Can you Pass the Citizenship Test?

[GoodWitch58]

If you had to pass the test that immigrants must pass to be a U. S. citizen, could you?

The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) administers a test to all immigrants applying for citizenship. For years, these questions have been selected from among the following list of 100. How would you do? Many, you will find simple. Others are not so easy. )
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1. What are the colors of our flag?

2. How many stars are there in our flag?

3. What color are the stars on our flag?

4. What do the stars on the flag mean?

5. How many stripes are there in the flag?

6. What color are the stripes?

7. What do the stripes on the flag mean?

8. How many states are there in the Union?

9. What is the 4th of July?

10. What is the date of Independence Day?

11. Independence from whom?

12. What country did we fight during the Revolutionary War?

13. Who was the first President of the United States?

14. Who is the President of the United States today?

15. Who is the vice-president of the United States today?

16. Who elects the President of the United States?

17. Who becomes President of the United States if the President should die?

18. For how long do we elect the President?

19. What is the Constitution?

20. Can the Constitution be changed?

21. What do we call a change to the Constitution?

22. How many changes or amendments are there to the Constitution?

23. How many branches are there in our government?

24. What are the three branches of our government?

25. What is the legislative branch of our government?

26. Who makes the laws in the United States?

27. What is the Congress?

28. What are the duties of Congress?

29. Who elects the Congress?

30. How many senators are there in Congress?

31. Can you name the two senators from your state?

32. For how long do we elect each senator?

33. How many representatives are there in Congress?

34. For how long do we elect the representatives?

35. What is the executive branch of our government?

36. What is the judiciary branch of our government?

37. What are the duties of the Supreme Court?

38. What is the supreme court law of the United States?

39. What is the Bill of Rights?

40. What is the capital of your state?

41. Who is the current governor of your state?

42. Who becomes President of the United States if the President and the vice-president should die?

43. Who is the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court?

44. Can you name thirteen original states?

45. Who said, "Give me liberty or give me death."?

46. Which countries were our enemies during World War II?

47. What are the 49th and 50th states of the Union?

48. How many terms can the President serve?

49. Who was Martin Luther King, Jr.?

50. Who is the head of your local government?

51. According to the Constitution, a person must meet certain requirements in order to be eligible to become President. Name one of these requirements.

52. Why are there 100 Senators in the Senate?

53. Who selects the Supreme Court justice?

54. How many Supreme Court justice are there?

55. Why did the Pilgrims come to America?

56. What is the head executive of a state government called?

57. What is the head executive of a city government called?

58. What holiday was celebrated for the first time by the Americans colonists?

59. Who was the main writer of the Declaration of Independence?

60. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?

61. What is the basic belief of the Declaration of Independence?

62. What is the national anthem of the United States?

63. Who wrote the Star-Spangled Banner?

64. Where does freedom of speech come from?

65. What is a minimum voting age in the United States?

66. Who signs bills into law?

67. What is the highest court in the United States?

68. Who was the President during the Civil War?

69. What did the Emancipation Declaration do?

70. What special group advises the President?

71. Which President is called the "Father of our country"?

72. What Immigration and Naturalization Service form is used to apply to become a naturalized citizen?

73. Who helped the Pilgrims in America?

74. What is the name of the ship that brought the Pilgrims to America?

75. What are the 13 original states of the U.S. called?

76. Name 3 rights of freedom guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.

77. Who has the power to declare the war?

78. What kind of government does the United States have?

79. Which President freed the slaves?

80. In what year was the Constitution written?

81. What are the first 10 amendments to the Constitution called?

82. Name one purpose of the United Nations?

83. Where does Congress meet?

84. Whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?

85. What is the introduction to the Constitution called?

86. Name one benefit of being citizen of the United States.

87. What is the most important right granted to U.S. citizens?

88. What is the United States Capitol?

89. What is the White House?

90. Where is the White House located?

91. What is the name of the President's official home?

92. Name the right guaranteed by the first amendment.

93. Who is the Commander in Chief of the U.S. military?

94. Which President was the first Commander in Chief of the U.S. military?

95. In what month do we vote for the President?

96. In what month is the new President inaugurated?

97. How many times may a Senator be re-elected?

98. How many times may a Congressman be re-elected?

99. What are the 2 major political parties in the U.S. today?

100. How many states are there in the United
States?

 

[hkem1]

87. What is the most important right granted to U.S. citizens?

Subjective much?

