KNM Exam Syllabus 2026: The 8 Themes and 78 Eindtermen of the New Test

KNM, short for Kennis van de Nederlandse Maatschappij (Knowledge of Dutch Society), is the part of the Dutch civic integration exam that tests what you know about life in the Netherlands. It is a 45-minute computer test, in Dutch, and the standard fee is EUR 50 (under the 2021 Act, asylum status holders get their first two attempts free). On 1 July 2025 the exam changed: a new set of learning goals, the eindtermen, replaced the set used since 2015. Material that still follows the 2015 goals is outdated; the date on the cover is not proof either way, because the new goals were published in May 2024, so check whether the publisher says it was updated for the exam from 1 July 2025. The new eindtermen are in an amendment to the Regeling inburgering 2021; the 2013 regulation has its own KNM annex (Bijlage 5), and we found no official text saying which one governs a 2013-Act candidate today (see the last section). This guide lays out the eight themes the law fixes, the eindtermen under each, what changed, and what the regulation says the questions look like. ProSyllabus is an independent study site. We are not affiliated with, or endorsed by, DUO, the IND or the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment; every rule below is quoted or summarised from their published pages and regulations, and DUO or the IND decides every individual case.

Besluit inburgering 2021 art 3.4; Staatscourant 2024, 15802; DUO knowledge-exams page. The total of 78 is our count; the regulation prints no total.

The Besluit inburgering 2021 (art 3.4) names eight subjects for KNM. The Regeling sets the eindtermen for each in its Bijlage 2, which the Regeling of 7 May 2024 replaced with effect from 1 July 2025. Each eindterm has a code such as 7.2.8: theme 7, sub-area 2, goal 8. We counted the codes theme by theme; the examples come from the indicators printed under each eindterm.

Three themes carry about half of the goals by our count: Work and income and Institutions (13 each) and Health (12). History and geography has only four eindtermen, but each of them is broad: one covers the 17th century, colonies and slavery, polders and dykes, the anthem and the flag. A count of goals is not a count of questions, and DUO does not publish how the questions are spread across themes. Treat the chart as a map of the syllabus, not a forecast of the paper.

The 2024 regulation does not only list themes. It organises the eindtermen around four crucial practice situations (cruciale praktijksituaties) that a newcomer meets: I, the labour market; II, your own living environment; III, institutions and government; IV, being a citizen. The eight themes run across those four situations. In practice this means a question is usually set in a situation (a letter from the municipality, a visit to the GP, a talk with a teacher) and asks what you know or what you would do. The regulation's own summary of the change is "more knowledge, less behaviour": fewer questions about how you should behave, more about what is true about the Netherlands.

The government's announcement of 30 June 2025 says the eindtermen are renewed every five to ten years and that the previous revision was in 2015. DUO's April 2025 news item told candidates to use the old practice exams only for an exam taken before 1 July, and to practise with the adjusted exam after that. Its 1 July 2025 item says the new practice exam is on the Oefenen page.

The largest theme. It follows a newcomer from looking for work to being paid: finding vacancies, what an employment contract says, working hours and leave, what a payslip shows, tax, what to do if you lose your job, and starting your own business. The indicators name concrete facts, for example that you register a business with the Chamber of Commerce (KvK, eindterm 1.4.1). For an Indian professional who already works in the Netherlands much of this is familiar in English; the exam asks it in Dutch at A2 level, so learn the Dutch words (werkgever, loonstrook, belasting, uitkering) alongside the facts.

Everyday social rules and the calendar. Eindterm 2.1.5 lists the holidays and days a resident should recognise: Easter (Pasen), King's Day (Koningsdag), Remembrance Day and Liberation Day on 4 and 5 May, Christmas, New Year's Eve, Sinterklaas, Carnaval, Suikerfeest and Keti Koti, which marks the abolition of slavery. Eindterm 2.1.4 covers forms of living together, including registered partnership and partners of the same sex.

Renting and living in a neighbourhood: finding a home, what a rental contract means, tenants' rights (3.1.2), the costs of a home, contact with neighbours, and separating household waste (3.3.1). Questions tend to start from a situation, such as a letter from a landlord or a full bin on the wrong day.

