Studieproven Guide in English: The Danish C1 Test for University Entry

Studieprøven — often typed “Studieproven”, in full Studieprøven i dansk som andetsprog — is the Danish state test at level C1 for adults who learned Danish as a second language. It closes module 6 of Danish Education 3 (Danskuddannelse 3), and it is the test Danish universities name when a Danish-taught programme asks an applicant with a foreign school-leaving exam to document Danish. It is run by SIRI, the Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration, and held twice a year at about ten language centres [official]. This page is the whole test in English, with a link to the guide that goes deeper on each point.

Sources: SIRI’s Studieprøven pages, BEK 1687/2025 and Prøvedatoer 2027.

The reading and writing tests are held on one day, the written day; the oral follows in a window some weeks later, on a day your test centre chooses. The full minute plan and the rules of the room are in the written exam guide; the draw, the timing and the notes rule are in the oral exam guide. Listening is not a separate paper: it is tested inside the oral, where you must understand the examiner’s questions.

No. If you come from IELTS or TOEFL you may look for a Studieprøven listening paper to practise on, and there is none to find. The regulation says the written part consists of reading comprehension and written production, and the oral part of oral communication “hvori lytteforståelse indgår” — in which listening comprehension is included (BEK 1687/2025 bilag 1 pt 4.4) [official]. SIRI’s page for candidates puts it in one sentence: “Prøven i mundtlig kommunikation dækker også lytteforståelse.” There are three grades, and none of them is for listening alone.

So the listening you need is the listening of a discussion: the official goals expect you to follow the examiner’s questions, including their premises and counter-arguments, and to answer the question that was actually asked. For practice, we suggest a partner who speaks at a natural pace (our advice). What the assessors look for, and the Danish for asking an examiner to clarify, are in the oral exam guide.

Each part gets a grade on the Danish 7-point scale: 12, 10, 7, 4, 02, 00 or -3. You pass Studieprøven when each of the three grades is at least 02 and reading and writing are passed in the same term [official: BEK 1687/2025 §48 stk. 3]. There is no average that decides: a 12 in the oral does not carry a 00 in reading. If one part fails, you resit that part — the written part means reading and writing together — and a passed oral is carried over. The combinations, the half fee for a resit and the complaint deadline are in the pass rule guide.

Writing and the oral are judged by trained censors against written descriptions of the grades 12, 7 and 02. The short version: what counts most is whether you can do four things in Danish — convey facts, explain, assess, and argue a position — and your grammar and vocabulary are judged by how well they serve that. Subject knowledge is not graded. The examples guide prints the descriptions in English, and the essay guide shows a weaker and a stronger text read against them. Reading is marked by points; how many points give which grade is set after each sitting and not published.

For university there is one more condition to know from the start. Copenhagen (bachelor), Aarhus and Aalborg accept Studieprøven as Danish A only together with proof that you passed your mother tongue at the highest level in your school-leaving exam. That is a document from home, not a Danish test, and it is worth finding before you register.

The test is held in a summer term and a winter term. Registration closes about ten weeks before the written day and goes through a language centre that holds the test, not through SIRI. For winter 2026 the deadline has passed; a centre may still admit a late candidate in special cases, but it can refuse. SIRI’s dates page prints the winter 2026 oral window of 2–15 December under the Studieprøven heading while naming “Prøve i Dansk 1” in the sentence, which we read as a slip [official: SIRI dates page and Prøvedatoer 2027].

If you are a student on Danish Education 3, module 6, your school registers you and the test is free. Everyone else is a self-studier (selvstuderende) and pays a national fee: in 2026 it is 987 kr for the written part and 987 kr for the oral part, 1,974 kr in all [official: SIRI]. The regulation’s own figure is 1,888 kr at 2025 level, indexed every 1 January, so the two figures are the base and the 2026 price [official: BEK 1687/2025 §12]. The 2027 fee had not been published when we checked; SIRI announced the 2026 fee on 15 October 2025. You bring valid photo ID on the day, and a driving licence is not accepted. Centres, the ID list, refunds and what happens if you miss the deadline are in the self-study guide.

That guide also has the number that should shape your plan. In 2025, among those who completed all parts, 84.5% of course students passed and 56.6% of self-studiers [official: ministry activity report 2025]. The test is the same; the difference is preparation for a format that course students have practised and self-studiers often meet for the first time on the day.

How long it takes depends on where you start, and we found no official number of study hours for Studieprøven. What SIRI does say is how the test is meant to be met: as the end of module 6, after a course. If you study alone, the two things a course would have given you are the fixed task formats and someone who reads your texts. The first you can get from these guides and the official sample. The second you have to arrange: a teacher, a Danish-speaking friend or a study partner who will mark the same six lines a censor marks.