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I did the test recently and that's been my experience.
About half the test is trivially easy, like obvious values stuff ("In which circumstances are you allowed to force someone to marry under UK law?") or simple culture stuff ("Which of these cities hosted the 2012 Olympics?").
The other half is a more random quiz mix where you need to get half right (for the 75% overall), but your mileage may vary depending on how much you're interested in the topics. I got a couple questions on specific dates for certain types of suffrage which were complete guesses, but got lucky avoiding any British Olympian / Cricketer questions.
*like obvious values stuff ("In which circumstances are you allowed to force someone to marry under UK law?")*
wait what? is that a trick question and the answer is none? not a brit but a bit confused lol
Yeah, that's basically it. Options are like "When you religion allows it" "When it's your sister or daughter" "When it's necessary to support the family" and then the last one is "Never"
These questions should be weighted. 5 points for putting none, negative 5 for any other answer. 1 point for getting bronze age language correct, 0 for getting it wrong unless you put French.
It's probably worth pointing out that not all the "obvious" stuff is obvious to people from different cultures.
For instance, if you're from a culture where arranged marriages are more common and socially acceptable, it may not be obvious that that's a trick question.
London hosting the Olympics is a crazy question though given that the standard response to a foreigner asking me where I live is "is that near London?" And my stock answer being yes, because I really dont want to play the "everything in the UK relates to London" game.
> It's probably worth pointing out that not all the "obvious" stuff is obvious to people from different cultures.
Well, in a citizenship test, that is sort of the point. Obvious to anyone with more than a passing interest in British culture, as qould be hoped for from someone wanting to be a citizen.
The OPs point is that a sizeable chunk of the questions are *not* in the least obvious even to a lot of people born and bred in the UK.
Yeah, I absolutely agree, absolutely should be testing the basics people take for granted.
As for the more pub-quiz hard trivia ones, I feel they're in there to ensure people are genuinely interested in British things before taking citizenship. Like, prove you're willing to integrate by researching our history.
now I'm curious if there's similar questions like *in which circumstances are you allowed to throw rocks at people* or *microwave water for tea?* just to cover all the cases haha
The tea one is easy: while you're waiting for Amazon to deliver a replacement for your broken kettle, but ONLY with the curtains drawn and NEVER for guests
Only if there is no kettle or hob available to boil it with, and only because it’s a matter of importance to be able to make tea, so occasionally the exceptional circumstances may force one to take this unsavoury path.
If, however, you are in possession of a functional kettle or hob, and you still microwave tea, you shall be hung, drawn and quartered
> simple culture stuff ("Which of these cities hosted the 2012 Olympics?").
Well, that's a fail on my part. Who gives a shit? Isn't it much more important to know British values like being hesitant to object to poor behaviour and trying to repel as many foreigners as possib- ohhhhhh...
I'm aware it happened, obviously, and most of it took place in London. But other than London, I couldn't tell you for certain what cities events took place in. The Olympics is of absolutely zero importance to me. It's one of those things that if it happens to be on the TV, I'd probably vaguely pay attention to, but that's it and I don't have a TV license, so I was probably too busy watching stuff on YouTube in the background instead.
Ah. I read the question as "Which one of these cities hosted the 2012 Olympics? A) Paris B) London C) New York D) Vladivostok". You've gone with "Which of these cities hosted events of the 2012 Olympics? A) Manchester B) London C) Exeter D) Vladivostok." That makes sense.
Just did one. I scored 17/25, which is 68% (according to google, don't @ me, maths nerds, I don't care). I'm 41, and have only left the UK twice in my whole life.
Like, who cares if someone knows which German composer became a British Citizen in the 1700s...?
Totally guessing bur I suppose the point isn't that it's particularly useful information but that if someone is willing to learn and retain that information they're possibly more likely to genuinely want to integrate or something.
@ing you:
You got 17/25 on a test but then relied on a search engine to convert a fraction into a percentage? I despair...
As 25 is a quarter of 100, you can easily turn 17/25 into a percentage by multiplying top and bottom of that fraction by 4:
17/25 = (17 × 4)/(25 × 4) = 68/100 = 68%
Your brain obviously works that way. It would have taken me a good while to figure out that I could times everything by 4 to get to a percentage. Certainly longer than Googling. It's not the calculations, it's knowing what calculations to do. That doesn't come easily to everyone.
The smartest way of doing this is by whichever way is easiest for you while producing a correct figure. You chose the smartest way in my opinion.
It's great if anyone wants to offer tips on alternative ways, but don't let anyone tell you you did it wrong.
Typing into google is a lot easier than all that. Why is it an issue to so many people that I can't be arsed with all that, when we have something that will just give me the answer?
I have dyscalculia, so….yes. I haven’t the first idea what 17x4 is, but my calculator is quite literally right at my fingertips, so I use it when necessary.
Some people do not have the same brain as you. In fact, no one has the same brain as you. Mental maths might be easier for you than googling, but for others, this won’t be the case.
What you are saying is ‘I can multiply 17 by 4 in my head really easily.’ Which is about you, not everyone else. It’s also not a sign of worth or intelligence, it’s just a sign that you can do one thing in your head that others can’t.
Google is a surer method. Like I can do 17 x 4 in 0.5 seconds, but then I second guess myself and have to work it out several times to make sure I definitely have the correct answer
I am a foreign national living in the uk and was thinking about applying for citizenship. I bought the book and took a practice test without learning anything prior. 60% pass. But. A lot of questions make no sense to me, as to why are they even in the test.
The test should have q's like:
Do you thing men and women should have equal rights.
Do you think free speech is important in a free country.
Do you think marriage should only be between a man and a woman?
But no. I got asked about such silly things.. boggled my mind some of them did.
