just have to wait up to 4 weeks! for my results.
ev3nthorizon
- 17 posts
June 29, 2011 10:05:38 AM CEST

Hello Dungchu,

Sorry for the late reply, but I will answer your questions. It takes about 3 weeks after you have made payment to the IND, surprisingly the Belastingdienst (Tax Office) does not charge 300% tax on the current 81 euro fee. Anyway, you will receive a letter in the mail indicating the place and time of your test.

After taking the test, if you have passed, you will get your diploma quite quickly; around 2 weeks. If you have failed, that takes longer, as the mindless cheese eating drones need to pull themselves away from the coffee machine, take the cookie out of their mouth and actually work for a living. Yes, the people who "work" at the IND need to fill out the nasty form letter and hit "print". Quite a task indeed, unless they are on strike.

In there it will tell you that you are not "suitable" - meaning you failed or suitable - Yeh, you passed, now go sit in the corner and don't ever think about being an individual again. :-)

Good luck, as you only get one shot, unless the entire network crashes while taking the test, which by the way, is quite likely, as they use punch cards to run their servers.

Please update this thread with your experiences, so it could potentially help some other poor soul wandering in the crowds of scowling, rude, clog wearing masses that infest our "cozy" streets.

Cheers,

Ev3nt

This post was edited by ev3nthorizon at June 29, 2011 7:52:42 PM CEST
ouloveit1
- 4309 posts
June 29, 2011 10:48:02 AM CEST

Geesh .. bitter much?
ev3nthorizon
- 17 posts
June 29, 2011 7:53:34 PM CEST

@ouloveit1

Nope, not bitter just observant.

Cheers,

Ev3nt
APR2000
- 9 posts
November 1, 2011 9:17:05 AM CET

I took the exam in mid October, and I am still waiting for the results. DUO staff do take their time, don't they? There is so little info available on the DUO and other official sites, without the forums, I'd have had no clue how to prepare for this exam. I want to thank all the contributors. I'll post more as soon as I hear from DUO.

This post was edited by APR2000 at November 1, 2011 9:20:16 AM CET
APR2000
- 9 posts
November 2, 2011 7:27:36 PM CET

I want to share the good news, that I passed the KVT exam!!! I was not at all sure, because I had some strange questions never mentioned in the forums, and I was 100% sure I missed these. Here is a summary of my preparation and experience with KVT, hopefully they can help others.

I work in an international technology research and development company in Amsterdam. My work and social life revolves around expat community and Amsterdam city center. All my Dutch colleagues prefer to speak English, better for them in the international environment and conferences. So, there are no compelling reasons to learn Dutch other than EU Permanent Residency. I started to learn Dutch through self-study using Code 1 book , http://www.dutchgrammar.com and Google translate, since Feb this year. When I initially read the posting on KVT six months ago, I thought I can never get through, because there are so much I needed to "know" that is not in the Code 1 or other books. Thanks to many members of internet forums who shared their experience and questions, I collected all their postings and from this data I can see a clear pattern. Most questions are repeated in all exams from 2007 till today. After completing Code 1, Baggage and Kom Verder, I was scored 95% or more in all the practice tests on the DUO site and KNS exams of Kom Verder. I was confident enough to take the real exam in Oct.

In the real exam, I scanned through all the questions: as expected, almost 16 questions out of 28 are repeats! For these questions, I answered without listening/reading subject material! I could complete these questions in around 10 minutes. Again thanks to all contributors:

For sake of brevity, I keep the repeats short. They are:

1. Mo expanding his schuurtje.

2. Neighbor invitation for the evening and you feeling sick, what to tell them

3. Kid Malika's stolen bike and aangifte with police: what to fill 'ter hoog' field in form, what to fill in 'special features' box, what option to choose if you want police to contact you on the progress of the case.

4. Consultatiebureau vaccination: side effect can be fever, so what to ask: Answer what should I do if fever is too high.

5. Email about from a mother that kid cries a lot what to do? answer:contact consultatie bureau.

6. Job listing: Jan is not sure of his English skills, what should he write in email

7. Same job listing: what paragraph relates Performance Oriented (presatiegericht) ( I chose the option: relation to selling all the old and new autos)

8. two neighbors fighting (literally throwing punches): I answered: Collect a couple of others and try to separate them. Other option is go separate them alone (I thought too risky considering it was a real fight), or call police. Not sure if that is correct.

