Kunskapsprov (Swedish proficiency test)

Kunskapsprov means knowledge test. It is step 2 of Socialstyrelsen's five-step route to legitimation and checks that your knowledge and skills match those of a Swedish graduate. Each profession has its own test. All of them have a theoretical part and a practical part, and you must pass the theoretical part before you can sit the practical one. The tests are in Swedish.

You can only register once Socialstyrelsen has assessed your education and decided that you may take the test.

Umeå University arranges the doctors' test on site in Umeå. The theoretical part is a digital exam that tests knowledge, understanding and the ability to apply it to clinical cases; one section includes a scientific article in English. The practical part tests skills in standardised clinical situations, in the same way as an OSCE.

1. Send Umeå's application form to get an account on the exam course website.
2. Socialstyrelsen checks the application and gives the go-ahead, which Umeå says normally takes two working weeks.
3. Register for the next exam session on the course website.

The University of Gothenburg runs the nurses' test nationally, with Umeå University and Linnaeus University in Kalmar. It is the same as the national clinical final exam Swedish nursing students take.

• Written part: modified essay questions on two patient cases (maximum 50 points, pass mark 33) plus a drug calculation section where every answer must be correct. It is sat in Gothenburg or Kalmar.
• Practical part: a half-day OSCE with six stations in Gothenburg, Umeå or Kalmar.

Gothenburg says the test is free, though you pay your own travel and accommodation. Upcoming written dates include 11 November and 11 December 2026. After passing you complete three months of clinical training and a distance course in Swedish health legislation at Lund University.

For both doctors and nurses you have five attempts at the theoretical part and three at the practical part, and you must pass both within five years of your first attempt. If you use up the attempts or the five years, this route to a licence ends. Gothenburg adds that missing a booked test without cancelling counts as a used attempt.

Dentists, pharmacists and other licensed professions have their own proficiency tests, arranged by universities for Socialstyrelsen, with rules and dates on Socialstyrelsen's licence pages for each profession. The test sits in the middle of the route: you first have your education assessed (SEK 990, about three months), and after passing you complete the law course and clinical training before applying for the licence. Socialstyrelsen says the whole route usually takes two to four years. If you cannot pass within the limits, the alternative is a complementary programme or a Swedish degree.

• Weak Swedish. The test is in Swedish, and the language certificate itself goes to Socialstyrelsen later, with the licence application.
• Booking before the decision. You cannot register until Socialstyrelsen has approved your education for the test.
• Underestimating the drug calculations. For nurses one wrong answer fails that section.

See our Sweden guide for the full route.