Oh dear. I have failed the UK Citizenship test. I only got 17 out of 24. The pass mark is 75% or 18. So, missed it by one. It’s really quite difficult. You can take the test online here.
These are the ones I got wrong:
7. In which year did married women get the right to divorce their husband?
Correct answer: 1857
You answered: 1882
8. Is the statement below TRUE or FALSE: adults who have been unemployed for six months are usually required to join New Deal if they wish to continue receiving benefit
Correct answer: False
You answered: True
10. The percentage of people in the UK in 2001 who said they were Muslims was
Correct answer: 2.7
You answered: 1.6
11. A quango is
Correct answer: a non-departmental public body
You answered: a government body
14. Schools must be open
Correct answer: 190 days a year
You answered: 200 days a year
18. Which of these statements is correct?
Correct answer: Children aged 13-16 cannot work for more than 12 hours in any school week
You answered: Children aged 13-16 cannot work for more than 10 hours in any school week
20. When was the census first carried out in the United Kingdom?
Correct answer: 1801
You answered: 1851
UK Citizenship ceremony photo credit: Some rights reserved by gruntzooki.
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October 15, 2011 at 2:34 pm
I got 17 out of 24 too. I actually am an immigrant and don’t hold a British passport. (But I do follow British politics and have an interest in history.) I did not only think it was difficult (there were only a handful questions I really knew), but mostly it was completely irrelevant. Even if you think knowledge of history is important, I don’t think the year in which women were granted the right to divorce matters. Perhaps it matters to know that it happened somewhere in the 19th century, and not in the 1980s nor in the 1500s, but that’s the extent of it.
October 15, 2011 at 2:38 pm
I have to add though, I once did a similar test for Dutch citizenship and that was shockingly patronising. Questions along the line of “Your daughter has finished school and want to go into higher education. What do you do? a) tell her to get that silly idea out of her head b) find her a husband c) help her fund it.” I so prefer the British one.
October 15, 2011 at 2:50 pm
Actually, Stephen would have our own Sara Bedford for company. I would be on an earlier flight out than you as I only got 14, though I dispute 2 answers. Where are they going to send us, though? I’d go for Mallorca.
October 15, 2011 at 4:15 pm
@Caron lol!
October 15, 2011 at 7:49 pm
Actually, I doubt whether Stephen Fry would pass it. Even though I’ve only lived in Canada for 5 years, I can get through the Canadian citizenship tests with flying colours, but I can’t pass the UK test. And that’s despite being a retired solicitor who worked in local government, which should give me a head start.
I think the claim that the test is fair because the people who set the test have had a booklet to read is nonsense. The test is too hard, demands the memorisation of useless information, and should be completely revised.