For the rest, I had very difficult questions, I am not at all sure of my answers

1. Domestic violence: A long 3 paragraphs of legal description on right of collecting damages in case of severe domestic violence. In the second paragraph in the parentheses it mentioned that you may collect for psychological abuse as well, but I could not fully comprehend the legal jargon. I am not sure if my answer is correct.

Question is can you collect the damages if you are a victim of psychological abuse? Choice are:

a. NO, the damages are paid only for physical abuse.

b. Yes psychological abuse is punishable by law therefore you get compensated

c. Yes, but you need to show proof. (I chose this)

One more question on the same topic, but I don't remember them after 3 weeks.

2. Mortgage interest payment deductions from taxes (voice). You can deduct monthly or annually. Jan says what are the advantages of monthly deduction and Hana asks what are the disadvantages of annual deduction:

a. You can't use the money until end of the year (I selected this)

b. You don't know until end of the year how much you can deduct (not true, I guess)

c. some other totally wrong choice

And couple of other questions on mortgage deduction

3. Kinderopvang payments when you are on kramverlof (text)

Description says that you are entitled for kinderopvang: usually 1/3 is paid by employer and the rest 2/3 is shared by parents and government. How much govt pays depends on your salary. + 2 other paragraphs

Question: Amal just delvered her 3rd baby and she is on maternity leave (kramverlof) can she get kinderopvang?

Answers: a. The employer pays 1/3 always b.Govt payments depends on salary of Amal 3. No she gets nothing.

I answered 2, I feel that is not correct.

One more question on the same topic

4. Mo wants to start his own computer winkel and business plan: which paragraphs say Kennis met Computerwinkel (marketing, finance or organization). What to write for: Target customers.

That's all I remember after 3 weeks.

I was disappointed there are no questions on Deltawerken, national holidays and history, the topics I like and well prepared for. I struggled to understand non-repeats and found them very hard, it took me 30 mins to answer 10 non-repeats questions. Looks like I got lucky thanks to repeats. My Dutch comprehension is quite basic, I don't still understand what the checkout girls in Alber Hein say other than "taasje erbij or bonnetje erbij".

My unsolicited advise is go for this short exam rather than insulting portfolio nonsense. If you prepare in a smart way (exam oriented) way, you have a good chance. In my the following post, I will post all the data I collected on KVT. In addition, do all exams on DUO site and watch the films a few times to get know Ali&Zara and their family and friends. All questions are related to this family and their contacts. If you know about these characters, it helps you cognitive processing to immediately categorize the questions: Ali (shed, tourists), Jan(work), Mo(business, gemeente), etc.

