UKBI

Overview

UKBI (Uji Kemahiran Berbahasa Indonesia, the Indonesian Language Proficiency Test) is the standard test of how well a person uses Indonesian. It is developed by Badan Pengembangan dan Pembinaan Bahasa, the language agency under Indonesia's education ministry, and its use is regulated by Ministry of Education and Culture Regulation No. 70 of 2016 on Indonesian proficiency standards.

The test is delivered online as UKBI Adaptif. It is open to native speakers and foreign speakers of Indonesian. The number of questions and the time you spend vary by person, because the difficulty adapts to your answers.

Exam pattern

UKBI has five sections. The agency says it tests four skills (listening, reading, writing, speaking) plus a section on responding to language rules.

The agency's two pages disagree on the time for section II: one says 25 minutes and the other says 20.

How the adaptive test works. In sections I to III you start with a small block of five questions. Your answers decide whether the next block is easier, the same, or harder. The test stops for that section when you land on the same level twice in a row. The agency states an optimal number of blocks: 9 for listening, 5 for grammar and 9 for reading.

Section contents. Listening uses 4 dialogues and 4 monologues with 5 questions each. In section II each sentence contains an error against Indonesian language rules; you find the error and choose the correct option from four. Reading uses up to 8 written passages with 5 questions each.

Writing and speaking. Two tasks each, based on a prompt sentence with a picture or infographic. Writing is 15 minutes for at least 100 words and 20 minutes for at least 150 words. In speaking, the first task allows 7 minutes of preparation and 3 of recording, and the second 8 minutes of preparation and 7 of recording.

A version for deaf and hard-of-hearing candidates tests four sections: watching (replacing listening), grammar, reading and writing.

Test packages. Package 1 is sections I to III, and the score is known when the test ends. Package 2 adds writing, and package 3 is the full test with speaking as well. Writing and speaking are marked by people, which takes up to 10 working days for package 2 and up to 14 for package 3.

Marking and results

Results are a score out of 800 mapped to seven ranks, as published on the UKBI site.

Important dates

Test sessions run Monday to Thursday, in five daily time slots (08.00 to 10.00, 10.00 to 12.00, 13.00 to 15.00, 16.00 to 18.00 and 19.00 to 21.00 WIB), each with room for 1,000 candidates. You can sit UKBI again 15 days after a previous attempt, as often as you like.

Fees

Fees are set by Government Regulation No. 22 of 2023 and are listed on the UKBI site in Indonesian rupiah. The site gives no effective year, so treat them as the amounts listed on the official site in 2026.

How to apply

Registration is online and is open to individuals, institutions in a group, participants of the Wiyata Kinarya programme, and deaf or hard-of-hearing candidates. The site's steps are: register with an active email, verify the account, fill in your details with a photo and ID photo, choose a test package and schedule, pay within 24 hours, then take the test.

You need a PC or laptop with a camera, an up-to-date browser, a headset, a microphone for the speaking section, and a stable connection of at least 15 Mbps. When this page was checked, the registration page still showed a notice that registration was closed temporarily until 4 January 2026 for maintenance, so check its current status.

After the exam

Everyone who completes all sections receives a digital certificate, signed by the head of the language agency. The certificate is valid for two years. Certificates are issued on Fridays, Saturdays or Sundays each week and downloaded from your UKBI account.

Preparation tips

• Try the free simulation and practice items on the UKBI site to learn the question types.

• Practise writing and speaking on a prompt within a strict time limit.