# Could you pass the latest US citizenship test? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [July 2, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117 "2008-07-02T23:26:56Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/21 "2008-07-03T00:42:36Z")
100%, but then again, I _teach_ this stuff. Some of the questions are very simplistic, though. _ **Proctor:** All right, here’s your last question. What was the cause of the Civil War? **Apu:** Actually, there were numerous causes. Aside from the obvious schism between the abolitionists and the anti-abolitionists, there were economic factors, both domestic and inter– **Proctor:** Wait, wait… just say slavery. **Apu:** Slavery it is, sir._ ---
**Author:** ![CaerieD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/da6949/32.png) [@CaerieD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CaerieD)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/22 "2008-07-03T00:51:13Z")
I scored 100%, but it’s sheer dumb luck that I happened to be reading about WWI this morning, so had Woodrow Wilson fresh in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/23 "2008-07-03T00:52:40Z")
80% but I’m not a 'merkun. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/24 "2008-07-03T00:59:24Z")
I guessed on #9. Got it wrong. 95% ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/25 "2008-07-03T01:06:27Z")
90%, but the two I got wrong were stupid, and I should have gotten right - I was thinking that there were thirteen stripes in the flag, one for each original colony. But I put down one for each state. The other I misread the question about who was president for WWI as who was president for WWII. Stupid multi-tasking… ---
**Author:** ![Apollyon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/apollyon/32/4238_2.png) [@Apollyon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apollyon)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/26 "2008-07-03T01:34:20Z")
Only 75% ☹ (Poor benighted foreigner) ---
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/27 "2008-07-03T01:48:05Z")
A pathetic 65%, but in at least one case, I selected something else and then hit the down button, thereby submitting the wrong answer. Had I spent a few more seconds thinking about a few of them, I probably would have done better. I think. I don’t know. Can I blame my poor performance on the fact that I’m from Québec and therefore have been raised to not care about anyone else? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![chicken\_wire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e4f/32.png) [@chicken\_wire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chicken_wire)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/28 "2008-07-03T01:52:07Z")
70%. That’s more than I expected. ---
**Author:** ![Governor\_Quinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d26b3c/32.png) [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/29 "2008-07-03T01:54:57Z")
100%, and the only ones I had to think of were #3 and #7. ---
**Author:** ![JR\_Brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d6d6ee/32.png) [@JR\_Brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JR_Brown)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/30 "2008-07-03T01:55:45Z")
Sigh… 65%, and I’m a US citizen, native-born and all that. Missed #1, and then pretty much everything from 13 on except Susan B. Anthony (go women’s lib!). If it hadn’t been multiple-choice I would have flopped utterly. History and Civics were never my strong points… JRB ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/31 "2008-07-03T02:14:53Z")
55%. I’ll stay where I am 🙂 Although four of my errors where ‘how many’ or ‘which date’ questions. These aren’t anything to do with understanding citizenship. ---
**Author:** ![Driver8](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5a626/32.png) [@Driver8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Driver8)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/32 "2008-07-03T02:21:30Z")
I got 80%. I’d be very interested in the passmark, since I plan to take this test in about three years. Better crack open the books! They did say that these were the harder questions though, so maybe it will be fine. ---
**Author:** ![OtakuLoki](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/ac8455/32.png) [@OtakuLoki](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OtakuLoki)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/33 "2008-07-03T02:22:08Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] Although four of my errors where ‘how many’ or ‘which date’ questions. These aren’t anything to do with understanding citizenship. [/QUOTE] I don’t think I agree, **GorillaMan**. A knowledge of basic history informs one’s understanding of citizenship, I believe. Forex, would you not find it odd for one of your countrymen (or women) to be ignorant of the significance of the date 1066? It doesn’t have a direct influence on anything about how your government works, now - but it marks one of the pivotal changes that lead to the growth of your government, all the same. Now, I’m not sure I’d put knowing the symbolism of the stripes on the US flag as being significant. But I’m also not sure I’d put knowing the symbolism of the two crosses in the Union Jack as being insignificant, either. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/34 "2008-07-03T02:26:14Z")
[QUOTE=silenus] Some of the questions are very simplistic, though. [/QUOTE] Yeah, like the question about who becomes President if the President and Vice President are unable to serve. The answer is the Speaker of the House, _if she is Constitutionally otherwise eligible and resigns as Speaker and from Congress to do so._ ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/35 "2008-07-03T02:32:09Z")
100% I could be naturalized any day now, if I hadn’t been born here. Though I did scream, “Acting President, damn it!” somewhere along the way. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/36 "2008-07-03T02:34:51Z")
[QUOTE=Driver8] I got 80%. I’d be very interested in the passmark, since I plan to take this test in about three years. Better crack open the books! They did say that these were the harder questions though, so maybe it will be fine. [/QUOTE] Passing is (implied in the scoring) 80%. But another thing they mentioned in the article is that it’s not multiple choice - they ask the questions cold. That’d be a lot harder, if true. ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/37 "2008-07-03T02:41:20Z")
[QUOTE=Billdo] Yeah, like the question about who becomes President if the President and Vice President are unable to serve. The answer is the Speaker of the House, _if she is Constitutionally otherwise eligible and resigns as Speaker and from Congress to do so._ [/QUOTE] Yes but that is what the write-in and e-mail optional portions of the test are for. I got 100% on the multiple-choice section but I am not sure how many bonus points will be added once my optional sections are graded and reviewed for accuracy. I am sad that I am already a U.S. citizen because it denies me the chance to attempt to become one some day. In any case, the biggest holiday of the year is less than two days away. Assuming that I can escape detection coming and leaving Massachusetts, the great state of New Hampshire reportedly has large mega-stores full of incendiary devices that go BOOM…BOOM..POP..POW set up all along the border. For as little as $875, I figure that I can put on my own (tiny) little red white and blue festival in the woods behind my house. My daughters will love it and my 2 year old will probably cry at the noise and the display. God bless America once and for all. Amen. ---
**Author:** ![amarinth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3be4f8/32.png) [@amarinth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amarinth)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/38 "2008-07-03T02:43:08Z")
I’ve been helping someone get ready for the old citizenship test and during that looked at the new. These aren’t the more difficult questions. These are the ones that easily fit into a multiple choice format. The harder ones are things like “Explain ‘rule of law’” where whether you’re right depends, to some extent, on who is asking the question. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/39 "2008-07-03T02:43:36Z")
[QUOTE=Shagnasty] Assuming that I can escape detection coming and leaving Massachusetts, the great state of New Hampshire reportedly has large mega-stores full of incendiary devices that go BOOM…BOOM..POP..POW set up all along the border. For as little as $875, I figure that I can put on my own (tiny) little red white and blue festival in the woods behind my house. [/QUOTE] Celebrate the birth of your country by blowing up a piece of it! And by breaking the law. ---
**Author:** ![j666](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/9de0a6/32.png) [@j666](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/j666)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2008, 2:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117/40 "2008-07-03T02:54:42Z")
90%, and I admit I just had no idea on the answers I got wrong. OK, I will explain that I must have confused the Fourth Estate with the Fourth Amendment … [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-you-pass-the-latest-us-citizenship-test/455117.md?page=3)