Sproochentest Speaking Test: Topics, Picture Task and INLL’s Examples

The speaking test is the half of the Sproochentest that the pass rule is built on: you need at least 50 out of 100 in speaking, and a lower speaking mark can be offset only when the average of both tests, rounded up, reaches 50. It lasts about ten minutes and asks for level A2, which is simpler than many candidates fear. This guide explains exactly what the two parts ask, what the examiners mark, and how to use the free examples INLL publishes, then gives a two-week rehearsal plan and a self-check you can tick off. Where we give advice, we say it is ours: INLL publishes the format and the criteria, not tips. ProSyllabus is an independent study site, not affiliated with the INLL (Institut national des langues Luxembourg), the Ministry of Education or the Ministry of Justice; the rules below are summarised from their published pages and the 2019 regulation, and they decide every case.

Règlement grand-ducal du 22 juillet 2019, art. 5; INLL Sproochentest page.

INLL quotes one sentence as the level for the speaking test: the candidate can introduce themselves and talk in simple terms about their family, other people, their living conditions, their education or their profession, and can describe and compare people, things and activities in a simple way. Two words in it matter most. Simple: nobody expects long, complex sentences. Describe and compare: the test wants you to say what something is like and how it differs from something else, not only to answer yes or no.

Our reading, not INLL’s: A2 is a level at which speakers still make mistakes, and nothing in the descriptor asks for accuracy beyond “basic” structures. The regulation’s own word is “structures grammaticales de base”. So the goal for most candidates is not to sound fluent: it is to keep talking, clearly, about familiar topics for five minutes.

The examiner proposes two themes and you choose one (regulation, art. 5; INLL). INLL calls it an interview on an A2 subject and gives work, family and leisure as examples. Then you talk with the interlocutor for about five minutes (INLL gives the speaking test as 10 minutes, 2 × 5).

INLL’s page offers three example interviews, in Luxembourgish. The files linked there are gespreich-2023.pdf, titled “Film an Televisioun” (film and television); DOK-56_Theema-_Schlof-an-Entspanung_DEF.pdf, on “Schlof an Entspanung” (sleep and relaxation); and DOK-57_Theema_Fester_DEF.pdf, whose file name gives the theme “Fester”, celebrations. Each is an examiner’s list of questions on one theme. We do not reproduce them here; download them from INLL.

Read together, they show a pattern worth rehearsing. The questions are everyday and personal: what you like, how often you do something, the last time you did it, what you think of it, and why. The sleep and relaxation sheet is built in stages: general questions first, then the past (“Vergaangenheet”, your childhood), then your current situation, then relaxation in general, then plans and projects. That means one theme can ask you to talk in the present, in the past and about the future within five minutes. The sheets also branch on your answer (if yes, if no), so the examiner follows what you say. Those observations are ours, from INLL’s sample files.

How to use them, as advice: read one sheet, cover it, and answer each question aloud for 20 to 30 seconds, ideally recording yourself. Then do the same on themes of your own that sit beside them in INLL’s list of A2 topics: your work, your family, your free time, your home, your town, food and shopping. The point is not to memorise answers, because the examiner’s two themes may be different; it is to get used to the move from “what” to “when”, “how often” and “why”.

For the second part you choose one of three visuals and describe it (regulation, art. 5; INLL calls them photos on its sample page). INLL publishes example photo 1 (PDF) and example photo 2 (PDF). The official task is a description. The A2 descriptor also says you can describe and compare people, things and activities simply, so our advice is to be ready to do both.

A structure that works for most pictures, and is our suggestion rather than INLL’s: say what the picture shows overall (a place, a situation); describe the people (how many, what they are doing, what they wear); describe the place and the objects; say what might be happening or what might happen next; then link it to yourself (do you do this, do you like it, is it like this where you come from). That last step lets you compare, which the descriptor names, and moves the conversation onto ground you know. Choosing the picture is part of the task: pick the one you can talk about longest, not the one that looks most interesting.

The observer’s mark, which is 80% of your speaking result, is given on seven criteria named in art. 5 of the regulation. INLL’s page lists almost the same set. INLL also publishes its assessment grid (an image file); read it alongside the table below. The middle column is the official name; the right-hand column is our reading of what it asks for, not INLL’s.

For the listening half INLL publishes the tablet instructions, a sample mp3 (3.2 MB), the answer sheet and the answer key. The sample key has three exercises: understanding an extract from the news (5 questions), a conversation (4 questions) and a longer conversation (7 questions), with two or three options per question. That makes 16 questions in the sample; the regulation does not fix the number for the real test, so treat 16 as an example.

The tablet instructions, read 20 October 2026, say: you log in with your candidate number and password; once the test starts it cannot be stopped; exercises 2 and 3 follow automatically and you cannot go back; a countdown shows how long the exercise still runs; you can turn the volume up or down; you must scroll down to see all the questions; and answers are saved automatically at the end. Each candidate has a different test, so people do not finish at the same time. You may take notes on the login sheet but must leave it in the room.

As advice: do the sample once cold, under time, then again with the answer key, and then listen a third time to the passages you got wrong. The regulation says each recording is played twice; use the first hearing for the gist and the second to check the details your questions need.

The last row is not a tip: the regulation and INLL’s general provisions require you to be there at least 15 minutes before the test with an original identity document, and INLL accepts no late arrivals. The registration guide has the full test-day rules.