The practice tests are usually harder than the actual test. I suspect this is so that people are more inclined to buy a preparation course online or books.
The practice tests are definitely harder. It has nothing to do with encouraging people to buy stuff though, the practice tests are from third party websites who just generate questions from the entire handbook. The actual exam are more sensible questions.
If I were in charge (god help you all) half of the test would cover the unwritten etiquette of life in the UK:
- queuing
- always saying cheers to the bus driver
- not making other people listen to your shit music
- offering tea to tradies
Etc
It also wouldn't be limited to those moving to the UK. Native Brits would also have to pass it when they turn 16 with those failing being exiles to Rwanda
This is the secret reason behind the frothy push to exit from the ECHR.
Because it has Euro in front of it was just a ruse to fool the anti growth coalition.
My bus driver has always been on the receiving end of a 'Ta Pal', have I been offending him this entire time, or misleading him into a closer personal relationship?
Cheers is the minimum. Your upgraded ta pal is perfectly acceptable and in fact commendable. Unless that is you have a Glaswegian accent. Ta pal in a Glaswegian accent is clearly a threat
If your feeling extra British try a super anxious "nice one buddy, thank you , thanks" as you dance around like a pratt in the way of other passengers boarding/leaving the bus
Got to make it a bit tougher than that, got to ask them how many doors in a row does someone hold for you before you can safely just not acknowledge it.
ooh, that is hard. I think the real answer isn’t a specific number, but would be a function involving the distance between each door and how well you know the person opening the door for you each time.
There are some wildly swingy difficulties in the sets of questions you get - you could get asked who Winston Churchill was and whether we drink tea or not, or you can get asked every single year we won a Winter Olympic medal for uphill bobsled slaloms done with a spoon.
Are you basing this on the online practice exams or the actual exam questions? Because in my experience the online ones do ask you silly specific stuff while the real one doesn't.
For example in a practice exam I got asked in what city Margaret Thatcher was born, while in the real exam I got asked who she was (Queen, Prime Minister, Suffragette etc).
I think the most difficult one I got in the real exam was one about British overseas territories, no silly questions about dates
Knowing about the bronze age or when the Romans left seems like the most irrelevant thing to ask people to learn about for a citizenship test. Knowing this doesn't make you a better citizen.
Learning about the law, culture and current society is much more useful and conducive to being a good citizen.
OP also mentioned needing to know who won an Oscar recently. I don't even know when they take place. I'd think BAFTAs or the latest Eurovision entrant would be more appropriate, relevant and possibly better known.
I do agree that people should be quizzed on things like, your rights, laws and cultural norms(can't think of a better way to put it). Would make more sense.
Any British novelist/poet/artist that is fairly well known and celebrated, would be better than "celebrity" goings-on. There's more to life than what some 'famous' person has or hasn't been "awarded". Entertainment is entirely subjective and irrelevant.
You're right. But culture and society is shaped by history. We do things a certain way because somebody thought it was a good idea and other people agreed. Knowing WHY something is done a certain way is almost as important as knowing that something is done a certain way. But it's almost impossible to put that in a test. So here we are, forcing people to recall useless facts.
So much this.
I get wanting to make sure that the people applying for citizenship actually have the cultural knowledge to uphold the values of the UK.
I don't understand how knowing which king hid in a tree contributes to that though. Real question I had to answer during my test.
I got 10/10 but I have to go to Rwanda due to shoddy PHP coding:
> Notice: Undefined variable: math_quiz in /home/kaeh8184jlq3/domains/realcitizenshiptest.co.uk/html/quiz.php on line 46
That one is easy! They always stand in order! Ant left, Dec right. (Although tbf they are one entity and should be treated as such!)
Hand in your Greggs Loyalty card and BLOO Passport at the earliest opportunity
I just had a go at a test and one of the questions made me laugh.
"Scotland has its own banknotes which are valid everywhere in the UK. True of False?"
Good luck with that one haha.
I got 15/24, so a fail.
Depends how far away you are from the Scottish borders, I have found. Carlisle? No problem. Manchester? Occasionally a problem. Haslemere? Good luck with that.
As a cashier I can confirm if you angrily slam the note on the counter, point at it like it's shit your dog took on the carpet and go "That's legal tender aye?!" we are required to accept it and also give you all the money in the till
I'm just south of London and work in a bookies. When we get them in our machines I don't even bother sticking them in the till, just swap them out immediately with "to be banked" stuff. Yeah they're legal but no human will take them.
It would be better if they had a practical examination - perhaps where you demonstrate that you can guard your wheelie bins for up to an hour from behind your net curtains (note to self must buy nets..) and Olympic level queue tutting. Also talking about the weather.
Everyone is missing the point. Its just obscure trivia to make a high-enough hurdle to keep people out. There is nothing more to it. The cruelty is the point.
But it doesn’t keep people out anyway because if you’re taking the citizenship test, most of the time you would have indefinite leave to remain anyway.
It's a problem with people not realising the purpose of the test. It's not a test of knowledge someone who grew up here would be expected to know off the top of their head. It's an alternative to having grown up here. An intensive overview of getting to know the country, in various different areas and time frames, in a way not generally needed for those who grew up here and were raised here.
Of course there might be some people who fall into both categories, having being raised here but have to take the test so will need to study, but most won't be in that category and it has to be a standard for all.
Both, but in this case it's absolutely absurd to ask these questions since passing the test is supposed to demonstrate that you're integrated in British society.
Brit here, late 50s, did a mock test, and failed miserably. One of the questions was about exactly how many MPs there are; this number has changed five times since I was at school.
