Free Practice Questions for Estonian Upper-Secondary Estonian as a Second Language Exam

Assessment

Official national gümnaasiumi riigieksam administered once a year each spring by Haridus- ja Noorteamet (Harno) under the Põhikooli- ja gümnaasiumiseadus and its implementing final-examination regulation. Every gümnaasium graduate must sit either the Eesti keel (native-speaker) or the Eesti keel teise keelena riigieksam, never both; only students formally enrolled in the Estonian-as-a-second-language curriculum track (overwhelmingly Russian-medium school graduates) or vocational-secondary students without Estonian as their language of instruction may choose this version. The exam is a B2 CEFR-level assessment covering five osaoskust - kirjutamine, kuulamine, lugemine, keele struktuur and rääkimine - a structurally different exam from the native Eesti keel riigieksam, which has only two parts (lugemine and a roughly 400-word kirjutamine essay) and no listening, speaking or dedicated structure section. No dictionaries or other reference materials are permitted, unlike the native exam which allows an official spelling dictionary. A student holding a valid eesti keele oskuse kõrgtase or C1-level Estonian certificate, submitted by 20 January, is exempt from sitting either exam - there is no international-certificate substitution route comparable to the English riigieksam's Cambridge/IELTS/TOEFL option. This bank is a unified English-language MCQ study adaptation - it does not reproduce the timed listening audio, extended writing task or interactive oral interview of the official exam.

Time Limit

260 minutes total for the written components including a 30-minute break: Kirjutamine/Writing 90 minutes (20 of 100 points), then a vaheaeg, then Kuulamine/Listening 40 minutes (20 points), Lugemine/Reading 60 minutes (20 points) and Keele struktuur/Language Structure 40 minutes (20 points) - 80 of 100 points across the written booklets. The Rääkimine/Speaking interview runs about 20 minutes (20 points) and is scheduled individually over a separate multi-day window. For the 2025/2026 school year, per the Riigi Teataja regulation on riigieksamite vormid ja ajad, the written paper is scheduled for 14 April 2026, with individual oral interviews conducted 14-17 April 2026; the lisaeksam (makeup) sitting runs 26 May 2026 (written) and 26-27 May 2026 (oral).

Passing Score

Scored on a 0-100 point scale (20 points each for kirjutamine, kuulamine, lugemine, keele struktuur and rääkimine, per Harno's eristuskiri). A candidate who scores at least 1 point is considered to have completed the exam and satisfies the compulsory graduation requirement. A candidate who additionally scores at least 60% of the maximum result, with no single osaoskus at 0 points, receives a separate eesti keele B2-taseme tunnistus from Harno; in spring 2026, 57% of the 2,832 candidates who sat the exam reached that threshold (average score 61.7 points), close to the 56.3% who reached it in 2025.

Exam / Certification Fees

No fee for regularly enrolled gümnaasium candidates - riigieksamid are free state examinations administered by Harno. A student who instead holds a qualifying eesti keele oskuse kõrgtase or C1-level certificate is exempt from the exam entirely at no cost; there is no paid international-certificate substitution route for this exam.