Lezen (reading): how to pass

What you read

A2: short, practical texts — letters from the municipality, school notes, adverts, opening hours, instructions, simple news items. About 25 questions in 65 minutes.

B1: longer texts about work, study and daily life — articles, information leaflets, rules, formal letters. About 35 questions on around six texts in 110 minutes. Often the last text is a zoektekst: a long document where you only need to find one detail.

You do not need to understand every word

Most questions ask for one of these:

1. A detail – a date, time, price, place, condition. Wanneer…? Hoeveel…? Wat moet je meenemen?
2. The main idea – Waarover gaat deze tekst? Wat is het doel van deze brief?
3. What to do – Wat moet meneer Jansen nu doen?
4. Meaning in context – Wat betekent "vervallen" in regel 12?
5. Writer's opinion (B1) – Wat vindt de schrijver van…?

A strategy that works

1. Read the question first, then the text. You now know what you are looking for.
2. Scan for key words from the question (names, numbers, dates). Then read the sentences around them carefully.
3. Check every option against the text. The wrong options often use words from the text but say something slightly different.
4. Watch small words that change meaning: niet, geen, alleen, pas, al, nog, moet, mag, hoeft niet.
5. Don't get stuck. If a question takes more than 2–3 minutes, mark it, guess, and come back.

Time plan

Level	Total	Per question
A2	65 min	About 2.5 min
B1	110 min	About 3 min, but save extra time for the long texts

Common traps

• Same word, different meaning: the option repeats a word from the text but in the wrong situation.
• Too general / too specific: for main-idea questions, choose the option that covers the whole text.
• "Moet" vs "mag": je moet = you must; je mag = you are allowed; je hoeft niet = you don't have to.

Practise in this app

Use Practice → Lezen to train one text at a time with hints. Every wrong answer goes to Mistakes, so you can redo it later.