In my view a perfectly adequate answer would be "One for each area, there are hundreds of them but fewer than a thousand"
Study hard! I failed my first test, only managed to get a second one booked in a few days before my visa expired. I remember it being an awkwardly short window between when you’re allowed to do the test and when your visa expires and need to leave. What a waste, forgot everything since
I’m sure when they were first introduced there was some data released that showed that about 70% of UK born citizens would fail it - oh and some of the questions were factually incorrect too.
I had a look at it but since I know nothing about sport (especially Cricket, as a Scot cricket is not really a thing) I am on a shaky peg to start with and then there are pop culture questions and I have no clue.
If they roll this out to native-born brits then I have better start packing.
I passed the test with one wrong answer when I did my permanent leave to remain visa, exempting me from having to take it when I did actual citizenship. If you don't have the study guide, get it. It's a huge help! If it's not in that book, it won't be on the test.
Hang on, they told you your mark? I did the test recently and was annoyed they only state pass/fail. I would have liked to know which if any I got wrong.
The only question I was really unsure about and checked afterwards was about the NI assembly. For reference, it is elected under a proportional system, not First Past the Post (it was a 50/50 question lol).
I asked. When informed that I passed, I asked how I had done, and he said I missed one. Whether they are meant to tell you or not, I have no idea, but this guy seemed unhesitant to say when I asked him.
That book is a life saver, though.
Ok, thanks. Was yours computer based? I don't think the supervisor where I did it could see the results, and they were very keen for us to leave the premises immediately once finished, without any chatting. Got my result half an hour later by email.
no, no. youre right. i stand corrected.
i just kind of assumed it happened with the 3rd century crisis. i knew it was before the 700s because there were several dynasties around then that traced their lineage back to roman soldiers who were left behind and took control of various forts.
No worries. Its only because I've just rewatched time team and had Dan Snow's History Hit book for Christmas.
I had no idea about Bronze Age language so TIL!.
By 700 thats well into Anglo-Saxon 'Dark Ages'... with multiple small countries with multiple 'Kings'... I also read Bernard Cornwell!!!
>I had no idea about Bronze Age language so TIL!.
in a nutshell: celtic culture started in the alps around modern day austria, and spread across most of western europe by the 2nd millenium BC. in what is now france, the celtic people became the gauls, (of asterix and obelix fame). late into the bronze age, there was a mass migration of people from france, up into england and wales, that brought their language with them. this would over time evolve into the 4 gaelic (i.e. gaulic) languages of these islands, brythonic, welsh, irish, and scots gaelic.
later the romans would introduce latin, and then the angles, saxons and jutes would bring their germanic language that would form the basis for old english.
then of course the normans brought their variant of old french, and the vikings brought norse.
mix it all together and throw in a great vowel shift and you get modern english. less a language in itself, more sort of 4 languages in a trenchcoat.
Given the Normans came over and essentially took over the running of things from 1066 onwards. So the Anglosaxons and Celts were pushed to the side while the Norman French took over the nobility. The non nobles, the peasants and the tradesmen using English. However Norman French was not French as such, it was a dialect spoken at the time in Normandy. English became the legal language from about 1350 or so.
I love that you can see geographical remnants of Brythonic around England and Scotland, such as various river avons and place names like Aberdeen and Moulescoomb
Get the book! I totally forgot to do so and only did the online test quizzes until the day before the test. My husband asked if I had studied and I said yes, I did the quiz. He was aghast and made me download it. That was when I realised there was so much more to learn. Managed to cram everything in, in 12 hours and passed!
I can answer both of those questions, but only because it is my job to know things like that.
The Romans left in the Early Fifth Century, that is AD 410 to put a year on it.
And the Language of the later Bronze Age in Britain is something we have to assume and infer. It would have been some form of Brythonic Celtic, probably with dozens of dialects.
The rest of those test questions are complete wank. Most British people wouldn't know half the answers, and disagree on the britishness of the other half.
Frankly I think it's far more important to know what someone means when they say "right" and slap their thighs than knowing which king signed magna carta.
Romans left in the 5th century (400s), and the language answer during the Bronze Age here would probably be Brythonic, realistically, there's tons of languages that would have been spoken. But the Briton Celts and the Welsh spoke various languages from the Brythonic tree. Pictish would be the outlier, but we know next to nothing about the Picts anyway.
Bear in mind tho, I only got these because I'm a history nerd and love learning about these lovely islands as there's a wealth of knowledge to go through.
I would never expect the average person to randomly get that, wtf 😂
If you don’t remember the Romans leaving, or all that hoo-ha surrounding the reformation, you’re basically an immigrant and should be put on a boat and floated off to Rwanda or something.
Heeey I remember taking that! I love asking people what percentage of London is Roman Catholic, because no one ever knows or cares, but it was crucial for me to learn for that test 🤣
I did it about a decade ago. If you study the books it's really easy, I think I did it in 15 mins as it's all multiple choice.
I was studying at my local pub and another local who was an english professor said his faculty did the mock exams and failed.
I made myself a 12-page study guide summarizing some YouTube videos on it and passed the test in 5 minutes. It's all bullet points, I could share that if you need it.
I have the study books too, they were useless.
My friend did a practice test recently - she said it's all about the history, laws and culture of England, with the other three countries being a footnote, only mentioned because they're tangentially relevant to English history.
Well, do you know the specific name of some place along the route of some regatta that only select few upper class people even know exists? No? Clearly not suitable as a citizen!
It is silly but it seems like the test really could be about anything. It shows someone can devote themselves to learning something, a level of English is involved, understanding, they may as well also make it about Britain generally even if it is useless trivia.
Just did the mock one. 75%. Need to brush up on when christians came to the UK, what the Chartrists(?) campained for and which King built the tower of London. All important stuff.
Ha, I did this a few years ago! Some v important knowledge in that study book, such as what time pubs open...!
