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Can you Pass the UK citizenship test?

zooterkin said:
I'm entitled to drive various classes of vehicle that someone getting their licence today would not, due to changes in the legislation (vehicles up to 7,500kg (with a trailer up to 750kg), for example).
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That's true, but with restrictions. If you wanted to drive a 7.5 tonner in any capacity for which you were getting paid, you'd also need to have undergone CPC training. So you could legally help a friend move by driving a 7.5t lorry for them, but if they gave you a fiver for it then you'd be breaking the law.
 
Perhaps those coming up with these citizenship tests should have to prove that 99% of current citizens would pass?
 
Mrs Don took and passed the UK citizenship test a few years ago. In her opinion the primary purpose of the written test was to establish a minimum competency in reading and understanding English.

Studying for the test has served a useful purpose, she is now a valued member of the pub quiz team.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
That's true, but with restrictions. If you wanted to drive a 7.5 tonner in any capacity for which you were getting paid, you'd also need to have undergone CPC training. So you could legally help a friend move by driving a 7.5t lorry for them, but if they gave you a fiver for it then you'd be breaking the law.
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Interesting point, which I wasn't aware of, thanks. It's not likely to arise, though, the most likely use would be driving a bigger motorhome than the one we currently have.
 
The Don said:
Mrs Don took and passed the UK citizenship test a few years ago. In her opinion the primary purpose of the written test was to establish a minimum competency in reading and understanding English.

Studying for the test has served a useful purpose, she is now a valued member of the pub quiz team.
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Given the poor competency displayed by the authors of the two quizzes that have been linked so far in this thread (there are more - just search for "UK Citizenship Test"), I hope the real one is better written.
 
I have sat the real one and passed.
https://www.gov.uk/life-in-the-uk-test/overview
I have the certificate and passport to prove it.

What is interesting about the test is that it is geared to winnow out applicants whose English is not well developed and those with lower education.
You cannot pass the test by regurgitating the prompts from the study booklet.

An example is that the book might give some demographic facts that the population of Wales is 8% of the total UK population. The question in the test will inevitably be, what is the population of Wales

a. 1/20
a. 1/10
b. 1/8
c. 1/6

I found it to be a very cynical test that was deliberately aimed at filtering out under-educated, non-English speakers.
 
arthwollipot said:
Around here, JPs are mostly used for signing statutory declarations. Though they're redundant here as well because a stat dec can be signed by any public servant with more than five years' experience. Needless to say, there are quite a few of those in Canberra...
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In Queensland, a pair of them can sit as an alternative to a judge in magistrate's courts, as well as perform other judicial duties.
 
23/24.

I'm American, not British, and know nothing about soccer (one of the questions related to it for some reason).
 
EHocking said:
An example is that the book might give some demographic facts that the population of Wales is 8% of the total UK population. The question in the test will inevitably be, what is the population of Wales

a. 1/20
a. 1/10
b. 1/8
c. 1/6

I found it to be a very cynical test that was deliberately aimed at filtering out under-educated, non-English speakers.
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If those are the genuine choices given, then it seems to be a test deliberately aimed at filtering out people who know the alphabet and can do maths, as there are 2 answer "a"s and none of the answers it correct.
 
Nessie said:
...and in Scotland Robert Owen is the famous person associated with improvements for factory workers even though Arkwright came first.;)
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I'm not sure to what extent Arkwright was associated with improvements for factory workers. See, for example, Wikipedia's article on Robert Owen:
The mill of New Lanark had been started in 1785 by David Dale and Richard Arkwright. The water-power afforded by the falls of the River Clyde made it a great attraction. About 2,000 people had associations with the mills, 500 of which were children who were brought at the age of five or six from the poorhouses and charities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. The children had been well treated by Dale, but the general condition of the people was very unsatisfactory. Many of the workers were in the lowest levels of the population; theft, drunkenness, and other vices were common; education and sanitation were neglected; and most families lived in one room. The respectable country people refused to submit to the long hours and demoralising drudgery of the mills.
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Anyway, I managed 24, despite the true or false question "British values and principles are based on history and traditions". I guessed (correctly) that the answer they wanted was "true", but as any fule kno they are, in fact, based on whatever the Daily Mail thinks this week.
 
Squeegee Beckenheim said:
If those are the genuine choices given, then it seems to be a test deliberately aimed at filtering out people who know the alphabet and can do maths, as there are 2 answer "a"s and none of the answers it correct.
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I was only giving the example that the booklet information is in percentages and test questions are in fractions.

You only need to get 75% to pass, so if it is good enough for government work, that's as much effort as I'll put in to posting about the subject.
 
Darat said:
Perhaps those coming up with these citizenship tests should have to prove that 99% of current citizens would pass?
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Not everyone has that opinion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russians_in_Latvia#Current_situation:
After reestablishing independence in 1991, Latvia did not automatically grant citizenship to anyone whose forebears arrived after June 1940, a policy that mainly affected ethnic Russians. Knowledge of Latvian language and history was set as a condition for obtaining citizenship; these initial conditions have been relaxed thereafter. However, many Russians in Latvia still have alien status. As of January 2007, the majority of Latvia's ethnic Russians, 56.5% or 363,988 persons, had citizenship.
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Estonia has a similar policy.
 
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20/24. But the ones i missed are like the q about the magistrate and the drivers license. Not having ever driven in the uk with an eu license.
 
EHocking said:
I found it to be a very cynical test that was deliberately aimed at filtering out under-educated, non-English speakers.
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That's been the general impression I've gained from similar tests I've read about, from several different European countries. They're mostly just tests of how well you know the language, along with some very basic education thrown in. I don't know if that qualifies as "cynical", though. Having a basic grasp of the local language of the place where you intend to live is a pretty fundamental requirement if you want to stay there permanently.

That they also sometimes include questions that many people born locally, and who have citizenship without having to pass any test, wouldn't be able to answer, often makes them a bit absurd. (I've never taken a real one, I'm going on what I can find online).
 
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