How I Prepared for the YKI Test: My Study Routine, Books and Practice Tips

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My YKI Test Journey – Part 6B

Preparing for the YKI test was not something I did for only a few weeks before the examination.

For me, it was a much longer journey.

I had already started learning Finnish while we were still living in Dubai. At that time, Finland was still something new and unfamiliar to me. I was working full-time, attending Finnish lessons and trying my best to remember vocabulary, grammar rules and expressions that sometimes felt impossible to understand.

Then we moved to Finland.

And the learning did not stop.

In fact, that was when Finnish became more than just a language I needed to study.

I needed it in real life.

At work.

At the grocery store.

At the pharmacy.

At restaurants.

When talking to neighbors.

When communicating with colleagues.

And little by little, Finnish became part of my everyday life.

At the same time, I was studying Top-Up Nursing program, which also included Finnish-language studies.

Then there was YKI.

The examination had become an important part of my journey toward becoming a Registered Nurse (sairaanhoitaja) in Finland.

So I studied.

And studied.

And studied some more. 😅

This is how I personally prepared for my YKI test.

A little reminder before we start: This is simply my own experience. The study methods and resources that worked for me may not work exactly the same way for you. Everyone learns differently, so take whatever you find helpful and find a study routine that works for you.

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My YKI Preparation Actually Started in Dubai

If someone asked me how long I prepared for YKI, I would not count only the months immediately before the examination.

I would count my entire Finnish-learning journey.

I started learning Finnish around July 2023, while I was still living and working in Dubai.

My first YKI examination was in August 2025.

So altogether, I would say that I had been preparing for around two years.

Of course, I wasn’t studying specifically for YKI every single day for two years.

A large part of that time was simply spent learning Finnish itself.

Vocabulary.

Grammar.

Listening.

Speaking.

Trying to build sentences.

Learning how Finns actually speak compared with the Finnish we studied from textbooks.

Then, as the YKI examination became closer, my preparation became much more focused on the test itself.

For me, there were three things that mattered most:

practice, hard work and patience.

How I Started Learning Finnish While Working Full-Time in Dubai

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My Study Routine While Working

I was working while preparing for YKI, so I had to fit studying around my shifts and family life.

Normally, I worked around seven to eight hours a day.

My schedule depended on which shift I had.

When I Had a Morning Shift

After finishing work, I usually studied from around 3:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

After that, I would prepare our food and pick up my daughter from daycare.

Those couple of hours became my quiet study time before family duties started again.

When I Had an Afternoon Shift

If I was scheduled for an afternoon shift, I usually studied from around 10:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m.

Then I would eat lunch, prepare for work and leave for my shift.

It wasn’t a very long study session, but I learned that even one focused hour could be useful.

On My Days Off

On days off, I usually studied during the afternoon.

That was often the quietest time in our house because my daughter was taking her afternoon nap.

Sometimes those quiet moments were exactly what I needed.

No work.

No noise.

Just me, Finnish and another pile of exercises. 😅

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I Didn’t Study for Hours Every Single Day

One thing I want to make clear is that I did not always have the energy to study for several hours.

I was working.

I was raising a family.

I was studying nursing.

And life was still happening around all of that.

Some days I could study for two hours.

Some days maybe one.

And there were days when I was simply too tired.

I learned that consistency was more important for me than trying to study for five hours in one sitting.

I just kept returning to Finnish.

Again and again.

Fortunately, I have always enjoyed studying and learning new things.

But Finnish was different.

It challenged me in ways I had not expected.

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YouTube Became One of My Study Tools

YouTube helped me a lot while preparing for YKI.

There are many Finnish-language teachers and channels that explain vocabulary, grammar, speaking and test preparation.

One resource I personally enjoyed was YKI Test & Beyond by Ada & Vicky.

At the time, I also signed up for their paid content so I could access additional videos.

What I appreciated most were the vocabulary explanations and examples of how to approach different language situations.

For me, these videos were especially useful for improving my:

listening skills
and
speaking skills.

Sometimes hearing another person explain something was easier for me than reading another grammar rule from a book.

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Gimara and Ykäänkö vai Ykiinkö?

Another resource I used a lot was Gimara.

Their online materials gave me additional opportunities to practise Finnish, and one of my favorite YKI-related books became:

Ykäänkö vai Ykiinkö? – Highway to Hill

This book became one of my main reviewers.

Gimara describes it as a guide for preparing for a language test, with exercises particularly focused on speaking and writing and familiarizing learners with different task types.

I worked through almost all of the exercises in my copy.

And when I say almost all…

I really mean almost all. 😂

I wrote answers.