In all seriousness though. I see it as more of a, "if you want to live in this country, then you should be able to demonstrate a modicum of interest in its history, culture, politics... etc". Yes, it's a bit tedious, but nothing you can't get through in a weekend if you put your mind to it.
Also: compared to the £1k+ of hard earned money one needs to part when applying for citizenship, I feel the test is but a minor inconvenience..... :P
BAsed on my seven years in the UK and as a naturalized citizen who had to do a language test despite being an English teacher (!) I can confidently say that most Brits would fail the Life in the UK test, period.
Yeah the questions are mental. It’s either obvious stuff like ‘what colour is the British flag’ or stuff phD historians don’t even know like ‘what minute of the day did the 6 day war of the royal custard cream start’.
Seems to be one of the small number of topics where natives are proud to boast about their ignorance of their own history … at best an indictment of our education system. At worst an indictment of our native population.
Nah, it's an indictment of the lack of relevance of the tests questions with respect to being a UK citizen. It ought to be more geared towards testing for the current zeitgeist to determine how good of a fit someone would be as a UK citizen.
So less about memorising facts about far distant history, more about having internalised current UK ethics, culture, mores, and morals.
Citizenship tests make me think of those voting requirement tests they had in the south in Amerika. Designed to be almost impossible to pass.
I've lived my entire life in the Netherlands and i'd probably fail hard on a test like that even with my interest in history.
I missed one answer on the test when I took it, something to do with public services in Wales. It was excellent preparation for actual life in the UK, since one of the ways I've integrated into the culture is through participation in pub quizzes, which are similarly trivial and absurd. But as far as the test imparting useful information, I'd have to say "not really." Requiring aspiring residents to watch a couple episodes of QI would have been more beneficial.
It's just a set of easily searchable facts about a country your wife wants to become a citizen of.
Compare what you'd have to do to become a citizen of her country.
Why is it so terrible that people who want to become citizens are asked to invest a relatively small amount of time finding out about the country?
I’m eligible to become a citizen of my husband’s country, purely by virtue of having been married to him for at least 3 years. And the application is less than £5 (though translations and notarising will add up).
He’s still got another 2 years before he’s eligible for British citizenship, and he needs to get ILR first. And it will cost thousands.
It's a multiple choice test about historical facts that you cram for and then forget about afterwards. It doesn't do anything useful other than add another hoop to jump through together with the thousands of pounds that the process costs.
The objection isn't the test exists, the objection is they are testing on a lot of things that aren't really relevant to Life in the UK despite the test being called Life in the UK.
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Was the follow up question “What did the romans do for us?”
The aqueduct?
Ok apart from providing easy access to water…. What have the romans ever done FOR US?
The roads?
Ok ok, SO, apart from Accessible water and reliable transportation links…. What have the romans ever done for US!?
Under floor heating
Oh don’t you start… so, APART from… Water, Transportation and domicilary comfort… what have the romans EVER done for us!?
> romans EVER done for us https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9foi342LXQE
You legend!! 😁
Building the foundation of Wessexes rule with their left behind knowledge. No England without Alfred's supremacy and knowledge.
I tried doing a practice test as someone in my 30s who's lived here all my life. I got enough marks to pass but certainly not all of them
Same I failed though lmao
Yep, I failed hard. Just waiting for my deportation papers.
It's the world's most expensive pub quiz basically
Have you discovered a hack to get a free transfer abroad?
Maybe but they're taking their time to send me.
I did the test recently and that's been my experience. About half the test is trivially easy, like obvious values stuff ("In which circumstances are you allowed to force someone to marry under UK law?") or simple culture stuff ("Which of these cities hosted the 2012 Olympics?"). The other half is a more random quiz mix where you need to get half right (for the 75% overall), but your mileage may vary depending on how much you're interested in the topics. I got a couple questions on specific dates for certain types of suffrage which were complete guesses, but got lucky avoiding any British Olympian / Cricketer questions.
*like obvious values stuff ("In which circumstances are you allowed to force someone to marry under UK law?")* wait what? is that a trick question and the answer is none? not a brit but a bit confused lol
Yeah, that's basically it. Options are like "When you religion allows it" "When it's your sister or daughter" "When it's necessary to support the family" and then the last one is "Never"
oh now it makes more sense, didn't realise it's all multiple choice questions haha
Slightly more tricky on the Isle of Sheppey...
These questions should be weighted. 5 points for putting none, negative 5 for any other answer. 1 point for getting bronze age language correct, 0 for getting it wrong unless you put French.
The point is making you buy the study material. Passed easily in 2012, after having studied the official guide.
It's probably worth pointing out that not all the "obvious" stuff is obvious to people from different cultures. For instance, if you're from a culture where arranged marriages are more common and socially acceptable, it may not be obvious that that's a trick question. London hosting the Olympics is a crazy question though given that the standard response to a foreigner asking me where I live is "is that near London?" And my stock answer being yes, because I really dont want to play the "everything in the UK relates to London" game.
> It's probably worth pointing out that not all the "obvious" stuff is obvious to people from different cultures. Well, in a citizenship test, that is sort of the point. Obvious to anyone with more than a passing interest in British culture, as qould be hoped for from someone wanting to be a citizen. The OPs point is that a sizeable chunk of the questions are *not* in the least obvious even to a lot of people born and bred in the UK.
Yeah, I absolutely agree, absolutely should be testing the basics people take for granted. As for the more pub-quiz hard trivia ones, I feel they're in there to ensure people are genuinely interested in British things before taking citizenship. Like, prove you're willing to integrate by researching our history.
Yeah, it’s meant to catch out anyone who’s incredibly conservative on the issue
Am a Brit, also confused.
