Statsborgerprøven vs Samfunnskunnskapsprøven: Which One Do You Take?

People searching for samfunnskunnskapsprøven and people searching for statsborgerprøven are often asking the same thing: which test do I have to pass? Norway runs two knowledge tests on the same curriculum, and they are not interchangeable. One counts for a permanent residence permit in any language. The other exists for citizenship and is in Norwegian only. This guide sets the two side by side from the official pages, gives you a tool that returns your test from four answers, and shows what to do if you passed the “wrong” one.

Official: HK-dir’s “Les om prøven” pages for both tests, read 13 October 2026.

For Norwegian citizenship, the law asks an applicant between 18 and 67 to have reached at least level B1 in an oral Norwegian test and to have passed statsborgerprøven (statsborgerloven § 8) [official]. The regulation then exempts anyone who has passed the social studies test in Norwegian (statsborgerforskriften § 4-2 a) [official]. HK-dir puts the two together in one sentence: “Skal du søke om statsborgerskap, må du bestå statsborgerprøven eller ta samfunnskunnskapsprøven på norsk” — to apply for citizenship you must pass statsborgerprøven or take samfunnskunnskapsprøven in Norwegian [official].

For a permanent residence permit, UDI asks applicants between 18 and 67 for the oral Norwegian test at level A2 or higher and “the social studies test in a language you understand” [official: UDI, capture of 16 June 2026]. Statsborgerprøven is not on UDI’s list of approved tests for permanent residence. So the usual order is samfunnskunnskapsprøven first, for permanent residence, and statsborgerprøven later, for citizenship, unless the first one was taken in Norwegian.

Two lines in that table decide most cases. The first is language. HK-dir’s English page for the citizenship test says it plainly: “If you have passed the social studies test in another language than Norwegian, you must take the citizenship test” [official]. The second is the Norwegian level. HK-dir says statsborgerprøven “har et litt lavere språknivå på norsk enn samfunnskunnskapsprøven”, a slightly lower level of Norwegian: A2, against “higher than A2” for the Norwegian in samfunnskunnskapsprøven [official]. The comparison is about the Norwegian-language versions; it says nothing about the test in other languages. The 2026 regulations add that statsborgerprøven also has questions “av mer allmenn og hverdagslig karakter”, of a more general and everyday kind [official: HK-dir reglement 2026, point 3.4].

Samfunnskunnskapsprøven can be taken in one of 23 languages, and you choose the language at the test centre, not at registration [official: HK-dir]. The list on 13 October 2026: Albanian, Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Dari, English, French, Chinese (Mandarin), Kurdish (Sorani), Norwegian (bokmål and nynorsk), Pashto, Persian (Farsi), Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Swahili, Thai, Tigrinya, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu and Vietnamese. The questions can be read aloud from an audio file in ten of them: Arabic, Dari, English, French, Norwegian, Pashto, Somali, Sorani, Tigrinya and Urdu.

HK-dir counts Norwegian once, with its two written forms in brackets, so “23 languages” includes Norwegian. If the test is not available in a language you understand well, you can apply to the test centre to take it orally or with an interpreter; HK-dir says to contact the test centre or your municipality as quickly as possible after you have registered [official]. Hindi, Tamil, Bengali, Polish and Lithuanian are not on the list; a candidate with one of those as a first language chooses another listed language, usually English, or asks about an interpreter.

Our reading of the two rules together, not an official recommendation: a samfunnskunnskapsprøve taken in Norwegian satisfies UDI’s permanent-residence requirement, because Norwegian is “a language you understand” if you can pass in it, and it also satisfies the citizenship regulation (§ 4-2 a). A candidate whose Norwegian is already strong can therefore meet both requirements with one sitting. The cost is real, though: the Norwegian in samfunnskunnskapsprøven is rated above A2, the test has two more tasks and picture tasks, and the pass mark is 26 rather than 24.

For most people the safer order is the ordinary one. Sit samfunnskunnskapsprøven in your strongest language when you need permanent residence. Then, when citizenship comes into view, prepare for statsborgerprøven in Norwegian at A2, by which time you will also be working towards B1 in spoken Norwegian. The knowledge is the same both times, so nothing you learned for the first test is wasted. The topic list is in the statsborgerprøven pensum and topic guide.

Passing statsborgerprøven settles one of two test requirements. The other is spoken Norwegian: at least B1 in the oral part of norskprøven for applicants between 18 and 67 (statsborgerloven § 8) [official]. Statsborgerprøven is written at A2, but it is a knowledge test, not a language certificate, and it does not prove your oral level. The full list of conditions, with the routes that shorten the residence time, is in Norwegian citizenship requirements: language level and test.

It also does not replace samfunnskunnskapsprøven for permanent residence. UDI’s list of approved social studies tests for a permanent residence permit names the final test in social studies “in a language of your choice” and the same test in sign language, and nothing else [official: UDI, capture of 16 June 2026]. If you are still on a temporary permit, check that list on udi.no before you book statsborgerprøven early.

HK-dir publishes one example test for each of the two tests. It warns that the example is not the test you will get and says it is there to show how tasks look and how you answer on the computer [official]. For questions written from the lesson text itself, with the reason for each answer in English, try our 15 practice questions in Norwegian with English translation and the ten-question mini test in the pass-mark guide.