us citizenship test.

[markiweiss49 4]

Hi everyone, I just wanted to know if the citizenship test is hard or easy. My wife will be sending her n-400 application sometime in December an in the meanwhile, she is studying for the test. Any replys will be great. Also, how long is the test and interview. Thank you

[Kathryn41 3,205]

There are 100 possible questions. You can find them pinned in the thread at the top of this forum. Your wife will be asked between 6 to 10 questions. If she gets the first 6 right, that is 60% and considered a pass so they will not ask any more questions. If she gets any wrong, she will be asked up to 10 questions and is supposed to get 6 of them right.

If she has studied and knows the answers, the questions are easy. If she hasn't studied, then she may or may not know the answers and the questions will be harder. Read over the questions for yourself and you will get an understanding of what is involved. They ask about general US history, society and the structure of the US government, along with the names of your current political representatives. It 'shouldn't' be difficult, but again, it depends on how much studying she does.

There are tools she can use to help her study - apps for electronic devices; flash cards, web-sites - and when she goes for her biometrics appointment they will give her a little booklet about the test questions, and there will be a CD inside that can also help her study.

The interviews tend to last about 10 to 15 minutes in total and that includes the test. The interviewer sits across a regular office desk from the applicant and asks the test questions as part of the interview itself. Your wife will also be asked to read one of the test questions aloud and then to write the answer of another of the test questions (it will be in front of her) to make sure she knows English.

I hope this helps. Good luck to her .

[carton025 38]

on average, based on my experience, you gal will be asked 3 questions and they will be "common sense" questions. Depending on your gal's knowledge and interview experience this can vary. And, she will be asked to write a simple sentence, in english, to represent her understanding of the english language.

Best of luck!

Sid

[Rufian 0]

There are 100 possible questions. You can find them pinned in the thread at the top of this forum. Your wife will be asked between 6 to 10 questions. If she gets the first 6 right, that is 60% and considered a pass so they will not ask any more questions. If she gets any wrong, she will be asked up to 10 questions and is supposed to get 6 of them right.

If she has studied and knows the answers, the questions are easy. If she hasn't studied, then she may or may not know the answers and the questions will be harder. Read over the questions for yourself and you will get an understanding of what is involved. They ask about general US history, society and the structure of the US government, along with the names of your current political representatives. It 'shouldn't' be difficult, but again, it depends on how much studying she does.

There are tools she can use to help her study - apps for electronic devices; flash cards, web-sites - and when she goes for her biometrics appointment they will give her a little booklet about the test questions, and there will be a CD inside that can also help her study.

The interviews tend to last about 10 to 15 minutes in total and that includes the test. The interviewer sits across a regular office desk from the applicant and asks the test questions as part of the interview itself. Your wife will also be asked to read one of the test questions aloud and then to write the answer of another of the test questions (it will be in front of her) to make sure she knows English.

I hope this helps. Good luck to her .

beside writing one answer, is the citizenship test is only oral ?

If I prepare with the 100 possible questions posted on this site, would that be enough to pass the test?

What else can I use to prepare, I would like to know specific tools

Edited August 11, 2013 by Rufian

[Kathryn41 3,205]

It is a minimum of 6 questions that will be asked as you have to have a 60% to pass. It will be a maximum of 10 questions.

Yes, the interview and test are basically oral, other than writing the one question. Your wife will be given a page from which to read and a piece of paper upon which to write what is dictated to her. They use a question from the citizenship test for this purpose, but it will likely be a different question than the ones she is asked as part of the test.

Yes, if you prepare for the 100 questions listed on this site (the first pinned thread), those are the exact questions that can be asked and the answers that they provide. If your wife wishes to memorize the exact wording, that is fine. Some of the questions have only one response; some of them have an option of several possible answers; and some of them have a list of required responses. You will be able to tell the difference when you read over the questions themselves.

Here are links to some options you can use: the downloadable flash cards http://www.uscis.gov/portal/site/uscis/menuitem.cdb41483187c7c1014fe271b526e0aa0/?vgnextoid=0f28c2935933a210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD&vgnextchannel=c242df6bdd42a210VgnVCM100000b92ca60aRCRD

the cut-out downloadable flashcards (print them out, cut them up and paste them together) http://www.uscis.gov/USCIS/Office%20of%20Citizenship/Citizenship%20Resource%20Center%20Site/Publications/PDFs/M-623_red.pdf

A YouTube showing the flash cards app and how to use it:

and a link to the google list of citizenship test apps - you can select the appropriate one for whatever device you use: https://www.google.com/#bav=on.2,or.r_qf.&fp=2df2d1cef3835c6f&q=citizenship+test+apps

You can also order a hard copy of the cards through the mail . They are $12.99 at Amazon. That is what I used and found they worked great.

Edited August 11, 2013 by Kathryn41

[VanessaTony 3,567]

You can also order a hard copy of the cards through the mail . They are $12.99 at Amazon. That is what I used and found they worked great.

You paid for them?? I got them for free at my local office when I went for biometrics.

[Kathryn41 3,205]

That's great, Vanessa. That wasn't an option when I bought mine. In fact, I bought them from the Government - not sure if it was USCIS or some sort of official 'bookstore' - I don't remember now, but it was through the link posted by USCIS. No one else carried them at the time. Hard to believe it is going on 5 years ago now - where has the time flown?

Edited August 12, 2013 by Kathryn41

[VanessaTony 3,567]

That's great, Vanessa. That wasn't an option when I bought mine. In fact, I bought them from the Government - not sure if it was USCIS or some sort of official 'bookstore' - I don't remember now, but it was through the link posted by USCIS. No one else carried them at the time. Hard to believe it is going on 5 years ago now - where has the time flown?

Oh yeah.. forgot you were old hehehe

[Kathryn41 3,205]

Oh yeah.. forgot you were old hehehe

Yep - beats the other alternative, though!

[christeen 966]

They gave us the study materials at the uscis office at biometrics too. Just study those questions and you will be fine...

[Rufian 0]

memorizing 100 questions and answer is a piece of cake for me lol

what else do they ask in the interview besides the possible questions

i wanna prepare as much as possible

[Jamericanlove 31]

memorizing 100 questions and answer is a piece of cake for me lol

what else do they ask in the interview besides the possible questions

i wanna prepare as much as possible

The majority of the test will be those questions, asking you to read a sentence and write another. Other than that the IO will go through your form and ask you the answer to every question on it. This serves to test your conversational English skills, to verify that everything you wrote down is correct, and to provide an opportunity to update anything needs to be updated.

If your situation is "normal" and there's nothing out of the ordinary like unpaid tickets, arrests, owing taxes and other stuff like that you probably won't get asked much else. Of course at the end of the day it really all depends on the IO you get.

You'll be fine. Just study the questions and be honest and open with the IO.

[bigdog 377]

Wife studying we will see, should done in December, great Christmas present. Good Luck to you.

[Jamnan_n_Steve 17]

A helpful resource (especially for those whose English reading/writing is limited and who would like to understand the questions in their own language) is the Seattle public library that has translated questions and materials into many languages.

http://www.spl.org/audiences/literacy-and-esl/citizenship-help

Steve from

Jamnan_n_Steve