Citizenship tests

United States Citizenship Test

USCIS Naturalization Civics Test, 2008 edition

The real civics test is spoken. An officer asks up to 10 of the 100 questions out loud at your naturalization interview, you answer in your own words, and it stops the moment you have 6 right. It runs in the same sitting as the English reading, writing and speaking checks, so the civics part is over in minutes.

Practice here is multiple choice, in both the units and the full test. The interview is spoken, so this page once asked you to type your answer instead, and that turned out to punish people for wording a right answer differently from USCIS, which is the one thing an officer would not do. Work through the units to learn the list, then sit the full test to check it holds. There is no official clock at the interview, so the 10 minutes on the full test is our own limit rather than a real rule.

Check which test you sit. This is the 2008 test, for applications filed before 20 October 2025. File on or after that date and you sit the 2025 test instead: 128 questions, up to 20 asked, 12 to pass. Check your filing date, then pick the matching edition.
Practice 2025 edition
Full test
Up to 10 questions, multiple choice, spread across every topic instead of drawn purely at random. One 10:00 practice clock, pass at 6.
Every paper: 1 Principles of American Democracy, 1 System of Government, 1 Rights and Responsibilities, 2 Colonial Period and Independence, 1 The 1800s, 1 Recent American History, 1 Geography, 1 Symbols, 1 Holidays.
12 units · 91 questions
A voter folding a ballot paper into the box at a polling station
Unit 1 of 12
The Constitution
6 questions · untimed · 4 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

The supreme law, the first three words, and what an amendment is.

Juvaria, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The empty benches of a debating chamber, seen from the floor
Unit 2 of 12
Rights, the Declaration and the rule of law
6 questions · untimed · 4 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

Freedom of religion, the economic system, and the ideas the country was declared on.

JJ Harrison, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A parliamentary plenary chamber, the speaker’s rostrum in front of the government bench
Unit 3 of 12
The three branches and Congress
9 questions · untimed · 6 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

What stops any branch getting too strong, and how the two chambers are built.

Ole Neitzel, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A town hall square, the council building at the head of it
Unit 4 of 12
Representation and elections
7 questions · untimed · 5 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

Who a senator represents, when the country votes, and who steps up if a president cannot serve.

Pudelek (Marcin Szala), CC BY-SA 3.0 ee, via Wikimedia Commons
A supreme court chamber, the bench facing rows of counsel
Unit 5 of 12
The presidency, the courts and the states
10 questions · untimed · 6 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

Signing and vetoing, the Cabinet, the Supreme Court, and what belongs to the states.

Diliff, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A panelled courtroom with the bench raised above the floor
Unit 6 of 12
Rights and responsibilities
10 questions · untimed · 6 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

Voting, the Pledge, taxes and the Selective Service: the citizen half of the test.

Michael D Beckwith, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons
A newspaper kiosk on a city street, the day’s papers racked outside
Unit 7 of 12
The colonies and independence
7 questions · untimed · 5 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

Who was here first, why the colonists fought, and the thirteen states that resulted.

photobeppus, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A march filling a street behind a banner
Unit 8 of 12
Writing the Constitution
6 questions · untimed · 4 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

The Convention, the Federalist Papers, Franklin and Washington.

PantheraLeo1359531, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A wooden climbing frame in a public playground
Unit 9 of 12
The 1800s
7 questions · untimed · 5 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

The Louisiana Purchase, the Civil War, and the people who changed what the century meant.

Friedrich Haag, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A street sign lettered in two languages
Unit 10 of 12
Recent American history
10 questions · untimed · 6 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

The World Wars, the Cold War, civil rights and September 11.

Matti Blume, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
A tower crane over a building going up in a city
Unit 11 of 12
Geography
8 questions · untimed · 5 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

Rivers, oceans, territories and the states along both borders.

PortlandAppraisalBlog, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
The daylit atrium of a modern hospital
Unit 12 of 12
Symbols and holidays
5 questions · untimed · 3 to pass
Swedish questionsEnglish help

The stripes, the stars, the anthem and the Fourth of July.

Alvesgaspar, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

Worldly is not affiliated with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS). Official tests change: always confirm current requirements at the official source. Question set last verified July 26, 2026. Official source

About the USCIS Naturalization Civics Test

This is the older civics test, kept here for the applicants it still applies to: anyone who filed before 20 October 2025. One hundred questions in the pool, up to ten asked out loud, six right to pass.

If you filed on or after that date, this is the wrong set to study. The 2025 edition is a larger pool with a higher bar, and it is practiced separately.

Common questions

Should I be practicing this edition?

Only if you filed before 20 October 2025. Everyone who filed on or after that date sits the 2025 test instead, which has a larger pool and a higher pass mark. Check the filing date on your receipt notice before you study either one.

Is the real civics test multiple choice?

No. The officer asks each question out loud and you answer in your own words, so any correct phrasing counts. Practice here is multiple choice anyway, because there is no fair way for a website to mark a spoken answer: a right answer worded differently from the official list came back wrong, and that teaches you nothing an officer would ever tell you. Read the answer you picked back to yourself out loud and you have covered the difference.

What happens if you fail?

You get a second chance. USCIS re-tests you on the portion you failed at a second interview, normally sixty to ninety days later.

Is the civics test the whole naturalization test?

No. There is also an English test covering reading, writing and speaking. The speaking part is judged from your ordinary conversation with the officer during the same interview.

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