 

[Lynnie]

Subjective much?

When I read this I thought the same thing. Then, I thought how funny it would be for someone to facetiously say, "The right to bear arms." Sorry, couldn't help myself.

 

[Koa]

Is number 31 really a yes or no question? Who wrote these questions and who approved them? You guys are right -- very subjective questions.

eg- "What do the stripes on the flag mean?"
Would the better question to get the answer be, "What do the stripes on the flag represent?" and what would the answer be?

"the stripe is symbolic of the rays of light emanating from the sun," or "White signifies purity and innocence, Red, hardiness & valour," or, "the 13 stripes represent the original 13 colonies?" Does it make a difference that the colors had no symbolism when the US flag was adopted?

What do the stars mean?
the states in the USA, or "the symbols of the heavens and the divine goal to which man has aspired from time immemorial?"

Maybe the questions are intended to dumb down the English language to make it easier to translate from other languages or maybe the questions are intended to confuse people by the words and make them fail.

Love question 100 -- Obama even got that one wrong when he was campaigning.

Where are the questions like, "What date are your federal taxes due?"

 

[Elephant Child]

Most folks applying for citizenship enroll in classes for that very purpose where the answers to the citizenship questions are covered. The sad part of this whole process, are that many of these citizenship classes are taught in foreign languages, missing a major point of American citizenship as far as I aconcerned............ENGLISH.

 

[rheffron]

Pretty good questions.

 

[scooterbug44]

I bet I could get in the low 90s - a lot of the answers they give away and are 3rd grade Social Studies, but I always get tripped up on minor details, dates, or numbers. For some reason I always think there are only 26 amendments etc.

The correct answer per the INS is "the right to vote," but any good answer (not the right to bear arms BTW) is considered correct.

 

[Geo]

I was just thinking about the US Constitution test. If I recall correctly I took it my sophomore year in High School. I pretty much remember next to nothing (in fact I think I might have even cheated on it but I digress).

But what I do remember is that it was just a small part of our History class that quarter or semester and that it was largely a memorization exercise. What I wish we did was devote an entire semester or even a year to it. And discuss at great length each part and what was going on at the time. You know- use the constitution as the framework for learning history (and vice versa).

For example- we're going through the amendments. Instead of just memorizing that the 13th amendment ended slavery we would learn all about the Civil War and Dred Scott and all the current events and what the climate was like during that time.

Anyway- just thinking outloud. This post is mainly a commentary on my belief that passing tests via memorization is bad for students and that I personally retained nothing from going through the constitution test exercise.

 

[Andy A]

Geo, you are 100% correct. Memorization just to pass a test is useless.

 

[GoodWitch58]

I was just thinking about the US Constitution test. If I recall correctly I took it my sophomore year in High School. I pretty much remember next to nothing (in fact I think I might have even cheated on it but I digress).

But what I do remember is that it was just a small part of our History class that quarter or semester and that it was largely a memorization exercise. What I wish we did was devote an entire semester or even a year to it. And discuss at great length each part and what was going on at the time. You know- use the constitution as the framework for learning history (and vice versa).

For example- we're going through the amendments. Instead of just memorizing that the 13th amendment ended slavery we would learn all about the Civil War and Dred Scott and all the current events and what the climate was like during that time.

Anyway- just thinking outloud. This post is mainly a commentary on my belief that passing tests via memorization is bad for students and that I personally retained nothing from going through the constitution test exercise.

This is one of the aspects supporting the drive to teach Civics again...too many people in our country are uninformed about how our government is supposed to work...and you point out a vital part of the problem.