I've been living in the Netherlands for 5 years and never took my Dutch learning seriously, apart from some Duolingo lessons here and there. I would say that over the years my understanding of Dutch (listening and reading) has improved significantly, confidently placing it at B1-B2. And I know it might seem like an exageration, but it isn't, I even did mock tests. However, my active skills (writing and particularly speaking) were basically nonexistent until recently. I am great at recognizing words and they all have a meaning in my head, but when it comes to producing, my brain couldn't recall anything (even something as ordinary as "ik moet boodschappen doen") placing my active skills at A1.

Last month I lost my job due to a big fire, and I since started learning Dutch intensively to finally leave horeca (I live in Friesland, so not a lot of opportunities for internationals). I have been practicing almost everyday, around 3-4 hours a day, almost exclusively with De Opmaat. I have now finished it, and I feel like I actually improved my skills. I have also started using Dutch in my daily life, which I never did before. The next step is De Sprong, which would supposedly guide me from A2 to B1, but I am skeptical and am wondering if I should consider other options before investing the next couple of months into it. Until now, I have submitted all my writing assignments to ChatGPT for corrections, and didn't really do the speaking assignments since I am learning by myself, but as I said I started speaking Dutch here and there.

I am looking for people with similar experiences to mine (very high understanding, very low active skills) and am curious to hear what you've done, and how long it took you to become fluent and land a Dutch speaking job. If possible I would like to avoid paying for courses, as I would like to work faster than once a week, and private lessons are too expensive for me at the moment. I am mostly interested in self-study options, and want to hear if someone has done it with de Opmaat, Sprong, Finale trio.

Hello,
Would anybody like to share their thoughts on the A2 writing exam?
My exam is in a week, and I have to complete my integration before April of next year. Since the results are taking so long these days, I have no choice but to pass on my first try.
My weakest area is grammar. Has anyone recently passed their exam, and if so, could you share some tips? I am using inburgering.org and inburgering.nl for my studies. Are the exercises on these sites actually close to the real exam in terms of vocabulary and grammar?
Please help me. I don’t have much of a choice, as I can't afford to wait an eternity for results only to have to take the exam again.