Good luck
APR2000
- 9 posts
November 2, 2011 7:38:06 PM CET

Collective Knowledge Base: All credit and thanks goes to original contributors

The Questions from The Naturalisation Test
Filip Miletic
September 9, 2008
Abstract
A description of the questions from the Short Naturalisation Waiver Test (korte vri-
jstellingstoets)1 .
1. Note
I described own experiences. Do not draw conclusions about your exam based on these. Your
test is your own responsibility. If you want to know what the answers to the questions are, you
have to do your own homework. All I could share about the exam was put into this text.
2. Test Description
It consists of about 30 questions. When I did the test, there were 28 of them. At the beginning
of the test, 2 test questions are oﬀered in the same format as they are in the test, for trying out.
Each question has exactly 3 answers oﬀered, of which exactly one is correct. No instructions are
given. No info about how many correct answers mean a passed test are given. They don’t tell
you whether incorrect answers mean negative points.
The test is done on the computer. The computer is equipped with headphones. A question is
answered by clicking the mouse button while the arrow is pointing to the selected answer, and
then by clicking a button that signiﬁes going to the next question. You can skip any question
you wish. You can then come back to the skipped question at any time, by going through the
question list. Everyone must mark the end of the testing explicitly, by pressing a button with
the label eind toets at the last question. The test lasts for 45 minutes. Fifteen minutes prior to
the deadline, a pop-up window comes up saying that 15 minutes are left.
You will receive the results by mail after 4 weeks, to the mail address that you provided
when applying for the test.
The questions in the test are roughly divided into several topics. The topics treated in my
test were: starting a company, looking for work, life in a house, life in a condominium, buying
and renting a house or ﬂat, school, children, European Union.
Every topic starts with a short video that explains the scenario for which the questions will
be asked. Then the questions follow, where each has either a text, or a video relating to the
speciﬁc question. Most of the time, the text or video contain the answer to the question that is
asked. The text is sometimes followed by a voice, sometimes it is not. Almost all the recordings
follow an immigrant family and their friends, be they immigrants or domestic. Every recording
and every video can be re-played at any time and as many times as required. At some questions,
1 Translated
from the Serbian original
1
the computer does not play the recording by itself, and the person undergoing test must click
the loudspeaker icon that is shown on the screen.
The language level used in the test is rather high. Excerpts from newspaper articles are
used (somewhat complicated), excerpts from legal documents (rather hairy), but also the job ads
(relatively simple).
I took the test on November 29, 2007. The results came in somewhere around New Year’s
Day. I passed the test. The outcome was expresed by: passed (geslaagd) and a certiﬁcate.
3. Questions
The questions that were on the test are described below. I remembered 26 of a total of 28. I
don’t recall how they exactly went, and how the answers are exactly formulated, so I can only
describe them. In most of the cases teh answers are not as short as I give them, but rather
contain the answer together with a reasoning leading to this answer. Of course, the explanation
makes sense only for one of the three.
3.1. Starting a Company
A man (named Mo) is starting a company.
1) The Chamber of Commerce asks him to submit a few items. One of them is a description
of the target group of the customers. What should he write about the target group? Three
answers are oﬀered, of which one is along the lines of “I don’t know what my target group
is”, the second is approximately “what do you care what my target group is”, and the
third is approximately “The target group are people using computers at home. The third
possibility seemed the most logical to me, so I chose that one.
2) Who does he talk to in order to start a company? Just as it is with us, to the Chamber
of Commerce (kamer van koophandel, KvK).
3) The man must oﬀer his house as a guarantee in order to get a loan from the bank for the
new company. What happens if the loan is not paid on time? Oﬀered answers: the bank
becomes the owner of the house, the bank insists that the house be sold, and some third
option I forgot.
3.2. Looking for Work
Mo’s friend Jan is without a job.
1) Where does he look for job ads? The newspapers, in the “job ads” section.
2) Jan is reading an ad. You can see the ad on the screen. Where does it say that the
position is goal-oriented? The answer can be found in the text.
3) Where does it say that the job involves working with clients? The answer can be found in
the text.
4) The ad reads that they are looking for someone who can speak English. Jan does not
speak English, and was advised to contact the company via email. What should he
write in this email? Three example mails are given. Two of them show really extreme
standpoints and I do not believe that they are the right answers (e.g: I refuse to speak
2
English). In the third option, which I chose, Jan writes an email in which he is asking
whether it is sensible that he applies to the job, despite his lack of English skills.
3.3. Life in a House
Mo is sitting at home and reads the papers. He hears noise coming from outside.
1) Two neighbours got into a ﬁght. What should Mo do? Three answers are oﬀered: contact
the Police; run out and try separating the neighbours; ﬁnd two other large neighbours and
try separating the neighbours together.
2) A newspaper article is presented, which describes family violence and reporting of such
cases. Who reports the most cases of family violence? The answer can be found in the
oﬀered text.
3.4. Buying and Renting a House
A boyfriend and girlfriend are looking for a new appartment.
1) How do they go about looking for a new appartment? They read the ads in the papers.
Other possibilitis oﬀered: asking the neighbours; wandering the city and looking.
2) A girl wants to ﬁll an online form for either renting or buying a house. The web site
has several user categories, and the girl must choose which one of the categories applies.
The answer is shown in the text about the website that is shown on the screen.
3) A girl ﬁlls an online form. The data in the form have to be entered in the right format.
Among other things, the phone number has to be entered without dashes, and the birth
date is requested in the DD-MM-YYYY format. Three examples of ﬁlled-in forms are
given, and you are requested to point to the one ﬁlled out correctly. Look closely at the
ﬁlled in forms, two of them contain the data in an incorrect format with respect to what is
asked for.
3.5. Living in a Condominium
A boyfriend and a girlfriend live in a condominium.
1) They agreed to visit the neighbors for dinner, but the girls falls ill on that day. What
should they do? The oﬀered answers are: not to go, without saying anything; to go,
regardless of the illness; to call in and explain that the girls is ill, to oﬀer their excuses
and pass on the visit.
2) A neighbour invites someone on April 29 to come with her the next day into town for a
party. Which holiday does she mean? Three oﬀered possibilities: Queen’s Day, Easter,
Christmas.
3) A neighbour died. What should they do? Three possibilities: to keep away; to send a
condolence card; to visit the widow and oﬀer her the help with the funeral arrangements.
4) Your child is celebrating its 12th birthday and is throwing a party. What should be done?
Three possibilities: nothing; send a letter to all the neighbors requesting written permission
to organize the party; or to put up a note saying that a party will be organized, that it will
last until this-or-that hour, and that the neighbors are asked to be patient during the time.
3
3.6. School
Sundry questions about getting into various schools.
1) A mother enlists the child for HAVO. The forms require us to ﬁll in which education level
HAVO belongs to (basic, middle, higher, special) HAVO is a middle school.
2) A mother is looking for ﬁnancial aid for the child’s tuition. A web site shows instructions
how to ﬁll a form. How should she send the ﬁlled-in form? The answer is contained in
the excerpt from the web site.
3) How much do the university / higher school studies cost? We are only asked to name the
more expensive school, or to determine that there is no diﬀerence.
4) The parents are asking for a subsidy for the child’s tuition. Are they required to repay
the subsidy? Three possible answers: yes; no; partially.
3.7. Children
Questions about children.
1) A text is shown about schools in The Hague. At what age is school compulsory? The
answer is given in the text.
2) Husband and wife are talking about a new appartment for themselves, and for the daugh-
ter. Which appartment do they need? Three oﬀered answers: two room; three room; many
bedroom Note: in the Netherlands, all rooms are counted, and not only the bedrooms,
as opposed to some other countries. I suppose that the correct answer is a three-room
appartment, because it provides a room for the daughter, a room for the parents, and a
common room.
3.8. European Union
Friends are sitting in front of the TV set and are watching the news. The camera shows them
sitting on the couch in front of the TV, so that we see the TV’s back panel and them on the
couch. Various news pieces are heard.
1) There is a piece about the introduction of the Euro in the Europian Union. Since what
year can you use the Euro to pay for the goods in a supermarket? The answer is
contained in the news piece. Incidentally, I was present in the Netherlands when the Euro
was introduced. This was on January 1, 2002.
2) There is a piece about the fate of the Jews during the 2nd World War. Were the Jews
persecuted in the Netherlands during that time? The answer can be heard in the piece.
3) There is a piece about the European Union. Why was the European Union founded? The
answer can be heard in the piece.
4) There is a piece about the USA-Dutch relationship. What is the relationship between
USA and the Netherlands? The answer can be heard in the piece.

