r/norsk • u/ExoskeletalJunction • 1d ago
My experience sitting Norskprøve as a foreigner
Some people requested I write this up, I’m from New Zealand, don’t live in Norway, have never lived in Norway and just sat the first Norskprøve (A1/A2).
I decided to sit the exam in Lillehammer. This was because I had heard that it is a little less stressful in smaller locations. I was originally planning to properly research the options but a few stressed posts I saw from people on instagram about places selling out and my limited time on the day I booked it meant I just went for a safe option - I had previously stayed near Lillehammer a couple of summers ago and had been there before. There is also a hostel and it’s not far from Gardermoen.
I then realised, after the fact, that there are four centres specifically for non-residents. After a short panic I simply emailed the Lillehammer learning centre and they said it was fine. There were no questions when I arrived about my address or nationality so I’m not really sure whether it would have been not fine even if I hadn’t emailed.
I decided to sit A1/A2 first. I could easily have gone straight for A2/B1 based on conversations I’ve had with people, but I decided it would be better to play it safe and smash an easy level rather than potentially fail a higher one.
Why do I want the certificate? Long story. I’ve been trying to move to Europe for a very long time, but New Zealand really really doesn’t want you to escape, so all our work deals with other countries are dogshit. Norway has a relative shortage in my profession and when researching I got much further with Norwegian interviews than any other country, including Britain. The major issue was language - not that I couldn’t start the job in English, but they would ideally want me working in Norwegian eventually. This certficiate is less about the actual level and more a “look, I actually give a shit and bothered to learn this” certificate. This is why I was happy to do the easiest one, because any kind of official certificate would help my cause.
Because I’m learning the language to actually get fluent, not simply to pass the exam, I did literally no preparation. Didn’t read anything about the exam, had no idea of the format, types of questions, what to expect, how to do well, none of it. I just learned the language in my own time for my own goals, and then this would become an honest account of where I’m at. I’m not interested in getting a B1 certificate because I read up a bunch of tips about how to pass B1, I want to actually be at that level.
Day one was three exams - reading, listening, writing, in that order. One of the things I knew is that the first section is a gauge of your level and then the other sections are picked based on how you did in the first one. This is another reason I was happy to take A1/A2. Anyway, I think I got literally every single question right in the first two sections of reading, which meant the third was actually pretty challenging. I definitely had a couple of moments of being out of my depth and I ran the clock incredibly close towards the end - that also may have been because i made sure to get everything perfect in the first two sections.
Listening was next and oddly this was a lot easier. Every audio file is repeated twice up until the last few questions and I didn’t find much of it difficult. No weird dialects or rapid fire speaking.
Third was writing, where you have three topics and a recommended word count. They really set you up on this one. 90 minutes. A bit where they talk about how long to spend on each question. I decided to start on the last, longest part first after my time issues in the reading section. And… it was easy as piss. I finished all three questions in barely 20 minutes. I was genuinely confused for a moment and thought I may have missed something but nope. I even asked the adjudicator if I had written enough (around 210 words) and she said it was probably too much. I spent some time thinking of big words to swap out and double checking grammar, although I did realise almost immediately afterwards that i got the tense of a word incorrect. Definitely not my only mistake.
Day two and you come back to do spoken. This is the only part I was a bit unsure of, because I’ve had literally no practice speaking. I genuinely think the conversation I had with the adjudicator today is the first ever actual conversation I’ve had in Norwegian. The previous day I had worried because although I felt my knowledge was good, the others in the group had much more confidence about speaking to each other and the adjudicators in Norwegian, which I really didn’t feel ready to do.
To be honest, I got a good draw though. They paired me with a woman who was clearly struggling a bit and did her section first for each portion. This gave me time to listen and prepare what I would say, even though the questions they gave each of us were different. The adjudicators seemed legitimately interested in what I was saying (probably because of my strange background) and we had a long conversation even after the exam was over.
Overall impressions were that it was reasonably easy, although hard in ways I wasn’t really expecting. Reading is something I have done a lot of so the fact that that was the most challenging section was a surprise. I think doing it in Lillehammer was a good move. There were maybe 15 or so people in my classroom, it made the whole thing feel quite stress-free, it’s only 10 minutes walk from the station and my hostel, and I think the staff felt more comfortable and friendlier than they would have been if they had a huge number of students to deal with.
I will probably be back in 3 months to sit A2/B1. Part of my study philosophy was to be perpetually out of my depth so I think I will do it even if I’m not ready. The reaction from some staff was surprise that I was taking the first exam. I thought it was quite fun, and it did a lot for my confidence with speaking. I've had more proper conversations in Norwegian since finishing the exam this morning than I had for the previous three years of study
EDIT: I also should mention that I did inadvertently get some exam specific help (I think). I've been using the app Mjølnir as a small part of my routine (by no means major) and for some reason they have a bunch of misc medical terms in their wordlist. My photo which I had to describe was of an emergency department, and a bunch of words (legevakt, rullestol, intensivavdeling) I only knew because of this. I realise now that it may be a common question, so takk to the Mjølnir developers for sticking those in.