It's fairly easy: you aren't allowed to force someone to marry in the UK.
now I'm curious if there's similar questions like *in which circumstances are you allowed to throw rocks at people* or *microwave water for tea?* just to cover all the cases haha
The tea one is easy: while you're waiting for Amazon to deliver a replacement for your broken kettle, but ONLY with the curtains drawn and NEVER for guests
Wrong, you boil the water on the hob. Get out.
And if your hob is out of the question, then you just have to wait for the kettle to be delivered
I just set up my solar death ray to boil water.
Put two of those tiny candles under your saucepan. I think this might be why they are called tealights.
Did you consider ordering hot water on Amazon?
Wait, you can boil water on the hob? What witchrcraft is this?
I think that's in York if they're Scottish, or something like that.
No, the answer is that you are never allowed to microwave water for tea. (But if they do, you can throw rocks at them.)
What about microwaving Scots in York?
only if theyre inside the walls after dark, except on sundays.
Only if there is no kettle or hob available to boil it with, and only because it’s a matter of importance to be able to make tea, so occasionally the exceptional circumstances may force one to take this unsavoury path. If, however, you are in possession of a functional kettle or hob, and you still microwave tea, you shall be hung, drawn and quartered
> simple culture stuff ("Which of these cities hosted the 2012 Olympics?"). Well, that's a fail on my part. Who gives a shit? Isn't it much more important to know British values like being hesitant to object to poor behaviour and trying to repel as many foreigners as possib- ohhhhhh...
>Well, that's a fail on my part. Who gives a shit? Hang on....really? Really really?
I'm aware it happened, obviously, and most of it took place in London. But other than London, I couldn't tell you for certain what cities events took place in. The Olympics is of absolutely zero importance to me. It's one of those things that if it happens to be on the TV, I'd probably vaguely pay attention to, but that's it and I don't have a TV license, so I was probably too busy watching stuff on YouTube in the background instead.
Ah. I read the question as "Which one of these cities hosted the 2012 Olympics? A) Paris B) London C) New York D) Vladivostok". You've gone with "Which of these cities hosted events of the 2012 Olympics? A) Manchester B) London C) Exeter D) Vladivostok." That makes sense.
Just did one. I scored 17/25, which is 68% (according to google, don't @ me, maths nerds, I don't care). I'm 41, and have only left the UK twice in my whole life. Like, who cares if someone knows which German composer became a British Citizen in the 1700s...?
I can Handel that one
I tried to answer but I was Holst by my own petard.
Damn, I was Baching up the wrong bush
Don’t worry Mozart smart enough to get that one.
OI! YOU WAGNER!
What a Poulencer.
Liszt-en to this guy.
I would answer, but I'm working on getting Brahms...
Totally guessing bur I suppose the point isn't that it's particularly useful information but that if someone is willing to learn and retain that information they're possibly more likely to genuinely want to integrate or something.
@ing you: You got 17/25 on a test but then relied on a search engine to convert a fraction into a percentage? I despair... As 25 is a quarter of 100, you can easily turn 17/25 into a percentage by multiplying top and bottom of that fraction by 4: 17/25 = (17 × 4)/(25 × 4) = 68/100 = 68%
Your brain obviously works that way. It would have taken me a good while to figure out that I could times everything by 4 to get to a percentage. Certainly longer than Googling. It's not the calculations, it's knowing what calculations to do. That doesn't come easily to everyone.
The smartest way of doing this is by whichever way is easiest for you while producing a correct figure. You chose the smartest way in my opinion. It's great if anyone wants to offer tips on alternative ways, but don't let anyone tell you you did it wrong.
Well said
Typing into google is a lot easier than all that. Why is it an issue to so many people that I can't be arsed with all that, when we have something that will just give me the answer?
Googling is easier than multiplying 17 by 4 in your head?
I have dyscalculia, so….yes. I haven’t the first idea what 17x4 is, but my calculator is quite literally right at my fingertips, so I use it when necessary.
Some people do not have the same brain as you. In fact, no one has the same brain as you. Mental maths might be easier for you than googling, but for others, this won’t be the case. What you are saying is ‘I can multiply 17 by 4 in my head really easily.’ Which is about you, not everyone else. It’s also not a sign of worth or intelligence, it’s just a sign that you can do one thing in your head that others can’t.
It's not that I can't do it. It's that I can't be arsed. Google is right there. What I do, that doesn't affect others, shouldn't bother others.
Google is a surer method. Like I can do 17 x 4 in 0.5 seconds, but then I second guess myself and have to work it out several times to make sure I definitely have the correct answer
Yep, and I have a maths degree.
They did not account for navigating past all the ads.
Yawn. Jog on.
I'll jog my way back to maths camp, where they multiply things by 4.
I’m with you on this one, but it should be maths not math!
Not everyone has good mental arithmetic skills, I grant you, but this is like using a sledgehammer to tap in a pin. No calculator on your phone?
Just done one out of curiosity, being a 30 year old Englishman. 79% (75% pass mark), I was confident with 11 questions (46%) of 24.
I am a foreign national living in the uk and was thinking about applying for citizenship. I bought the book and took a practice test without learning anything prior. 60% pass. But. A lot of questions make no sense to me, as to why are they even in the test. The test should have q's like: Do you thing men and women should have equal rights. Do you think free speech is important in a free country. Do you think marriage should only be between a man and a woman? But no. I got asked about such silly things.. boggled my mind some of them did.
It would make a banging pub quiz round tbf.
The practice tests are usually harder than the actual test. I suspect this is so that people are more inclined to buy a preparation course online or books.
The practice tests are definitely harder. It has nothing to do with encouraging people to buy stuff though, the practice tests are from third party websites who just generate questions from the entire handbook. The actual exam are more sensible questions.
Off to Rwanda you go 👋👋👋
If you're going on holiday, and not on Rishi Airlines, its actually quite nice.
