Being an American citizen is often taken for granted but it actually takes hard work to become a naturalized citizen. One part of the process involves an oral test given by an officer of the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS,) An applicant is expected to know the answers to 100 questions. Ten of those questions are chosen by the officer and six must be answered correctly in order to pass.
Beginning on February 1, 2024, over the next 20 weeks let's try it out for ourselves. We will have it easy - no one will be staring at us across a table while we go fishing in our memory.
Each week we will test ourselves on five questions and the correct answers and the statistics based on the responses will be published on this page.
This week's tests:
Citizenship Test No. 15 (5/9/24)
Citizenship Test No. 16 (5/16/24)
Citizenship Test No. 14 (5/2/24)
Q 1: What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
- Answer: Civil rights (movement)
- Responses: 9, 89% correct.
Q 2: Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
- Answer: World War II
- Responses: 9, 89% correct.
Q 3: What did Susan B. Anthony do?
- Answer: Fought for women’s rights and civil rights
- Responses: 8, 58% correct.
Q 4: What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
- Answer: The United States and/or the flag.
- Responses: 9, 100% correct.
Q 5: What are the two major political parties in the United States?
- Answer: Democratic and Republican
- Responses: 9, 100% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 13 (4/25/24)
Q 1: Name one branch or part of the government.
- Answer: Congress, Legislative, President, Executive, the Courts, or Judicial.
- Responses: 12, 100% correct.
Q 2: What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
- Answer: The Senate and House of Representatives.
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Q 3: Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?
- Answer: Population differences.
- Responses: 13,92% correct.
Q 4: Who is the Governor of your state now?
- Answer: Mike Parson
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Q 5: Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
- Answer: War of 1812, Mexican-American War, Civil War, Spanish-American War.
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 12 (4/18/24)
Q 1: What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?
- Answer: Terrorists attacked the United States.
- Responses: 9, 100% correct.
Q 2: Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
- Answer: World War 1, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War and (Persian) Gulf War
- Responses: 10, 100% correct.
Q 3: The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
- Answer: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Publius (which was a pseudonym used by all three writers.)
- Responses: 9, 67% correct.
Proctor's comment: My apologies for duplication of Question 5 on Test No. 11.
Q 4: When must all men register for the Selective Service?
- Answer: At age eighteen (18) or between eighteen (18) and twenty-six (26)
- Responses: 10, 90% correct.
Q 5: What does the President’s Cabinet do?
- Answer: Advises the President.
- Responses: 10, 90% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 11 (4/11/24)
Q 1: What did the Declaration of Independence do?
- Answer: Announced our independence, declared our independence, or said that the United States is free (from Great Britain.)
- Responses: 14, 93% correct.
Q 2: What is the economic system in the United States?
- Answer: Capitalist or market economy.
- Responses: 14. 100% correct.
Q 3: What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?
- Answer: Checks and balances, separation of powers.
- Responses: 14, 93% correct.
Q 4: The House of Representatives has how many voting members?
- Answer: 435
- Responses: 14, 71% correct.
Q 5: The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
- Answer: James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and Publius (which was a pseudonym used by all three writers.)
- Responses: 14, 50% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 10 (4/4/24)
Q 1: What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
- Answer: The Bill of Rights.
- Responses: 6. 100% correct.
Q 2: How many amendments does the Constitution have?
- Answer: Twenty-seven (27)
- Responses: 6, 50% correct.
Q 3: What is the “rule of law”?
- Answer: Everyone must follow the law. Government must obey the law. Leaders must obey the law. No one is above the law.
- Responses: 5. 60% correct.
Q 4: Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?
- Answer: John Roberts (as of 4/15/24)
- Responses: 6, 100% correct.
Q 5: What is one reason colonists came to America?
- Answer: Freedom, religious or political liberty, economic opportunity, to escape persecution.
- Responses: 6, 100% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 9 (3/28/24)
Q 1: During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
- Answer: Communism
- Responses:14, 100% correct.
Q 2: What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?
- Answer: Pacific
- Responses: 14, 100% correct.
Q 3: What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
- Answer: Atlantic
- Responses: 14, 100% correct.
Q 4::Who was President during World War I?
- Answer: Woodrow Wilson
- Responses: 14, 86% correct.
Q 5: What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
- Answer: Vote, join a political party, help with a campaign, join a civic or community group, give an elected official your opinion on an issue, call Senators and Representatives, publicly support or oppose an issue or policy, run for office, or write to a newspaper.