I practised speaking.

I repeated exercises.

I tried different ways of answering the same type of question.

For me, the book was useful not simply because it gave me exercises, but because it helped me get into the habit of producing Finnish instead of only reading Finnish.

That difference became very important.

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Another Book I Used: YKIä kohti

Closer to my examination date, I also started using:

YKIä kohti

This book is specifically designed for students preparing for the intermediate-level Finnish YKI test and includes practice involving all four areas – tekstin ymmärtäminen, kirjoittaminen, puheen ymmärtäminen and puhuminen.

I started using this one later in my preparation, so I did not finish as many exercises as I did in my Gimara book.

I mainly used it for:

speaking practice
and
listening practice.

Looking back, I probably could have spent more time with it.

But even the exercises I completed were useful.

These became my two favorite books during my YKI preparation.

They worked well for me. Of course, what worked for me might not work exactly the same way for everyone – but who knows?

They might help you too.

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Listening Practice

If there was one skill I wish I had practised even more, it would be:

Puheen ymmärtäminen – listening comprehension

I listened to Finnish in several ways.

Aside from YKI reviewers and listening exercises, I also listened to Finnish music.

One song I particularly liked was “Mä olen tässä.”

I listened to it so often that I eventually memorized parts of it.

Music helped because I could hear the rhythm of Finnish naturally instead of always listening to something designed specifically for students.

I also tried listening to Finnish podcasts, including content I found through YouTube and podcast apps.

Sometimes I understood quite a lot.

Sometimes I understood only a few words.

And sometimes…

I honestly wondered if they were speaking the same Finnish I had been studying. 😂

But I kept listening anyway.

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Why Listening Was So Difficult for Me

Listening eventually became one of the biggest challenges I encountered during the actual YKI examination.

People speak quickly.

Words seem to blend together.

Puhekieli can sound completely different from the Finnish you learned in a textbook.

And during a listening examination, you cannot simply ask:

“Anteeksi, voitko sanoa uudestaan?”

The recording moves on.

That experience taught me that if I were preparing again, I would spend even more time listening to natural Finnish spoken at normal speed.

Not only YKI exercises.

Real conversations.

News.

Podcasts.

Television.

Everyday Finnish.

I will talk much more about my experience with listening when we reach that part of this YKI series.

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Speaking Practice

Speaking was another skill I deliberately practised.

And fortunately, Finland gave me plenty of opportunities.

I tried to speak Finnish with:

• colleagues
• patients
• supervisors
• friends
• neighbors
• people I met during everyday life

Even simple conversations helped.

But here’s something that might sound funny:

I also talked to myself. 😅

A lot.

Sometimes I stood in front of a mirror and spoke Finnish.

Sometimes I recorded a video of myself speaking.

Other times, I used questions from my YKI reviewers and answered them out loud.

I even made small pieces of paper with different questions written on them.

I would pick one randomly and force myself to answer.

No long preparation.

No perfect script.

Just:

Read the question. Think. Speak.

I wanted to train myself to respond even when I didn’t have time to prepare the perfect sentence.

I’ll share more of these speaking exercises in a separate YKI post.

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YKI AI Coach

I also used an online YKI AI Coach as part of my review. It gave me practice questions that I had to answer within a time limit. Afterward, the AI evaluated my response by checking things like grammar, missing details, and areas that could be improved. It also suggested corrections.

I found this helpful because it gave me another way to practise answering under time pressure. Artificial intelligence can be a useful additional tool for YKI preparation, especially for getting quick feedback on your answers.

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One of My Biggest Speaking Lessons: Speak Anyway

One lesson became very important to me during my Finnish journey:

Speak anyway.

Even when I stuttered.

Even when there were awkward pauses.

Even when I wasn’t completely sure whether the sentence was grammatically correct.

Sometimes my sentence came out correctly.

Sometimes it didn’t.

But I kept speaking.

I realized that constantly waiting until my Finnish was “perfect” would mean I might never speak at all.

And the more I spoke, the more comfortable I became with making mistakes.

That helped me not only with YKI preparation but also with everyday life in Finland.

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Writing Practice

For writing, I completed many exercises from my study materials, especially my Gimara book.

I tried to practise creating answers within a limited amount of time rather than spending forever trying to make one perfect paragraph.

Because during an examination, you do not have unlimited time.

You have to:

understand the task,

organize your thoughts,

find the vocabulary,

use the grammar you know,

and actually finish writing.

My work in healthcare also gave me opportunities to practise Finnish writing through documentation and medical reports.

Of course, workplace documentation is different from YKI writing tasks.