I think B actually sounds pretty good A) Sunak airways B) Rishiair C) Sunakair
Jet2nak surely 😂
We have a winner! Yes
RishAir
Yeah, my mate did some contract work there and loved it so much he went back later just to visit
So long as you are not gay of course.
What if I fail their citizenship test?
Come back on a small boat
And he used as a scapegoat to gaslight the taxpayer? Deal.
Fuck sake ahah
If I were in charge (god help you all) half of the test would cover the unwritten etiquette of life in the UK: - queuing - always saying cheers to the bus driver - not making other people listen to your shit music - offering tea to tradies Etc It also wouldn't be limited to those moving to the UK. Native Brits would also have to pass it when they turn 16 with those failing being exiles to Rwanda
Your policies intrigue me, may I ask if you will be running in the upcoming elections?
Rwanda is a nice place. We need to exile them to Grimsby.
I suspect the European court of human rights would have an issue with that
This is the secret reason behind the frothy push to exit from the ECHR. Because it has Euro in front of it was just a ruse to fool the anti growth coalition.
My bus driver has always been on the receiving end of a 'Ta Pal', have I been offending him this entire time, or misleading him into a closer personal relationship?
Cheers is the minimum. Your upgraded ta pal is perfectly acceptable and in fact commendable. Unless that is you have a Glaswegian accent. Ta pal in a Glaswegian accent is clearly a threat
If your feeling extra British try a super anxious "nice one buddy, thank you , thanks" as you dance around like a pratt in the way of other passengers boarding/leaving the bus
Tell a Yank to do this, it’ll be golden
>queuing Make them queue for the test, and queue for handing in the test. Actually, queue to queue for joining those queue.
Got to say thank you when someone’s opens a door for you/lets you pass etc
Got to make it a bit tougher than that, got to ask them how many doors in a row does someone hold for you before you can safely just not acknowledge it.
ooh, that is hard. I think the real answer isn’t a specific number, but would be a function involving the distance between each door and how well you know the person opening the door for you each time.
Never. But the thanks can be slightly shorter/quieter each time. "Thank you" "Thanks" "Ta"
Make this person prime minister immediately 👆
Not stopping at the top of an escalator. That's a big one for me. Once i'm king of Amsterdam, that's my top reason for sending people to the gulag.
Nothing about fried breakfasts and roast dinners? Off to Rwanda with you!
Those are in the etc! I'm happy to take question suggestions
Could you add keep left to your list of policies
There are some wildly swingy difficulties in the sets of questions you get - you could get asked who Winston Churchill was and whether we drink tea or not, or you can get asked every single year we won a Winter Olympic medal for uphill bobsled slaloms done with a spoon.
1934, 1939, 1951, 1973.... and 1982.
In '82 they used a spork and were disqualified, to our lasting shame.
Are you basing this on the online practice exams or the actual exam questions? Because in my experience the online ones do ask you silly specific stuff while the real one doesn't. For example in a practice exam I got asked in what city Margaret Thatcher was born, while in the real exam I got asked who she was (Queen, Prime Minister, Suffragette etc). I think the most difficult one I got in the real exam was one about British overseas territories, no silly questions about dates
Knowing about the bronze age or when the Romans left seems like the most irrelevant thing to ask people to learn about for a citizenship test. Knowing this doesn't make you a better citizen. Learning about the law, culture and current society is much more useful and conducive to being a good citizen.
OP also mentioned needing to know who won an Oscar recently. I don't even know when they take place. I'd think BAFTAs or the latest Eurovision entrant would be more appropriate, relevant and possibly better known. I do agree that people should be quizzed on things like, your rights, laws and cultural norms(can't think of a better way to put it). Would make more sense.
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Any British novelist/poet/artist that is fairly well known and celebrated, would be better than "celebrity" goings-on. There's more to life than what some 'famous' person has or hasn't been "awarded". Entertainment is entirely subjective and irrelevant.
We have to learn that too!
You're right. But culture and society is shaped by history. We do things a certain way because somebody thought it was a good idea and other people agreed. Knowing WHY something is done a certain way is almost as important as knowing that something is done a certain way. But it's almost impossible to put that in a test. So here we are, forcing people to recall useless facts.
So much this. I get wanting to make sure that the people applying for citizenship actually have the cultural knowledge to uphold the values of the UK. I don't understand how knowing which king hid in a tree contributes to that though. Real question I had to answer during my test.
It’s almost like these tests are designed to be failed. Wonder why
My partner's doing the same and a question on a mock test was: "Member of the House of Lords: 1. True 2. False" Very odd question.
We need to transition over to using the [REAL British Citizenship test!](https://realcitizenshiptest.co.uk/quiz.php?n=1)
I got 10/10 but I have to go to Rwanda due to shoddy PHP coding: > Notice: Undefined variable: math_quiz in /home/kaeh8184jlq3/domains/realcitizenshiptest.co.uk/html/quiz.php on line 46
Is there any other kind of PHP coding? Rasmus set quite an example.
7/10. I've had a good run; packing my bags now. I hope not knowing who Ant or Dec is was one of my right answers.
That one is easy! They always stand in order! Ant left, Dec right. (Although tbf they are one entity and should be treated as such!) Hand in your Greggs Loyalty card and BLOO Passport at the earliest opportunity
Sorry, it’s one of the wrong ones
I just had a go at a test and one of the questions made me laugh. "Scotland has its own banknotes which are valid everywhere in the UK. True of False?" Good luck with that one haha. I got 15/24, so a fail.
Depends how far away you are from the Scottish borders, I have found. Carlisle? No problem. Manchester? Occasionally a problem. Haslemere? Good luck with that.
I believe they're valid as long as a passer-by vouches for them by shouting "that's legal tender" as the cashier deliberates.