=========================================================================
Contributor: craigsamsterdam

- Decolonisation of the netherlands empire. What were the reasons the colonies became independant. Answers were in the recorded text. 2 questions. this is one of the topics I did not encounter in my study.

- Deltawerken. what happened to the nature and environment. Better, worse, or people disagree. answer in the recorded text. I had a bit of a battle here as I know personally that the nett result was definately that nature has suffered but the text was suggesting that there was discussion. went with that people disagreed

- Death of someone. What do you do. Just have to know. Send a card.

- friends on a balcony say "wij gaan eten". what does this mean? Are you invited or not? what is your reply. Sure we will come, sorry we cant come but next time, or have a good time.

- you are invited to dinner tonight, your girlfriend is sick, what do you say. Sorry tonight is not good. go anyway. or say she is sick and excuse yourself.

- CAO rules, who is covered? why is premies and taxes taken out of your wages? 2 quetions, answers in the recorded text.

- new baby. immunisations. what is a good reply to the recorded text? listen to the recorded text.

- VOC. What did they do? make war, build ships or trade?

- friend of yours emails you that her baby cries a lot. Who should she call? you need to know that she calls the consultatie bureau. (I guess your friend did not do the inburgering, otherwise she would know this stuff and would not have to ask her friends or look something up! Unfortunantly, this is something which we are not allowed or expected to be able to do. We have to know all this shit by heart)

- Buying a house. Where to look - in the paper/magazine (yeah right! who looks in the paper anymore) where to get more information (internet- oh there you go) answers in the recorded coversation, and where do you sign the papers (notaris) need to know

- Renting a house. Social housing is too long a wait list (or in our case, not applicable because we are not EU) so then what? vrijsector housing. How? inscrijven bij en wonen corporaties, look in the paper. answers in the recorded coversation. about 5-6 questions on housing in total.

- what does kraamhulp do when they visit in the first week of having a new baby (surely this is something they should know?) take blood and check hearing. answers in the recorded coversation.

