Saturday, March 15, 2014

Could You Pass A U.S. Citizenship Test?

There are 100 questions.  A passing grade is 58 correct answers.  How many questions could you answer correctly?

The test is here.

My score was 96%

30 comments:

Chip Ahoy said...

First question right, next question no go. That means turn off tracking. That means no question 2.

Synova said...

I also got 96%. I missed a president, the year the Constitution was written, how many amendments there are and how many House members there are now.

Known Unknown said...

98%.

Missed # of amendments and one other one.

MamaM said...

Bad citizen, you.

What difference – at this point, what difference does it make?

I am impressed by what is required of new citizens. Will illegal immigrants also be required to pass this same test if/when new status is granted?

Fr Martin Fox said...

I got the first ten right, and stopped. Do they get harder? These seemed pretty easy.

It'd be a lot tougher if I were in charge of it.

I'd ask things like:

> Why was it important, in the design of the original constitution, that states elected Senators?

And:

> What was the purpose of the famous "three-fifths" rule as applied to those held in slavery?

And:

> Identify at least eight rights protected by the Bill of Rights, and write a paragraph on why that right is important.

I could do this all day.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

98% I missed the one about the number of amendments and the registration for selective service. The rest of it is just elementary school and junior high social studies.

I agree with Fr Fox. Really easy. BUT...it should be easy if you are already a citizen. For someone from another country, speaking a different language, I admire their ability to study and pass this test.

THIS is also why I refuse to agree with a blanket amnesty for illegal aliens. They are trying to get for FREE something that others have worked for, studied for and even died for. Fuck that. EARN your citizenship and for those of us who have it granted to us as an accident of birth....learn to respect it.

Hagar said...

100%. Though, speaking as an immigrant, some of these could be subject to further discussion in class.

And DBQ, don't blame the poor undocumented Democrats for getting a bit confused as to what it is all about. Could you make sense of it if you were on the outside looking in?
("If the crazy anglos don't want us why are they giving us all this free stuff?")

Christy said...

98% I, too, missed the number of amendments and the selective service questions.

My only objection to the test was including only slavery as one of the causes of the War of northern aggression.

Fr Martin Fox said...

The people in the room next to mine -- where I'm staying in Rome -- were making a lot of noise, so I went ahead and did the rest. 100%.

I also noticed a number of answers I'd challenge.

For example, "western expansion" was listed as an alternate to "slavery" as a cause of the Civil War. I'd be curious to know if it would be accepted (craving that 100%, I went with the sure answer). It should be accepted.

Another was, "who makes federal laws?" and the answer accepted as correct was Congress. This is incorrect.

You can't really reduce it to that, because most of the time, it's Congress + President; but sometimes it's just Congress (2/3rds vote, overriding a veto). Sometimes it's just the President and the Senate, with treaties (the House doesn't vote on treaties). Sometimes it's the President, insofar as his executive actions have the force of law.

Fr Martin Fox said...

OK, I think the "I can hear you" comment worked. I'm going to bed.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

I also objected to the simplification of the Civil War/Slavery question since the root causes of the Civil War were more than 'just' slavery. As important as it was to eliminate slavery.... economics and even foreign interests in creating a division of the, then still infant, United States for their own economic interests.

Still, we need to remember that this is a basic basic questionnaire for people who have not grown up in this country.

Paddy O said...

"It should be accepted."

I think Western Expansion was a problem only because of slavery. The balance of slave versus free states made the politics of new states an issue. I think everyone was very supportive of Western expansion except for that.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I guessed right!!

I wasn't sure whether Jefferson or Madison had written the declaration.

Haven't finished yet. got them all right so far.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Oh no.

They tripped me up with the Colorado river.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The chief justice is not Anthony Kennedy ;)

Who knew?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

94
Correct

2
Wrong

98%

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I got the colonies combination wrong.

chickelit said...

I stumbled on the "Party like it's 1776" one (I was sure it it was 1773. Also I missed the Alaska question (I thought Reagan negotiated its release from the Russians).

XRay said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Synova said...

Well, it ought to be easy for anyone who was born here and went to kindergarten.

I'm thinking that for an immigrant that it's probably not so easy.

sakredkow said...

I really wonder how average Americans would do on these simple questions.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I was only asked 30 questions when I became a citizen back in 1987.

Michael Haz said...

It's up to 100 questions now, Lem, because of inflation.

A question about Henry Aaron would have been appropriate.

sakredkow said...

And something about Bob Dylan.

sakredkow said...

I got 3 wrong

Trooper York said...

I got 100%

But then I am a True Blue American of the old school.

john said...

Why do we think we are anyone other than average Americans?

Aren't we?

And if I flunk do I have to leave? Where shall I go?

sakredkow said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
MamaM said...

I was only asked 30 questions when I became a citizen back in 1987.

Didn't recognize the fruition until I reread this, and realized that 27 years after meeting that requirement, you are practicing your freedom and responsibility in daily "publishing" your own blog.

Congratulations, Lem, then and now.

Mitch H. said...

I got the one about the thirteen stripes on the flag wrong, mostly because I happen to think that the difference between "the original colonies" and "the members of the Second Congressional Congress" is negligible. But whoever wrote the test probably thought of the individual delegates as "members", whereas I was thinking of the Articles of Confederation conceit that Congress was composed of the states' representatives, thus Maryland is a member, not, say, Charles Carroll.

Meh, I was overthinking it. After I got that one wrong, I turned off my brain and didn't get anything else wrong.