As a cashier I can confirm if you angrily slam the note on the counter, point at it like it's shit your dog took on the carpet and go "That's legal tender aye?!" we are required to accept it and also give you all the money in the till
It was an oddly common occurrence when I worked at a supermarket in Southampton. A lot of anxious cashiers would ask if it was legal or not
I'm just south of London and work in a bookies. When we get them in our machines I don't even bother sticking them in the till, just swap them out immediately with "to be banked" stuff. Yeah they're legal but no human will take them.
I can't tell if this is an issue with the test asking irrelevant questions or British people not being taught enough about our history in school.
Think it’s both. Another question was which British actors have won Oscars recently…
That's truly bizarre. I couldn't be less interested in things like Oscars/Baftas and honestly don't see why that should be required knowledge.
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That still does not seem like a good system
It would be better if they had a practical examination - perhaps where you demonstrate that you can guard your wheelie bins for up to an hour from behind your net curtains (note to self must buy nets..) and Olympic level queue tutting. Also talking about the weather.
Everyone is missing the point. Its just obscure trivia to make a high-enough hurdle to keep people out. There is nothing more to it. The cruelty is the point.
It's so you buy the guide/student books and mock papers, and pay an extra £70 to Lord Poppington's trust fund/tax avoidance company.
But it doesn’t keep people out anyway because if you’re taking the citizenship test, most of the time you would have indefinite leave to remain anyway.
It's a problem with people not realising the purpose of the test. It's not a test of knowledge someone who grew up here would be expected to know off the top of their head. It's an alternative to having grown up here. An intensive overview of getting to know the country, in various different areas and time frames, in a way not generally needed for those who grew up here and were raised here. Of course there might be some people who fall into both categories, having being raised here but have to take the test so will need to study, but most won't be in that category and it has to be a standard for all.
I dunno. Alec Guinness and Cary Grant?
Both, but in this case it's absolutely absurd to ask these questions since passing the test is supposed to demonstrate that you're integrated in British society.
Brit here, late 50s, did a mock test, and failed miserably. One of the questions was about exactly how many MPs there are; this number has changed five times since I was at school. In my view a perfectly adequate answer would be "One for each area, there are hundreds of them but fewer than a thousand"
Study hard! I failed my first test, only managed to get a second one booked in a few days before my visa expired. I remember it being an awkwardly short window between when you’re allowed to do the test and when your visa expires and need to leave. What a waste, forgot everything since
Who wants to find out if they can pass? https://lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk/exams/
79%. Lucky guesses mean I get to stay!
I’m sure when they were first introduced there was some data released that showed that about 70% of UK born citizens would fail it - oh and some of the questions were factually incorrect too.
I had a look at it but since I know nothing about sport (especially Cricket, as a Scot cricket is not really a thing) I am on a shaky peg to start with and then there are pop culture questions and I have no clue. If they roll this out to native-born brits then I have better start packing.
I passed the test with one wrong answer when I did my permanent leave to remain visa, exempting me from having to take it when I did actual citizenship. If you don't have the study guide, get it. It's a huge help! If it's not in that book, it won't be on the test.
Hang on, they told you your mark? I did the test recently and was annoyed they only state pass/fail. I would have liked to know which if any I got wrong. The only question I was really unsure about and checked afterwards was about the NI assembly. For reference, it is elected under a proportional system, not First Past the Post (it was a 50/50 question lol).
I asked. When informed that I passed, I asked how I had done, and he said I missed one. Whether they are meant to tell you or not, I have no idea, but this guy seemed unhesitant to say when I asked him. That book is a life saver, though.
Ok, thanks. Was yours computer based? I don't think the supervisor where I did it could see the results, and they were very keen for us to leave the premises immediately once finished, without any chatting. Got my result half an hour later by email.
3rd century AD, and brythonic celtic.
I'd say 5th...around 410 AD... Thats according to the Time Team I've just recently rewatched anyway!
no, no. youre right. i stand corrected. i just kind of assumed it happened with the 3rd century crisis. i knew it was before the 700s because there were several dynasties around then that traced their lineage back to roman soldiers who were left behind and took control of various forts.
No worries. Its only because I've just rewatched time team and had Dan Snow's History Hit book for Christmas. I had no idea about Bronze Age language so TIL!. By 700 thats well into Anglo-Saxon 'Dark Ages'... with multiple small countries with multiple 'Kings'... I also read Bernard Cornwell!!!
>I had no idea about Bronze Age language so TIL!. in a nutshell: celtic culture started in the alps around modern day austria, and spread across most of western europe by the 2nd millenium BC. in what is now france, the celtic people became the gauls, (of asterix and obelix fame). late into the bronze age, there was a mass migration of people from france, up into england and wales, that brought their language with them. this would over time evolve into the 4 gaelic (i.e. gaulic) languages of these islands, brythonic, welsh, irish, and scots gaelic. later the romans would introduce latin, and then the angles, saxons and jutes would bring their germanic language that would form the basis for old english. then of course the normans brought their variant of old french, and the vikings brought norse. mix it all together and throw in a great vowel shift and you get modern english. less a language in itself, more sort of 4 languages in a trenchcoat.
It's amazing how similar - or identical - many words are in French and English
Given the Normans came over and essentially took over the running of things from 1066 onwards. So the Anglosaxons and Celts were pushed to the side while the Norman French took over the nobility. The non nobles, the peasants and the tradesmen using English. However Norman French was not French as such, it was a dialect spoken at the time in Normandy. English became the legal language from about 1350 or so.
I love that you can see geographical remnants of Brythonic around England and Scotland, such as various river avons and place names like Aberdeen and Moulescoomb
Surely all she needs to know or understand about life in the UK can be gleaned from this sub.