- 2-3 questions on 4-5 may. whay do we celebrate (to show freedom is still important to us.) Is interest in 4 may growing or shriking? answers in the recorded text.

- Extending your shed and getting a permit. recorded text, and written text- 5 paragraphs. 3 question. Which box do you fill in? making shed larger box. What happens if you leave something out of your form? you will hear from them in 4 weeks. and somthing about what sort of permit you need and I think the answer was that you do not know and it depends on the specific conditions and site.

- if you have a mortgage, you can use that to pay less tax. How does that work. deduct from your brutto salary, deduct from your netto salary or deduct from your tax. I think it was about the interest you payed on the loan. You just had to know, and I think I got it wrong. SURELY If I had a mortgage, I would know this. And if I did not, surely my tax advisor would!! and if he by some feat of gross incompetence did not, surely the bloody tax form would have a little box where I would put in these figures and and instructions for filling the bloody thing out!!!

that is about 24-25 questions out of the 29 I had. I hope this helps you all pass the stupid test and get your visa and be gone with the IND .

==============================================================================
Contributor: Ev3nt

6) Questions you “may” get in your exam:
a. Mortgages, loans, mortgage write off, and how to pay your taxes.
b. Reporting a crime, how to describe what happened, forms you need to fill in, and how to work with the police.
c. Having a party at your house and how to interact with your neighbors.
d. Questions about gay marriage and what that is. If you are not gay, have no gay friends, or come from a country where this kind of thing just simply does not happen, then you will get this one wrong.
e. Educational system in the Netherlands, what levels they are, and how to get financing for school. This relates to yourself and potentially your children.
f. Woman’s menstrual cycles, pregnancy, birth, and immunizations of newly born children.
g. How to register a newly born child, what papers are needed, and what last name the child can take.
h. How to interact with your neighbors, if there is an issue and how best to resolve it.
i. Public displays of affection (PDA) and how a person should respond to it.
j. Going for a job, interview, what to say in an interview, and what to ask/say when leaving the interview or job.
k. CAO, for employees, and what your rights are if you want to screw over your employer. Here is a helpful link: http://www.caoweb.nl/
l. Questions about Dutch holidays. I would suggest reading and memorizing the dates and meaning of these dates
m. How to handle power outages or issues with your house. You will find numerous ads for NUON/KPN, etc. You can guess who helped pay for the making of the software for this exam.
n. How to fill in an acceptgiro when paying bills. They want to make sure you can pay your bills.
o. Some Dutch history, as it relates to the glory years of the 16th and 17th century of the Dutch colonial empire, basically, trading and slavery.
p. Political questions with regards to trading with other countries, the position of the Dutch government as a financial powerhouse in world finance.

===============================================================================
Copied from buitenlandspartner.nl

Er waren 10 mensen aanwezig. Iedereen krijgt andere vragen.

Mijn vragen gingen over

antisemitisme in de tweede wereld oorlog
Vakbonden
CWI
Huis kopen
Bevrijdingsdag
Koninginnedag
School
Ouderschapsverlof
CAO
Herrie maken met je muziek en klagende buren

Je kunt er niet echt voor gaan leren. Het zijn dingen die je weet of niet weet. Het gaat vooral over of je de Nederlandse taal goed genoeg beheerst. Dus de tekst lezen of geluidsfragment beluisteren en begrijpen wat er gezegd wordt.

Als je alles in een keer goed doorleest en kan je nu in alledaagse dingen verstaanbaar maken dan zul je geen probleem hebben.

Je zou met de volgende voorbeeld kunnen oefenen. De vragen in deze voorbeeld zijn een stuk makkelijker dan in de KVT maar het zal je een beetje laten zien hoe het werkt. Ik had bij deze oefentoets 95% goed en was in 20 minuten laar. Het heeft mij wel geholpen met de werking van de programma zelf. Als je dat door hebt hoef je maar alleen te concentreren op de dingen die belangrijk zijn, de teksten en geluidsfragmenten.

http://www.inburgeren.nl/inburgeraar/klantenservice/oefenen_met_examens/voorbeeldexamen_kennis_nederlandse_samenleving.asp

Veel succes met het maken van de toets!

