In English

How to study for the Norwegian citizenship test: a 4-week plan

Four weeks, three mock exams, and most of the time spent where the questions are: family, school and health.

The short answer

Four weeks is the plan we recommend to most people. It is long enough to read the whole syllabus, to forget some of it and learn it again (which is what makes knowledge stick), and to take three full mock exams. If you only have two weeks, the same plan works squeezed, and we show how below.

The plan is the same for both tests. HK-dir says so directly: «Statsborgerprøven og samfunnskunnskapsprøven har samme pensum, som ligger på nettstedet samfunnskunnskap.no.» What differs is the number of tasks, the language level and the language you take it in.

Before you start

Three things to do on day zero.

Know which test you are taking. The citizenship test has 36 tasks and you need 24 correct. The social studies test has 38 tasks and you need at least 26. Both last at most 60 minutes. For citizenship, both tests must be taken in Norwegian. See the test requirements.
Take HK-dir's official sample test once. It is free and it shows you the screen you will sit at. Do not memorise it. Use it to find out where you stand.
Book the test. Registration is binding, but you need a date to work towards. Your municipality decides dates and price, and there is no national calendar. Here is how registration works.

Why the plan looks lopsided

We went through 216 practice tasks from openly available practice tests online and tagged each with a topic. The spread is not even:

Topic	Share of tasks	Time in the plan
Family, school and health	about 40 %	week 1 and half of week 4
Norway past and present	about 22 %	week 2
Work, tax and money	about 14 %	week 2
Culture, values and everyday life	about 12 %	week 3
Rights and duties	about 8 %	week 3
Democracy and government	about 5 %	one day in week 3

Those practice tests were made by people other than HK-dir. The spread is a pattern in practice material, not the official weighting of the real test. HK-dir publishes no weighting. It is only the best public signal that exists, and the real test may stress something else.

About a third of the tasks in that material ask for a specific number: a year, a price, an age, a percentage. That is why the plan has number days.

Notice the last row. Parliament, government, elections and the monarchy together are about a twentieth of the material, and most people spend far too long there.

Week 1: family, school and health

The heaviest block. Take it first, while your head is fresh, and repeat it in week 4.

Days 1 to 2: family, kindergarten and school. Kindergarten fees, school stages, grading, upper secondary school, adults' right to education.
Days 3 to 4: health. The emergency numbers, the regular GP scheme, the out-of-hours service, dental care, health visitors at the clinic.
Day 5: children's rights and adults' duties.
Day 6: number day. Write every number from the week on one sheet of paper and learn them.
Day 7: first full mock exam. Sixty minutes, no aids, no pause. Note the topics that failed.

The topic pages linked from our Norwegian syllabus overview go through each of these one by one, with the words you need. They are in Norwegian, because the test is.

Week 2: Norway past and present, work and money

Day 8: geography. Population, area, big cities, neighbours, official languages.
Days 9 to 10: history. Years carry this section: the Black Death, 1814, 1905, the war years, women's right to vote.
Day 11: oil and the welfare state.
Day 12: working life. Working environment act, holiday act, holiday pay, unions, safety representatives.
Day 13: tax, welfare benefits and personal finance.
Day 14: number day two, and a repeat of week 1's sheet.

Week 3: values, rights and government

Day 15: Norwegian values, holidays and volunteering.
Day 16: nature, outdoor life and the right to roam.
Day 17: the Sami and the national minorities, and media and critical thinking.
Day 18: human rights, freedom of speech and equality.
Day 19: being new in Norway: the introduction programme, language and participation.
Day 20: all of government in one day. Learn the three branches of power, the number of members of parliament, the voting age and which international organisations Norway belongs to.
Day 21: second full mock exam. Compare with day 7.

Week 4: repeat where it counts

You are not reading anything new now. You are closing gaps.

Days 22 to 23: back to week 1. Family, school and health is the largest block, and you last saw it three weeks ago. Take 40 questions on it.
Day 24: only the topics that failed in mock exam two.
Day 25: all the numbers, from every sheet.
Day 26: third full mock exam. This is the one that counts. If you are well over the pass mark here, with time to spare, you are ready.
Day 27: the last gaps.
Day 28: a calm day. No new mock exam. Find your physical ID, because a digital driving licence is not valid. Check the time and place in the invitation letter, which arrives two weeks before the test.

The two-week version

Keep the order of the topics, but give each day two topics instead of one, and skip the number days by adding the numbers to your reading. Take two mock exams instead of three: one at the end of day 7, one on day 12. Use the last two days for the gaps. It works, but you will forget more, so expect to need the explanations again.

Three habits worth more than an extra hour of reading

Answer everything. Four of the tasks on the citizenship test do not give points, because HK-dir is trying out new ones, and you are not told which. So you cannot skim a strange-looking task.

Guess rather than skip. There are three options and, as far as we can find, no penalty for a wrong answer.

Read the explanation when you are wrong. That is where the learning is.

If Norwegian is your weak point

Most of the plan is about facts. For many people, the real obstacle is the language. The citizenship test is at level A2, you can have the questions read aloud, and you can ask for extra time or an oral test in some cases. See the Norwegian guide on tips when your Norwegian is weak and the English start page.

What you need

The syllabus is free from the state. HK-dir's sample test is free. Neither gives you repetition over time, or an explanation of why an answer is wrong. That is what our app is for.

The plan uses three mock exams and around 400 questions with explanations. 20 questions a day and one mock exam are free here, with no account and no card. Full access is 199 kroner, paid once. Everything you practise on is in Norwegian, because the test is.

What we could not confirm

Whether a wrong answer costs points. We have found no penalty in HK-dir's descriptions, but they do not state it in so many words. Check the instructions on the day.
The official weighting of topics. None is published.

Ready to practise? 20 questions a day are free – no account, no card. The questions are in Norwegian, because the test is.

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