Attention to all individuals planning to apply for US citizenship by naturalization!
USCIS announced on 11/13/2020 that it plans to implement a new civics test for those applicants who apply after December 1, 2020. The civics test is a part of the naturalization process. The test is given during the naturalization review and accesses the applicant’s knowledge of the American history and government.
The old rule
Under the old rule the applicant was given 10 questions out of 100 questions, and had to answer 6 correctly in order to pass. If you applied for naturalization before December 1, 2020, you should use the 2008 version of the test to prepare for your interview. It is also a good idea to mention the interviewing officer that the 2008 civics test is applied to you.
The new rule
Under the new rule the applicant will be given 20 questions out of 128 questions and has to answer 12 questions correctly. The interviewing officer should ask all 20 questions and cannot terminate the test until all 20 questions are asked.
USCIS stated that the changes were an effort to keep the test current and relevant, but the new test obviously makes it more difficult to obtain US citizenship. It is recommended to use all available resources to prepare for the test. Our clients find that using various apps has shown the effectiveness.
USCIS: Civics Test Study Tools:
This is the official app of USCIS. Unfortunately, it does not mean that all the answers there are up to date. Some applicants claim that the test is not being updated regularly.
Citizenship Study Guide:
Great tool and webpage. This test includes audio testing which is really useful considering that the actual questions will be asked by the interviewing officer.
US Citizenship Test 2020:
Great tool which provides no audio feature but many other options are available: overview, sorting through the questions, creating favorable folder.
