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The UK citizenship test


Saintandy666
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To be honest, I don't think it is that tough and I reckon it would be quite easily passable with a bit of concentrated to the point revision. The issue I have with it is the questions aren't really relevant to what they are meant to be, helping people integrate into the UK! And I guess the idea is to be a good citizen, you must know all of this; clearly most people don't.

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My test would be.

 

1. When did England win the world cup?

2. What percentage of the world did Britain rule at the the height of the Empire?

3. What is the 6th verse of the national anthem?

4. Why is the Welsh flag not incorporated in the Union flag?

5. Who has the biggest chip on their shoulder - the Welsh, the Scots or the Cornish?

6. What was the capital of England before London?

7. Give a Churchill quotation?

8. Which national hero said the following “Remember that you are an Englishman, and have consequently won first prize in the lottery of life”?

9. What do you call an Irish spider?

10. "________ is a philosophy of failure, the creed of ignorance, and the gospel or envy, its inherent virtue is the equal sharing of misery." What's the missing word?

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Heh, heh. Before I moved abroad (and just about when the new tests were being brought in) I used to teach English as a second language in 'ampshire. I was asked by my boss about the level of a particular student as she wished to be naturalised and pass the language requirements. What level would you say she was? "One level under the required level" was my reply. My boss spoke to the concerned English husband, worried that his wife should be improving more in her lessons with me (under 2 hours a week): "what language do you speak at home?" she asked...

 

"Cantonese"

 

So, never let it be said that the English don't speak foreign languages, but also.... you can't learn a language properly on just a class a week if you don't use it and watch Cantonese (or whatever) TV all the time. Which reminds me... I shouldn't listen to so much Radio 4 via the internet...

 

But Italian TV and radio is crap...

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Yes, I knew it was absurd but not that bad. Many of the questions were blatantly irrelevant to the purpose the test is designed for. Even with some lucky guesses I only got 66% and it took me 5 minutes, not 45. Most you either knew or you didn't!

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I think that may well be true which makes it even more pointless doesn't it ?

it is called a revision and a tad bit of effort

 

when you go for a job, it may be worthwhile noting down some of the previous achievements by said company..even if it means going on wiki

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I doubt the sense and accuracy of some of the questions.

 

The first is a 'true or false' and asks ... 'In the 1980s, the largest immigrant groups were from the West Indies, Ireland, India and Pakistan.'

 

This confused me as they need to define the word 'immigrant' - does this refer to ethnicity or nationality? One can be a British citizen but of, say, Irish origin many generations back. And where would someone who is the child of, say, a UK resident of Indian origin and a UK resident of West Indian origin stand? To which 'group' (their word, not mine) would he/she belong?

 

The third questions asks for the number of parliamentary constituencies and gives multiple choice options ... 464, 564, 646 or 664.

 

Yet in the recent election there were 650 seats.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/shared/election2010/results/

 

Question 4 asks another 'true or false' with both statements beginning 'Education in state schools in the UK is free ...' this is complete myth. Education isn't free at state schools at all as we all pay for it from the (very large) tax bills - either as income tax or VAT or any other kind of tax. The money comes from somewhere ... us all.

 

I didn't bother going any further.

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I took it ages ago just out of curiosity and just scraped through. As a matter of further interest, I too the American one and passed that too. But I reckon that if you were to stop 100 British citizens in the street and get them to take this test, only about 20% would pass. So how ridiculous would it be that 80% of the indigenous population would fail our own citizen's test? :rolleyes:

 

It is not a test of anything at all relevant to being a good British citizen; it is a test of somebody's ability to learn by rote.

 

The citizens' test can be avoided by attending and passing a course at a local college that includes the elements of the citizens test.

 

It is a typical fudge devised by bureaucrats, steeped in political correctness. We can't ask the questions that glorify our history, such as the Battles of Trafalgar, Waterloo, Agincourt, Alamein, the Battle of Britain, etc, lest we antagonise our European neighbours. What the heck is the use knowing about the immigration here during the 17th century of the Huguenots? Thank God they didn't have to sit a citizens' test, or we wouldn't have had many of them here, would we? ;)

 

In reality, this ridiculous test is just another barrier in the way of immigration. Visa costs have soared by percentages that make people apoplectic if they were applied to passport fees or car tax or driving licenses. For example, the Indefinite Leave to Remain visa cost nothing 5/6 years ago and is now over £800 I believe. Citizenship and a passport costs getting on the same amount again, making the cost of comin here and settling well over £2500 including the initial visitors or spouses visa. But the real scandal is that to gain citizenship and a passport, you have to have the ILR visa first. What does citizenship and a passport mean then? Surely it is a de facto indefinite right to remain in itself?

 

Just another way that Brown's government devised to take money out of the back pockets by way of stealth taxes.

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As a break from marking exams, I thought I'd take an exam. Got 19/24 (79%) but several of those were lucky guesses. For example, I had no idea when women were allowed to divorce, how many muslims there are in the UK (2.7% it transpires) or how many kids there are in the UK. The rest, I either knew or took an educated guess. For example, you only need to go to Shepherd's Bush to see how overrun we are by Aussies and Kiwis. It's a veritable ghetto there.

 

Frankly, the test is ridiculous and, on another day, I might easily have failed had I not guessed right. And why do they give candidates 45 minutes? It took me about 3 minutes. In fact, it probably took me longer to type this massage than to take that test.

 

Oh well, back to failing students.....

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I have strong grounds to suspect that my local MP, who is now a cabinet minister in the new coalition and who was also a candidate for the leadership of the Lib/Dems, would fail the citizens' test if he took it. He couldn't name the 4 British Saints dates for example, not even our own St George on 23rd April.

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