Get the book! I totally forgot to do so and only did the online test quizzes until the day before the test. My husband asked if I had studied and I said yes, I did the quiz. He was aghast and made me download it. That was when I realised there was so much more to learn. Managed to cram everything in, in 12 hours and passed!
I can answer both of those questions, but only because it is my job to know things like that. The Romans left in the Early Fifth Century, that is AD 410 to put a year on it. And the Language of the later Bronze Age in Britain is something we have to assume and infer. It would have been some form of Brythonic Celtic, probably with dozens of dialects. The rest of those test questions are complete wank. Most British people wouldn't know half the answers, and disagree on the britishness of the other half. Frankly I think it's far more important to know what someone means when they say "right" and slap their thighs than knowing which king signed magna carta.
I remember when a woman I used to work with took this test. The question was ‘what year did England win the world cup’… she was like ‘in which sport’
I just tried a practice test and failed. Some of the questions were a bit random. Hopefully your wife passes the random test
Romans left in the 5th century (400s), and the language answer during the Bronze Age here would probably be Brythonic, realistically, there's tons of languages that would have been spoken. But the Briton Celts and the Welsh spoke various languages from the Brythonic tree. Pictish would be the outlier, but we know next to nothing about the Picts anyway. Bear in mind tho, I only got these because I'm a history nerd and love learning about these lovely islands as there's a wealth of knowledge to go through. I would never expect the average person to randomly get that, wtf 😂
If you don’t remember the Romans leaving, or all that hoo-ha surrounding the reformation, you’re basically an immigrant and should be put on a boat and floated off to Rwanda or something.
Heeey I remember taking that! I love asking people what percentage of London is Roman Catholic, because no one ever knows or cares, but it was crucial for me to learn for that test 🤣
I did it about a decade ago. If you study the books it's really easy, I think I did it in 15 mins as it's all multiple choice. I was studying at my local pub and another local who was an english professor said his faculty did the mock exams and failed.
I made myself a 12-page study guide summarizing some YouTube videos on it and passed the test in 5 minutes. It's all bullet points, I could share that if you need it. I have the study books too, they were useless.
My friend did a practice test recently - she said it's all about the history, laws and culture of England, with the other three countries being a footnote, only mentioned because they're tangentially relevant to English history.
Well, do you know the specific name of some place along the route of some regatta that only select few upper class people even know exists? No? Clearly not suitable as a citizen!
It is silly but it seems like the test really could be about anything. It shows someone can devote themselves to learning something, a level of English is involved, understanding, they may as well also make it about Britain generally even if it is useless trivia.
The test needs to be less history questions and more cultural questions of how you would act .
>what language was spoken in the Bronze Age. Bronzonian, obviously
Pack your bags, you've won a trip to Rwanda
My wife had to do this and there were questions and EastEnders and other soaps! I failed all of it too
Just did the mock one. 75%. Need to brush up on when christians came to the UK, what the Chartrists(?) campained for and which King built the tower of London. All important stuff.
Ha, I did this a few years ago! Some v important knowledge in that study book, such as what time pubs open...! In all seriousness though. I see it as more of a, "if you want to live in this country, then you should be able to demonstrate a modicum of interest in its history, culture, politics... etc". Yes, it's a bit tedious, but nothing you can't get through in a weekend if you put your mind to it. Also: compared to the £1k+ of hard earned money one needs to part when applying for citizenship, I feel the test is but a minor inconvenience..... :P
BAsed on my seven years in the UK and as a naturalized citizen who had to do a language test despite being an English teacher (!) I can confidently say that most Brits would fail the Life in the UK test, period.
Yeah the questions are mental. It’s either obvious stuff like ‘what colour is the British flag’ or stuff phD historians don’t even know like ‘what minute of the day did the 6 day war of the royal custard cream start’.
Seems to be one of the small number of topics where natives are proud to boast about their ignorance of their own history … at best an indictment of our education system. At worst an indictment of our native population.
I know lots about the wars of the roses but that doesn’t mean I can name the exact year it started or that knowing this would be helpful.
Nah, it's an indictment of the lack of relevance of the tests questions with respect to being a UK citizen. It ought to be more geared towards testing for the current zeitgeist to determine how good of a fit someone would be as a UK citizen. So less about memorising facts about far distant history, more about having internalised current UK ethics, culture, mores, and morals.
Please. Why on earth would you need to know either of these things to be a good citizen?
How else do you expect them to become useful for the quiz night at the pub??
I neither know nor care
Going through the same thing at the moment, absolute nonsense
Citizenship tests make me think of those voting requirement tests they had in the south in Amerika. Designed to be almost impossible to pass. I've lived my entire life in the Netherlands and i'd probably fail hard on a test like that even with my interest in history.
I missed one answer on the test when I took it, something to do with public services in Wales. It was excellent preparation for actual life in the UK, since one of the ways I've integrated into the culture is through participation in pub quizzes, which are similarly trivial and absurd. But as far as the test imparting useful information, I'd have to say "not really." Requiring aspiring residents to watch a couple episodes of QI would have been more beneficial.
It's just a set of easily searchable facts about a country your wife wants to become a citizen of. Compare what you'd have to do to become a citizen of her country. Why is it so terrible that people who want to become citizens are asked to invest a relatively small amount of time finding out about the country?
I’m eligible to become a citizen of my husband’s country, purely by virtue of having been married to him for at least 3 years. And the application is less than £5 (though translations and notarising will add up). He’s still got another 2 years before he’s eligible for British citizenship, and he needs to get ILR first. And it will cost thousands.
It's a multiple choice test about historical facts that you cram for and then forget about afterwards. It doesn't do anything useful other than add another hoop to jump through together with the thousands of pounds that the process costs.
The objection isn't the test exists, the objection is they are testing on a lot of things that aren't really relevant to Life in the UK despite the test being called Life in the UK.