Mvg

==============================================================================
http://www.nt2.nl/online_cursussen/kns_examen

Hallo mensen, KVT is een kort exam op computer en u moet 28 vragen in 45 minuten antwoorden. Vragen zijn op B1 niveau, u moet goed begrijpen de videos en teksten, meeste antwoorden zijn al in de videos of tekst, videos gaan snel en ook teksten zijn lang maar als u heeft heel veel oefening gedaan, dan is het geen probleem. Bijvoorbeeld, vragen zoals:
Een buitenlandse vrouw en haar man zijn op bezoek naar vrienden en op het TV is iets over Bevrijdingsdag, De vrouw vraagt de ander, waarom doen Nederlanders twee minute stillte?
Als antwoord zijn de volgende keuzes:
Nederlanders hebeen nooit de Duitsers vergeven voor de tweede orloog
of
Nederlanders geven veel waarde van hun vrijheid
of
Nederlanders hebeen zin in een vrije dag

In een andere video is ook hetzelfde familie naar de Gemeente en vragen informatie over naturalisatie. Ook er is een groot stukje tekst voor naturalisatie op het IND website. De antwoord is in het tekst zelf.

Ook zijn meer vragen zoals het Optie procedure voor naturalisatie, het antwoord is ook in het tekst.

Er zijn een paar listig vragen, zoals Wat soort studie doen mensen op AOC (niet ROC huh)
AOC is Agrarische Opleidings Centra voor MBO Opleidingen volgen in de 'groene' sectoren: milieu, landbouw, voeding en natuur.

Mensen meten verstaan de verschillende opleiding niveaus bijvoorbeeld VMBO,HBO,MBO,VWO,WO

Vragen over CWI (CV en werk) zijn ook belangrijk

Mensen moeten ook weten over bankzaken zoals pinnen, overschrijfen, machtiging geven

Ook een paar vragen over het Europese Unie en landen, ook een paar vragen over Nederlandse overheid.

U moet snel zijn voor deze toets, meeste antwoorden zijn in de videos/teksten

Succes
air23time
- 3 posts
November 3, 2011 7:57:42 PM CET

I've lived here 4 years now with my also native english partner, and have tried to teach myself dutch, mostly through actual practice. My first lessons were great, but the second lot were utter bs and I stopped. I have found actually sitting with a real dutch person and talking, listening and reading together that I've learned more than at higher level lessons. Also getting into the papers and keeping up with daily politics here you start to just learn the info needed for the kvt. You have to just know this stuff, by, as a poster has said somewhere before, looking through websites like the belastingdienst etc. You know them because you know then much about the dutch life, all the little ins and outs, more than just reading up on netherlands history. Although I read Bagage, I actually didn't find it that useful at all.

Many of the questions I had were the same as APR2000's questions. Some I can't remember, and some I think were different than APR2000's. I had also a question where one guy took his friend to the rijksmuseum and had to tell something over dutch history. You had to know the answer to it, it wasn't in text.

As for taking the test itself, you have to be good at taking tests. As described before, many of the texts and videos are useless time-wasters. I think half the questions were like this: you had to just know the answers. I did actually watch/listen/read them all, had 31 questions but managed to answer all in about 35 minutes. I just didn't dwell on any of the answers. I chose the first one that I felt was right and moved on. In this way it's very much about feeling comfortable with your answers and not needing to be thinking about it. Thus it tests your knowledge of dutch culture and society because you just have to know the ins and outs.

The questions the other posters have described are real questions. So these are actually the best method to study: look what they are then make sure you visit and are comfortable with regular websites like belastingdienst, UWV, CAO, etc.
ev3nthorizon
- 17 posts
November 5, 2011 12:10:42 PM CET

Hello APR2000 et al,

Nice work on your KVT! Also, thanks to everyone for posting as much information as possible. A special snaps goes out to APR2000 for the excellent consolidation of data. The better people are informed; the greater the chance they may have in passing this idiotic exam.

Keep the experiences rolling!

Cheers,

Ev3nt

This post was edited by ev3nthorizon at November 5, 2011 12:15:25 PM CET
canb
- 2 posts
December 22, 2011 2:20:40 AM CET

Hi expatica friends,

I took the short test on December 21, 2011. I had 30 questions. I could remember 25 of them.
Just one important warning; the answers to the questions were almost always too long. I mean, they weren’t short like, ‘Yes he can’ or ‘No, this is not the way’. They consisted of at least 2 or 3 sentences most of the time. So you should not only understand the written long question text or the audio that recorded but also read and understand the given three answers to each question very quick. And of course to be able to do that you should have a broad vocabulary. That was the part where I most struggled.
Second note; almost all of the answers were given either in written text or in the recorded audio.

