HAVO Engels

The central examinations in Dutch secondary education fall under the College voor Toetsen en Examens (CvTE), which publishes syllabi and exam information. CvTE's site links to Examenblad.nl for central exam material. This page is independent and is not connected to CvTE, so always confirm details on the official portals for your year.

Expect reading comprehension of authentic English texts and productive language work such as writing, with attention to vocabulary, grammar and register. The exact weighting and task types are set out in the syllabus for your cohort. Practise reading long texts for main idea, tone and inference, and practise writing short, well-organised texts with accurate sentences.

Difficulty is relative: the texts are authentic, so the challenge is usually vocabulary range, inference questions and pace rather than obscure grammar. Candidates who read English regularly tend to find it manageable; those who only revise from word lists often struggle with questions asking about the writer's attitude or the function of a paragraph.

Retake rules are set nationally and administered through your school and the official exam channels, so ask your examinations officer about your situation. Do not rely on a retake as a plan: build your preparation so the first sitting is your best. If a resit is possible, focus revision on the question types that cost you most marks.

Practise with a timer so you learn your reading speed. A sensible approach is to skim the questions first, read the text once for overall meaning, then answer with reference to specific lines. Do not leave blanks: an eliminated-guess answer is better than nothing, and reserve the final minutes for checking transfer of answers.

Start with vocabulary and reading volume, because these take weeks to build. Add question-type practice next, so you learn how multiple-choice distractors are built. Finish with full timed papers under exam conditions and a written review of every error. Keep a log of repeated mistakes and revisit it before each practice paper.

Typical losses come from answering from general knowledge instead of the text, choosing an option that is true but does not answer the question, misreading negation words, and running out of time on the last text. Weak sentence control in writing also costs marks. Train yourself to justify each answer with a line reference.

Yes. CvTE announced on 22 October 2026 that new examination programmes for havo/vwo in Dutch, English, German, French, Spanish and mathematics apply from August 2029. If you sit in or after that period, check which syllabus applies to your cohort before you plan your revision.