How long does preparation take?
It depends on your starting level. Eight weeks at twenty minutes a day is a comfortable benchmark for a candidate who already follows simple sentences.
Your plan, based on your exam date
The right plan is not the most ambitious one, it is the one that survives until exam day. Here are four plans, depending on how long you have.
Page updated 4 September 2026. 11 min read.
Three principles that hold for every plan
Whatever your horizon, three rules do not change. They explain most of the gap between two candidates who put in the same number of hours.
Regularity beats intensity: twenty minutes a day beats three hours on Sunday. Recording is non-negotiable, because fluency and clarity cannot be self-assessed. And format beats content: practising without reproducing the exam is preparing for a different exam.
- Twenty minutes a day, every day, rather than one long weekly session.
- A daily two-minute recording, listened back once.
- Always the exam format: two topics to choose from, follow-ups, single listening.
- One full simulation a week from the halfway point onwards.
Eight weeks: the comfortable plan
This is the ideal horizon. It leaves time to measure, to fix, then to check the fix held.
- Week 1: placement test, choice of two favourite topics, set up the daily habit.
- Weeks 2 and 3: your two weakest criteria, one targeted drill a day.
- Week 4: listening comprehension, at real speed only.
- Week 5: picture description, ten images, the four-step plan.
- Week 6: interview and follow-ups, three-sentence answers.
- Week 7: two full simulations, marked criterion by criterion.
- Week 8: revise sentence blocks, sleep, nothing new.
Four weeks: the tight plan
With a month you can no longer cover everything. You have to choose, and the choice follows the criteria where you lose the most marks.
- Week 1: a full simulation on day one, to know where you stand.
- Week 2: your two weakest criteria, nothing else.
- Week 3: full format, one listening and one description per day.
- Week 4: two simulations, then revision of your tool sentences.
The call to make early
If your speaking is clearly weaker than your listening, put two thirds of the time into speaking. It is the decisive paper, and compensation only works in one direction.
Two weeks: the catch-up plan
Two weeks is enough to gain method marks, not to change your language level. Focus on what pays quickly.
- Days 1 to 3: the one fact, one reason, one example rule, on twenty questions.
- Days 4 to 7: ten timed picture descriptions, using the four-step plan.
- Days 8 to 11: listening at real speed, questions read before the audio.
- Days 12 to 14: two full simulations and revision of the repair phrases.
Seven days: what still pays
With one week left, stop learning new vocabulary. What still pays is automatic habits and managing the room.
Rehearse the sentence blocks you already control, run one simulation a day, and work on calm: arrive early, breathe, slow your pace.
- One full simulation a day, recorded.
- The ten tool sentences for the picture task, until they are automatic.
- The three repair phrases, until they are automatic.
- The day before: reread your blocks, no new drill, early night.
You do not have a date yet
This is the most common and the most favourable situation. Places go fast, and starting before you have a date saves you from compressing everything later.
Set the daily habit now, watch the sessions published by the INL in parallel, and book as soon as a date matches your state of preparation.
Key points
- Regularity beats intensity: twenty minutes a day.
- Start with a simulation, not a lesson: without a measurement there is no priority.
- With two weeks left you gain method marks, not a language level.
- The final week is for revising, not for learning.
Frequently asked
Should I train speaking and listening on the same day?
Yes, alternating: ten minutes of listening and ten of production keep both alive without fatigue.
What should I do the day before?
Reread your sentence blocks, run one short simulation, then stop. Vocabulary learned the day before does not stick.
Sources and checking
This guide draws on what the INL publishes (inll.lu and its registration platform), the men.public.lu portal and guichet.lu. Arrangements, amounts, durations and exam sites can change: always confirm with the INL before registering.
Next: put it into practice
The free simulation uses the exact format of the listening paper: three audio documents, fifteen questions, 35 timed minutes, your mark at the end. No account, no payment.