But it still helped me become more comfortable expressing information in written Finnish.

I kept writing.

Making mistakes.

Correcting them.

Then writing again.

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Memorizing Helped Me – But It Wasn’t Enough

I memorized a lot during my preparation.

Vocabulary.

Expressions.

Connectors.

Useful phrases.

Ways of starting sentences.

Ways of expressing opinions.

For me, memorizing was helpful.

But I quickly learned that memorizing something is not the same as actually knowing how to use it.

If I memorized a new expression, I tried to use it in:

conversation
or
writing.

That was what helped the words stay in my memory.

Otherwise, I could memorize twenty beautiful Finnish words today…

and forget nineteen of them tomorrow. 😅

Using what I learned made the biggest difference.

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What Worked Best for Me

If I had to summarize the things that helped me most, they would be:

Repetition

I needed to see, hear and use words many times.

Speaking Out Loud

Even when nobody was listening.

Practising Regularly

Short, regular study sessions worked better for me than waiting for the “perfect” free day.

Using Finnish in Real Life

Work and everyday conversations became part of my language classroom.

Combining Different Methods

Books alone were not enough for me.

Videos alone were not enough.

Speaking alone was not enough.

I needed a mixture of:

reading, listening, writing and speaking.

And most importantly…

I needed time.

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What I Wish I Had Practised More

Without hesitation:

listening.

If I were preparing for YKI again, I would spend much more time listening to normal-speed Finnish.

The listening section of my test felt extremely challenging.

There were moments when the speaker seemed so fast that I struggled even to understand exactly what was being asked.

That was frustrating.

But it also showed me exactly where I still needed improvement.

I would also continue working on speaking.

Not necessarily because I want to speak perfect Finnish.

I don’t.

I simply want speaking Finnish to become more natural.

I want to spend less time translating a sentence inside my head before saying it.

That will probably take time.

But that’s okay.

I’ll keep practising.

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Two Years of Preparation in One Sentence

If I had to describe my preparation from July 2023 to August 2025 in one sentence, it would probably be:

Study, practise, make mistakes, learn, repeat.

There wasn’t one secret reviewer.

There wasn’t one magical YouTube video.

There wasn’t one book that suddenly made me fluent.

It was the combination of everything.

And especially the decision to keep going even when learning Finnish felt difficult.

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Follow My YKI Test Journey

This article is part of my My YKI Test Journey series, where I share my personal experience preparing for and taking the Finnish YKI test.

Main Article – My YKI Test Journey

Part 6A – What Is the YKI Test?
Part 6B – How I Prepared for the YKI Test
Part 6C – YKI Speaking Test
Part 6D – YKI Writing Test
Part 6E – YKI Reading and Listening Test
Part 6F – What I Found Most Difficult About YKI
Part 6G – My YKI Test Results
Part 6H – 5 Things I Would Do Differently

You can also follow the Finnish-learning journey that came before YKI:

→ Learning Finnish: The Beginning of My Language Journey
→ My Finnish Language Journey Series

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Final Thoughts

Preparing for YKI taught me that language learning is not something that happens overnight.

It happens quietly.

One new word today.

One conversation tomorrow.

One embarrassing mistake.

One sentence that finally comes out correctly.

One moment when you suddenly understand something that would have sounded completely foreign to you a year earlier.

When I started studying Finnish in Dubai, I could not imagine how far that language would eventually take me.

Two years later, I was sitting inside a YKI examination room in Finland.

Was my Finnish perfect?

Absolutely not.

It still isn’t.

But I had learned enough to walk into that examination room and try.

And sometimes, that is what progress looks like.

Not perfection.

Just having the courage and patience to keep going.

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“You don’t have to learn everything today. You just have to learn something and keep going.”

“Commit thy works unto the LORD, and thy thoughts shall be established.”

• Proverbs 16:3 (KJV)

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Important: This post shares my personal YKI preparation experience and the resources that personally helped me. It should not be considered an official YKI preparation guide.

YKI formats, registration arrangements and available study materials may change. Always check the latest official information from the Finnish National Agency for Education before taking the examination.

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Sources

• Finnish National Agency for Education – National Certificates of Language Proficiency (YKI)
  Official information about the YKI examination and its language proficiency assessment. Finnish National Agency for Education – YKI
• Gimara – Ykäänkö vai ykiinkö: Highway to Hill
  Gimara describes the book as a language-test preparation resource that includes speaking and writing exercises and practice with different task types.
• Finn Lectura – YKIä kohti
  Designed for intermediate-level Finnish YKI preparation, with activities covering the four YKI language skills.