# The Australian Citizenship Test is irrelevant **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 5, 2008, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187 "2008-11-05T02:30:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/41 "2008-11-05T23:42:50Z")
> [@kambuckta](#): > > He tried to do one of those funny right-hook turns at the corner of Bourke and Swanston Streets.. …and \*\*Kambuckta \*\*wins the thread. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2008, 11:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/42 "2008-11-05T23:49:18Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > The Australian government didn’t want Kisch in the country, so they sought to exclude him using the dictation test. Kisch was multilingual, but in the end they managed to get him to fail by giving him the test in Scottish Gaelic. Kisch, as he was leaving the country, made a last-ditch effort to stay by jumping from the boat to the wharf, breaking his leg. He was convicted of entering the country illegally, but the High Court overturned his conviction, arguing that Scottish Gaelic was not an appropriate language for the dictation test. Seriously, why would you want to stay in a country that treated you like that? ---
**Author:** ![Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8c91f0/32.png) [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Throatwarbler_Mangrove)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/43 "2008-11-06T00:01:54Z")
I imagine that being a prominent anti-Fascist in 1934, Australia was preferable to being deported back to Czechoslovakia? I have to say though, I haven’t actually checked the background or the veracity of the test that I linked to, so I can’t really say how accurately it reflects the actual test. Besides, for all we know, ordinary Australians could very well be quite knowledgeable about all those questions, and it’s just that the SDMB attracts a particular subset of Australians who are virulently indifferent to their heritage? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/44 "2008-11-06T00:26:38Z")
Given that the subset of Americans who are attracted to the SDMB are much better informed about their heritage(s) than the population at large (IMHO), I’d say that’s a bit unlikely. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/45 "2008-11-06T00:46:28Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > Seriously, why would you want to stay in a country that treated you like that? I don’t think he was seeking to immigrate; he was merely trying to attend a conference devoted to anti-fascism. Australia, like many countries in the 1930s, tended to associate anti-fascism with support for communism (which was sometimes, but not always, the case), and to be hostile to its advocates. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/46 "2008-11-06T00:48:28Z")
> [@Throatwarbler\_Mangrove](#): > > Besides, for all we know, ordinary Australians could very well be quite knowledgeable about all those questions, and it’s just that the SDMB attracts a particular subset of Australians who are virulently indifferent to their heritage? (a) No, most Australians would definitely not know the answers to those questions. (b) Even if they did, it wouldn’t necessarily make the questions good or appropriate. I’ll bet there are plenty of Americans who can tell you who won American Idol, or which team Brett Favre played with for most of his career. Doesn’t mean those questions should be on a citizenship test. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/47 "2008-11-06T04:23:03Z")
I got 60%! Still failed. ---
**Author:** ![jacquilynne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/67e7ee/32.png) [@jacquilynne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jacquilynne)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/48 "2008-11-06T04:50:53Z")
> [@GreedySmurf](#): > > I got that same stupid one about “When did Australia become proud of it’s convict past?” WTF sort of question is that? 😕 My guess would be ‘the kind that goes with a booklet that contains the sentence “In the 19XXs, Australia became proud of its convict past”.’ These tests are stupid, but they’re not meant to be taken on a whim and they’re not really there to judge your knowledge of history. They give you all the answers, they just want proof that your English skills and general intelligence lets you remember the answers. The site with the sample tests isn’t a government site, so the grammar errors in those questions might have been inserted by the person who made ALL YOU NEED FOR AUSTRALIAN TEST Pass Citizenship Test First Time their key advertising message. ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/49 "2008-11-06T05:02:49Z")
I have a friend (Indian, fluent in English, who spent a lot of her formative years in London) who got her citizenship last month. I didn’t ask her how she felt about the citizenship test at the time, but maybe I will now when I see her again. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/50 "2008-11-06T05:19:29Z")
> [@jacquilynne](#): > > My guess would be ‘the kind that goes with a booklet that contains the sentence “In the 19XXs, Australia became proud of its convict past”.’. You are correct. I must say that, since going to the [Citizenship test](http://www.citizenship.gov.au/test/index.htm) section of the Department of Immigration and Citizenship website, i’m somewhat less critical of the test. Everything you need to know in order to take and pass the test is contained in a booklet called _Becoming an Australian Citizen_. The booklet contains 45 not-very-densely printed pages that take you through everything you need for the test. You can download it from [here](http://www.citizenship.gov.au/test/resource-booklet/citz-booklet-full-ver.pdf) (PDF). I got 14/20 on the test without reading the booklet. I reckon that if i were to read the booklet through 3 or 4 times, i would get 20/20, even if i knew nothing about Australia before i started. I don’t think that level of commitment is too much to ask of a new citizen. I still think some of the questions are irrelevant, and some require silly levels of precision, such as those that seek exact dates of birth within a 6 or 7 year span. If you know that some famous geezer was born around the turn of the 20th century, does it really matter if you know whether he was born in 1897, 1901, or 1903? Sheesh! The booklet is available in the following languages: Amharic Arabic Bosnian Chinese Croatian Dari Dinka Farsi French German Greek Hindi Indonesian Italian Japanese Khmer Korean Macedonian Portuguese Russian Serbian Sinhalese Somali Spanish Tamil Thai Tigrinya Turkish Vietnamese The test itself, however, has to be taken in English. The website says: > [@](#): > > There will not be a separate English language test, your English language skills will be measured by your ability to pass the test which is available in English only. By the way, the test site linked earlier in the thread appears to be somewhat dishonest about the grade required. I got 14/20 (70%), and was told i failed. But, from the government site: > [@](#): > > The test will: > > - be in English > - be computer based > - consist of 20 multiple choice questions > - include three mandatory questions, based on the responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship > - **have a pass mark of 60 per cent including correctly answering all three mandatory questions**. I checked my wrong answers, and they were all obscure stuff about birth dates and where people were born. None were about the “responsibilities and privileges of Australian citizenship.” So, with 14/20, i should have passed, but the for-profit website told me that i failed. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [November 6, 2008, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/51 "2008-11-06T05:57:24Z")