So following are the ones that I could remember.

1) Mo is at home. He hears two guys fighting outside. What should he do?
- Call the police
- Go outside and yell at them
- Call a strong friend and fight with them

2) Mo sees a couple (boy & girl) kissing in a shop. How does he react?
- He should do nothing. It is not his business.

3) Question about homohuwelijk. Mo listens to the radio and hears about gay marriage. What is gay marriage?
- Correct answer, a marriage between two men or two women.

4) Mo sees his neighbor with a short skirt in her own garden. What should he say?
- He should say nothing. It is not his business

5) Mo has a problem with his shed. Neighbor is angry about it. What should Mo say to the neighbor?
- Say sorry

6) HAVO. What type of education is it?
- It is Voortgezet Onderwijs

7) What is the difference between HBO and Universitiet. Question is about Studie financering.

8) Mother and daughter sit in the kitchen. Topic is gezond eten. They talk about the importance of the breakfast.

9) Mother and daughter talk about doing sports at school, and becoming a member of a club at the school.

10) Again one question on Gezond living. Daughter reads an article about health. Question goes like ‘how much calorie does she have to get daily?’

11) There was a rap song. You have to understand what is mentioned in the recorded rap music in dutch! I guess the main idea was about discrimination.

12) Question about civil rights. People are allowed to say whatever they want as long as they do not discriminate others.

13) There is election for the gemeente and Mo is in Morocco. What should Mo do?
- You send a letter to vote
- You ask your friend to vote for you
- Another answer I cannot remember but the correct one is written in text.

14) Again about election. Mo goes for voting and his friend asks whether he has to vote too. Given answers are; voting is an obligation in Holland. My colleagues vote so I do have to vote as well. Or we decide altogether.

15) EU Elections. Mo’s friend Fatosh who lives in Rotterdam has a French passport. Can she vote for the EU elections? She is French, so yes she can.

16) Mo and his wife want to become dutch. Is it possible for them to do it with the ‘optie process’?
The answer is in the written text. (the same can be found on www.ind.nl about naturalization process)

17) Mo is at the gemeente. Question about drunken driving and he is paying a fine for it.

18) The company ‘VOC’. What was their main purpose?

19) Two question about ‘Deltawerken’? What did people of Zeeland think about it? How did they react?

20) How did ‘DeltaWerken’ help Zeeland? How did Zeeland benefit from it?

21) Questions regarding ‘Decolonization’. How did it start?

22) One question about Indonesia (they call it, ‘Nederland Indie’) and about their decolonization process.

23) Looking for a job. How does CWI assist people.

24) Looking for a job. Ali goes to CWI. But his friend tells him that he should also register himself to an ‘Uitzendbureau.’ What should Ali say about this idea.

25) Ali wants to apply for a job which requires English but he does not speak English. He is going to send them an email. What should Ali write on this email?
danzindd
- 98 posts
December 22, 2011 11:46:50 AM CET

