Home  News Local News New citizenship test out
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Monday, 06 October 2008 |
Can you ace the new citizenship test? That is something citizenship applicants will find out, as the new test went into effect on Wednesday.
Questions like Why the United States flag has 13 stripes? Or the role of the president's cabinet are included in the 100 questions that in the new citizenship test.
Emilio Gonzalez, director of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), said the questions were formulated to have more depth and to test knowledge of fundamental civic ideas that are essential to being an American.
He said, "The questions are more about meaning and understanding than rote memorization."
Before the final draft, the questions were tested in a pilot program in 10 cities and 100 was chosen from the 142 tested, after the ones with the highest failure rates and those that did not include the fundamental historical and civic ideas were edited for clarity or deleted, USCIS officials said.
Some of the questions from the old tests were revamped to allow for more profound answers, while others questions were made simpler.
Immigrants taken the citizenship test are required to study the 100 questions. However, only 10 of those questions will appear when they take the test and they need only six correct answers to pass.
The citizenship test is an oral exam given during the naturalization interview. Additionally, immigrants are required to read a sentence in English and write a sentence they are given.
Though the test was announced last year, the USCIS allowed enough time for immigrant advocate groups, English as a Second Language schools and other adult education services to develop citizenship test preparation materials before implementing the test.
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