A2 inburgeringsexamen
How speaking is actually marked
Spreken
Last updated
Every spoken answer is marked out of 12 across six criteria. As in writing, adequaatheid gates the rest: an answer that does not address the question scores zero across the board, however well it is spoken.
The gate
De uiting ontbreekt, is niet verstaanbaar of is geen antwoord op de vraag.
That is the 0 band for adequaatheid, and it takes the other five criteria with it. Most prompts carry a second instruction after Vertel ook. Answering only the first half is the most common way a fluent candidate loses a whole question.
What the assessor scores
Every spoken answer
Spreektaak · 12 points per answerAll sixteen questions are marked the same way. 12 points each.
AdequaatheidGate
Answer fit
0–3
Is the utterance an answer to this question: complete, clear, and covering the second instruction?
- 0The utterance is missing, is not intelligible, or is not an answer to the question.
- 1A conceivable but not obvious answer to the question, and/or incomplete or not entirely clear.
- 2Understandable and an adequate answer to the question.
- 3Clear and an excellent answer to the question.
Woordenschat en woordgebruik
Vocabulary and word use
0–2
Whether you get beyond the words the prompt handed you.
- 0Vocabulary is limited to words from the stimulus plus a few basic routines, and is insufficient for a fully understandable answer.
- 1Simple word use following standard patterns, but it fits the question.
- 2Excellent word use that fits the question well.
Grammaticale correctheid
Grammar
0–2
The same qualitative scale as writing: a quantity of error, not an error count.
- 0Contains many grammatical errors.
- 1Contains a fair number of grammatical errors.
- 2Contains hardly any or no grammatical errors.
Vloeiendheid
Fluency
0–2
Pauses and restarts. Correcting one word and carrying on costs less than starting over.
- 0Not fluent at all, characterised by many long pauses and reformulations.
- 1Somewhat fluent, with pauses and reformulations.
- 2Fluent; pauses and reformulations still occur in longer utterances.
Coherentie
Coherence
0–1
The same one-point criterion as writing, and earned the same way.
- 0The utterance shows no cohesion.
- 1Shows some cohesion, whether or not achieved with simple conjunctions (en, maar, want, omdat) and/or reference words (hij, zij, die, dat).
Uitspraak
Pronunciation
0–2
Measured against the listener, not against a native accent.
- 0Intelligible only with effort, and only to a listener used to hearing learners.
- 1Reasonably intelligible without effort to a listener used to hearing learners.
- 2Clearly intelligible to an untrained listener too, despite the occasional mispronounced word.
Worth knowing
- Sixteen questions at 12 points each is where the paper total of 192 comes from.
- Eleven of the sixteen questions carry a task-specific adequaatheid note telling the assessor exactly what content makes the answer acceptabel. That is why answering the literal question beats answering it beautifully.
- That note also states its own tolerance: de uiting mag enkele onduidelijkheden bevatten. Small unclarities are expected at A2.
- An accent is not a deduction. The top pronunciation band explicitly tolerates the occasional mispronounced word.
Common questions
How many points is one spoken answer worth?
Twelve: adequaatheid 3, vocabulary and word use 2, grammar 2, fluency 2, pronunciation 2, coherence 1. Across sixteen questions the paper totals 192 points.
Does my accent cost me marks?
No. The pronunciation criterion is written in terms of the listener: 0 is intelligible only with effort and only to someone used to hearing learners; 2 is clearly intelligible to an untrained listener too, despite the occasional mispronounced word. It measures whether you are understood.
What happens if I make a mistake halfway through?
Correct the word and keep going. Fluency penalises long pauses and reformulations, so a full restart costs more than the original slip did.
Is there a pass mark for speaking?
No number is published, and the 129/192 figure that circulates is a third-party study target rather than DUO's. The exam is rated against these six criteria.
Get marked on these exact criteria.
Answer a real task and get it scored criterion by criterion, including whether Adequaatheid would have zeroed the whole thing.
The other rated parts
More on scoring: pass marks by section · all guides
inburgeringprep.com is an independent study platform, not DUO, the CvTE or the Dutch government. This model is Cito, Beoordelingsmodel A2 Spreken. None of these bodies publishes its assessment model as a public document, so band wording here is rendered into English from the model the assessor works from. Criteria can change; confirm what applies to your own exam with the exam body.