How Dutch healthcare is organised: the GP (huisarts) as the first point of contact, when to call 112 (4.3.2), health insurance and its terms. Eindterm 4.4.1 is specific: what eigen risico (the compulsory excess) and eigen bijdrage (a personal contribution) mean, that a visit to the GP does not count against the eigen risico, and that dental care for children under 18 is in the basic package. These are exactly the kind of facts the new exam prefers over behaviour questions.

Few eindtermen, wide content. Eindterm 5.1.1 covers the 17th century, colonies and slavery, polders, windmills, dykes and the Deltawerken, and the national anthem (the Wilhelmus) and flag. Eindterm 5.1.2 covers the Second World War, the Holocaust and the fact that antisemitism is prohibited, 4 and 5 May, membership of the EU, NATO and the UN, and changes in law on abortion, same-sex marriage and euthanasia. Eindterm 5.2.1 covers geography: Amsterdam is the capital, the government sits in The Hague, and the country has provinces. The Holocaust is one of the two points the government named when it announced the new exam.

The offices a resident deals with. The BSN (citizen service number) and DigiD (6.1.1); dual nationality, which a naturalised citizen in principle does not keep (6.2.3); keeping the annual income statement (jaaropgave) for at least five years (6.3.1); allowances (toeslagen) and child benefit through the SVB (6.3.3); and the duty, from age 14, to show ID in public when the police or another competent authority asks, from age 12 on public transport (6.4.1). Many of these are the same institutions you meet as a knowledge migrant, so this theme rewards attention to letters you already receive.

How the state works and the rights it protects. The king has a ceremonial role, parliament has two chambers, and government runs at three levels (7.1.1). A resident who is not Dutch and has lived in the Netherlands for more than five years may vote in municipal elections (7.1.4). Article 1 of the Constitution, on equal treatment, is eindterm 7.2.4. Organ donation is opt-out (7.2.7). And eindterm 7.2.8, the ministry's own addition, is that women in the Netherlands have the right to self-determination and what that means.

Schools and children: compulsory schooling from 5 to 16 and the qualification duty from 16 to 18 (8.1.3), sex education as a compulsory subject (8.1.5), parents' liability for their children up to age 16 (8.2.1), and DUO's role in education (8.3.3). Parents who arrive with school-age children will recognise much of this from their first months; others should give it the same weight as any other theme.

The explanatory annex to the Regeling inburgering 2021 describes the KNM exam. It is taken on a computer. It is multiple choice. You see video fragments; the questions are shown on screen and you also hear them through headphones; you answer by clicking. The exam time is 45 minutes net. The regulation says questions are built at A2 of the Raamwerk NT2 and supported by images. It is taken through an automated system and scored automatically (Regeling art 3.7 and 3.8). An adapted exam, for example with extended time or a read-aloud function, is possible under art 3.6 for candidates who need it.

Because DUO publishes neither a question count nor a pass mark, any site that states one is quoting something other than DUO, and we do not repeat those numbers here. The format facts above are enough to plan. The questions are read aloud, so listening practice helps. They are in A2 Dutch, so vocabulary for each theme matters as much as the facts. KNM is separate from the Dutch language exams; if you are on the B1 route or preparing for the state exam, see our Staatsexamen NT2 programme II page for the language side rather than looking for it here.

The eindtermen themselves are the best checklist: the Staatscourant publication is free, in Dutch, and lists every goal with its indicators. A sensible plan is to work through it theme by theme, learning the Dutch word for each fact, and then sit DUO's practice exams under time. We have no KNM practice quizzes yet, so we do not point you to any.

Three points stay open. First, the question count and pass mark: not published. Second, the pass rates: DUO's figures page on the 2021 Act gave nothing usable for KNM. Third, which eindtermen legally govern candidates under the 2013 Act: the 2024 amendment changes the Regeling inburgering 2021 only, the Regeling inburgering 2013 has its own KNM eindtermen in its Bijlage 5, DUO announced a single new KNM exam from 1 July 2025 without splitting it by law, and we found no official text that says the 2013-law candidates sit a different KNM. Our reading is that everyone booking KNM now meets the new exam, but that is our reading of DUO's announcement, not a rule we could quote.