> [@mhendo](#): > > I still think some of the questions are irrelevant, and some require silly levels of precision, such as those that seek exact dates of birth within a 6 or 7 year span. If you know that some famous geezer was born around the turn of the 20th century, does it really matter if you know whether he was born in 1897, 1901, or 1903? Sheesh! This is exactly my problem with it. The questions are trivia questions, and unless, as Australians, we’re trying to skew the population to give us a higher standard of quiz show contestants, these sorts of questions are completely absurd. As I said before, they won’t even make you fit in with general bullshit conversation over a couple of beers at a barbecue, because none of the factoids are even trivia that Australians care about. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/52 "2008-11-07T05:33:15Z")
I saw the movie Phar Lap in the 80’s. Are they any questions about The Road Warrior? ---
**Author:** ![Caught\_Work](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/919ad9/32.png) [@Caught\_Work](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caught_Work)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/53 "2008-11-07T10:13:41Z")
We call it Mad Max down here. I got 13 out of 20. Deport me anywhere nice, sunny and with no taxes. Please. ---
**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:** [November 7, 2008, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/54 "2008-11-07T11:33:16Z")
Far Kurnell! > [@](#): > > Which is the birth place of Sir Frank Macfarlane Burnet? Who? > [@](#): > > Who was John Carew Eccles? He was a character on _The Goon Show_, wasn’t he? > [@](#): > > When did Sir Henry Parkes die? I should have known it would be a trick question and that the father of federation carked before it the event. > [@](#): > > When did a new popular Australian literature emerge? When did the old popular Australian literature disappear then? > [@](#): > > In which cricket tour did Sir Donald Bradman break almost all the existing batting records? Curse the '48 invincibles for not being correct! > [@](#): > > Which of the following area, in which Government were active at the beginning of 20th century? That’s not even a fucking sentence, cunts! > [@](#): > > How many of the Australian soldiers died in Gallipoli Peninsula campaign Too many, and too many Turks, and not enough British generals. > [@](#): > > When did Australians begin to be proud of their convict past? 1788, you fuckers! 60%, born here, voluntarily read Manning Clarke’s book on the place, and still can’t pass. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/55 "2008-11-07T13:59:26Z")
It just makes me glad that when I took my citizenship test back in 2002 it basically consisted of “Do you Speak English? If Yes, Sign the form the nice clerk has and we’ll see you Wednesday after next for your Citizenship Ceremony.” Seriously though, there was some simple stuff about the rights and obligations of Australian Citizens (jury duty, being able to serve in the armed forces, being able to vote, the idea of “a fair go”, that sort of thing) but on the whole they basically wanted to make sure that you spoke English and weren’t planning on promptly moving overseas a week after you got your citizenship papers. I’m a history buff and even I haven’t heard of half these people or events; I can’t possibly begin to imagine how someone wanting to move here from a Non-English Speaking Background is going to manage. Then again, that might sort of be the point… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/56 "2008-11-07T15:17:23Z")
> [@Caught\_Work](#): > > We call it Mad Max down here. > I got 13 out of 20. Deport me anywhere nice, sunny and with no taxes. Please. What do you call the first one then? _Googles_ Oh, I see… _The Road Warrior_ was released as _Mad Max 2_ outside the US. For the record, _Mad Max_ was my first encounter with televised boobage. Continuing hijack - I saw _Romper Stomper_ for the first time a few months ago. Are there a lot of skinheads in Melbourne? ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [November 7, 2008, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/57 "2008-11-07T18:20:02Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > What do you call the first one then? _Googles_ Oh, I see… _The Road Warrior_ was released as _Mad Max 2_ outside the US. Yeah, the first Mad Max was a low-budget affair that never really got any decent release outside of Australia. But when Mad Max 2 became a post-apocalyptic hit (as _The Road Warrior_ in places like America), they decided to give the first one a push. ---
**Author:** ![Junior\_Spaceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/eb8c5e/32.png) [@Junior\_Spaceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Junior_Spaceman)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 8:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/58 "2008-11-09T08:40:11Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > Continuing hijack - I saw _Romper Stomper_ for the first time a few months ago. Are there a lot of skinheads in Melbourne? Maybe I hang around the wrong places, but I rarely see them (I occasionally might see one or two). Also, despite something of a wave of a violence on the streets around nightclubs, etc (probably due to ‘ice’/speed becoming more popular), there doesn’t seem to be much skinhead violence reported. ---
**Author:** ![Cicero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cicero/32/3594_2.png) [@Cicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cicero)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/59 "2008-11-09T12:00:18Z")
About that Test- lets get it into perspective. It is not the Govt Test- it is a Test (seemingly) by consultants who have a vested interest in having you ask for their services in helping to pass a Citizenship Test. If the Test is so difficult how come there are so many new Citizens a year? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187/60 "2008-11-10T04:10:06Z")
Failed with 14/20. And I’ve lived here all my 50+ years, and goddam it I know our history and I pay attention to stuff! I would have passed but for those last three questions on people I have never heard of. Patently stupid and shameful racist test. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-australian-citizenship-test-is-irrelevant/471187.md?page=4)