canb said:
Hi expatica friends, I took the short test on December 21, 2011. I had 30 questions. I could remember 25 of them. Just one important warning; the answers to the questions were almost always too long. I mean, they weren’t short like, ‘Yes he can’ or ‘No, this is not the way’. They consisted of at least 2 or 3 sentences most of the time. So you should not only understand the written long question text or the audio that recorded but also read and understand the given three answers to each question very quick. And of course to be able to do that you should have a broad vocabulary. That was the part where I most struggled. Second note; almost all of the answers were given either in written text or in the recorded audio. So following are the ones that I could remember. 1) Mo is at home. He hears two guys fighting outside. What should he do? - Call the police - Go outside and yell at them - Call a strong friend and fight with them 2) Mo sees a couple (boy & girl) kissing in a shop. How does he react? - He should do nothing. It is not his business. 3) Question about homohuwelijk. Mo listens to the radio and hears about gay marriage. What is gay marriage? - Correct answer, a marriage between two men or two women. 4) Mo sees his neighbor with a short skirt in her own garden. What should he say? - He should say nothing. It is not his business 5) Mo has a problem with his shed. Neighbor is angry about it. What should Mo say to the neighbor? - Say sorry 6) HAVO. What type of education is it? - It is Voortgezet Onderwijs 7) What is the difference between HBO and Universitiet. Question is about Studie financering. 8) Mother and daughter sit in the kitchen. Topic is gezond eten. They talk about the importance of the breakfast. 9) Mother and daughter talk about doing sports at school, and becoming a member of a club at the school. 10) Again one question on Gezond living. Daughter reads an article about health. Question goes like ‘how much calorie does she have to get daily?’ 11) There was a rap song. You have to understand what is mentioned in the recorded rap music in dutch! I guess the main idea was about discrimination. 12) Question about civil rights. People are allowed to say whatever they want as long as they do not discriminate others. 13) There is election for the gemeente and Mo is in Morocco. What should Mo do? - You send a letter to vote - You ask your friend to vote for you - Another answer I cannot remember but the correct one is written in text. 14) Again about election. Mo goes for voting and his friend asks whether he has to vote too. Given answers are; voting is an obligation in Holland. My colleagues vote so I do have to vote as well. Or we decide altogether. 15) EU Elections. Mo’s friend Fatosh who lives in Rotterdam has a French passport. Can she vote for the EU elections? She is French, so yes she can. 16) Mo and his wife want to become dutch. Is it possible for them to do it with the ‘optie process’? The answer is in the written text. (the same can be found on www.ind.nl about naturalization process) 17) Mo is at the gemeente. Question about drunken driving and he is paying a fine for it. 18) The company ‘VOC’. What was their main purpose? 19) Two question about ‘Deltawerken’? What did people of Zeeland think about it? How did they react? 20) How did ‘DeltaWerken’ help Zeeland? How did Zeeland benefit from it? 21) Questions regarding ‘Decolonization’. How did it start? 22) One question about Indonesia (they call it, ‘Nederland Indie’) and about their decolonization process. 23) Looking for a job. How does CWI assist people. 24) Looking for a job. Ali goes to CWI. But his friend tells him that he should also register himself to an ‘Uitzendbureau.’ What should Ali say about this idea. 25) Ali wants to apply for a job which requires English but he does not speak English. He is going to send them an email. What should Ali write on this email?

Nice memories, If you already could remember 25 that says how well you are integrated with Dutchies ;-)

Did you get the result immediately?

Do you have any important tips for the test takers? (like time management, technical issues with the test software and reading materials for the tests in general).

Is there any validity period for the korte vrijstellingtoets certificate?
Deleted Member
- 7371 posts
December 22, 2011 11:56:52 AM CET

How does ANYBODY remember 25 questions hours later??

With a memory like that, no wonder some of you learn Dutch so bloody fast...
sps
- 259 posts
December 22, 2011 1:18:32 PM CET

Nice job sharing those questions with others, but this puts me off from that KVT stuff, are we really supposed to answer such questions? Feel kind of degraded...
canb
- 2 posts
December 23, 2011 2:38:40 AM CET

I really didn't want to go into the reasoning or the stupidity of the test. Comrades here before me have mentioned about it time and time again.

I can easily say that I got so much help from this forum. That's why I wanted to come back and write my own experience.

I studied from three different sources actually:

1) http://inburgeren.eigenstart.nl/

2) "Komverder" book and the three exams that they sell on their website

3) and most important of all this FORUM.

As you can see there are people in this forum who took this test years ago, and I just took it yesterday. I don't know if I pass it yet (I will hear about it in 4 weeks). but there is one thing sure, these villagers from Inburgering town have a pool of questions and this pool is not very deep!!!
I guess they have like 100 questions and they don't add new drops to the pool. That's where we get lucky.

So my humble tip for those who are interested, read this forum veeery carefully, study the link and the book. At least that's what I did.

I don't know the validity period of the certificate.

You are saying that I have a good memory remembering those questions. I just spent enough time in the shallow pool;)
Deleted Member
- 7371 posts
December 23, 2011 10:14:25 AM CET

Well I took a similar multiple guess test at the A2 level (KVT)...and as soon as I left the exam room, all the questions escaped from my little pea brain!

I guess those who can memorize well can learn languages easily...my Dutchie is good at both too!
morted
- 2 posts
February 2, 2012 9:17:22 PM CET

Hello everybody!

Thanks guys! You shared some valuable experiences about this exam!
Does anyone know the right answer to the following question?

1) Mo is at home. He hears two guys fighting outside. What should he do?
a- Call the police
b- Go outside and yell at them
c- Call a strong friend and fight with them

8. two neighbors are fighting
-call the police
-Collect a couple of others and try to separate them
- go outside and separate them alone

They have such a ridiculous exam to evaluate our Dutch knowledge ;-) anyway

Thanks a lot!