CBR theory exam in English or with an interpreter

For the car theory exam you choose between Dutch and English. You book the theory exam in English in Mijn CBR, the CBR's online account, with the option Theorie-examen Engels auto. It is available at all exam locations. If you need more time, choose Theorie-examen Engels auto extra tijd. The exam in English costs a little more.

• Surcharge for the exam in English: 6.50 euro.

• Surcharge for an exam with extra time: 13.50 euro.

• These are the CBR's fees for 2026. Check the current amounts on the CBR fees page before you book.

You can take the other theory exams in Dutch only. The car is the only exam where you can choose between Dutch and English.

Any language other than Dutch or English for the car, or any language other than Dutch for another vehicle, is only possible with an interpreter. You may not bring your own interpreter. This is how it works:

• You book the interpreter through an interpreting agency approved by the CBR, at least 2 weeks before the exam. If you do not, the exam cannot go ahead and you have to book a new date.

• The exam is individual: only a CBR employee and the interpreter are in the room with you, no other candidates. The questions are the same as in the standard exam.

• The CBR employee reads out the questions and the answer options, and the interpreter translates them.

• You enter the answers yourself on the screen.

• The exam takes 45 minutes instead of 30.

• You pay for the interpreter separately, to the interpreting agency, on top of the CBR fee. If the interpreter does not turn up, the exam is moved to a new date and you do not pay the CBR fee again.

The CBR does not hold the theory exam in Turkish or Arabic. If you understand one of those languages better than Dutch or English, you take a theory exam with an interpreter. You can do this for the car, motorcycle and moped exams, at all exam locations. You arrange two things:

• The exam. Book the theory exam with an interpreter (theorie-examen met tolk) in Mijn CBR, or ask your driving school (rijschool) to book it for you.

• The interpreter. Then book an interpreter who speaks your language yourself, through one of the interpreting agencies the CBR has approved. Do this at least 14 days before your exam, and choose the same exam at the agency as at the CBR, for example the car theory exam. The list of agencies is on the CBR page about interpreters.

• No translation with individual support. In an individually supervised exam (individueel begeleid examen) the CBR employee reads the questions out, but does not translate them. So that exam does not solve a language problem: for another language you need the exam with an interpreter.

The exam stays a Dutch exam: the questions and answers on this site are always in the language of your exam, Dutch or, for the car, English. In your account you choose the language of your real exam and the language of the explanations. With every question you then read the explanation in your own language, with the Dutch exam words next to it. If you choose Dutch with an interpreter, you also see straight away what the question and the answers mean, the way the interpreter will translate them for you. In the exam itself you will see some Dutch words that are not translated.