- Responses: 14, 86% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 8 (3/21/24)
Q 1: What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?
- Answer: Fought for civil rights, worked for equality for all Americans.
- Responses: 15, 100% correct.
Q 2: What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
- Answer: U.S. diplomat, oldest member of the Constitutional Convention, first Postmaster General of the U.S.A, writer of “Poor Richard’s Almanac”, and he started the first free libraries.
- Responses: 15. 93% correct.
Proctor's comment: Ben Franklin did not create the light bulb and he did invent bifocal glasses.
Q 3: Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
- Answer Thomas Jefferson.(per government website.)
- Responses: 15. 93% correct.
Proctor's comment: T.J. is generally credited as the author but it was drafted by a committee including himself, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Roger Sherman and Robert R. Livingston.
Q 4: Where is the Statue of Liberty?
- Answer: New York Harbor or Liberty Island. Also acceptable: New Jersey or Hudson River.
- Responses: 15, 87% correct.
Q 5: When was the Constitution written?
- Answer: 1787
- Responses: 15, 20% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 7 (3/14/24)
Q 1: The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
- Answer: We the People
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Q 2: What is an amendment?
- Answer: A change or addition to the Constitution.
- Responses: 13. 92% correct.
Q 3: What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
- Answer: Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.
- Responses: 12, 58% correct.
Proctor's comment: Those who answered 'incorrectly' actually gave the correct answers for where the Constitution limits government from abusing or infringing upon our rights. Think of our God-given rights described in the Declaration of Independence as a open field and the Bill of Rights Amendments to the Constitution as being fences to keep government in its rightful place.
Q 4: Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now?
- Answer: Josh Hawley, Eric Schmitt
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Q 5: There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
- Answer: 1) Citizens eighteen (18) and older can vote; 2) you don’t have to pay (a poll tax) to vote; 3) any citizen can vote regardless of gender; and 4) a male citizen of any race can vote
- Responses: 13. 100% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 6 (3/7/24)
Q 1: Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
- Answer: Representing the 13 original colonies.
- Responses 13, 92% correct.
Q 2: Why does the flag have 50 stars?
- Answer: Each star represents a state.
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Q 3: Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
- Answer: Cherokee, Navajo, Sioux, Chippeway, Choctaw, Pueblo, Apache, Iroquois, Creek, Blackfeet, Seminole, Cheyenne, Arawak, Shawnee, Mohegan, Huron, Oneida, Lakota, Crow, Teton, Hopi, and Inuit.
- Responses: 13, 100% correct.
Q 4: Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
- Answer: Slavery, economic reasons, states rights.
- Responses: 13, 92% correct.
Q 5: Who is the “Father of Our Country”?
- Answer: George Washington.
- Responses:13, 100% correct..
Citizenship Test No. 5 (2/29/24)
Q 1: Name one state that borders Canada.
- Answer: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington and Alaska.
- Responses: 14, 93% correct.
Q 2: Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
- Answer: American Indians, Native Americans
- Responses: 14, 100% correct..
Q 3: What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
- Answer: Give up loyalty to other countries, defend the Constitution and laws of the United States, obey the laws of the United States, serve in the U.S. military (if needed,) serve (do important work for) the nation (if needed,) and be loyal to the United States.
- Responses: 14, 100% correct.
Q 4: What are two Cabinet-level positions?
- Answer: Agriculture, Commerce, Defense, Energy, Education, Health and Human Services, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development, Interior, Labor, State, Transportation, Treasury, Veterans Affairs, Attorney General, and Vice President.
- Responses: 14, 93% correct.
Q 5: Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?
- Answer: The President.
- Responses: 14, 100% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 4 (2/22/24)
Q 1: Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
- Answer: (Franklin) Roosevelt
- Responses: 12, 92% correct.
Q 2: What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
- Answer: the Louisiana Territory or Louisiana
- Responses: 12, 92% correct.
Q 3: Name one right only for United States citizens.
- Answer: Vote in a federal election. Run for federal office.
- Responses: 12, 42% correct.
- Proctor's comment: The 'incorrect' replies gave rights defined under the first ten amendments and these are considered natural rights. In other words, the government can bar you from voting or running for office but it should not be able to suppress rights such as freedom of assembly or free speech, Do you see why tens of thousands of volunteers with COS do what they do?
Q 4: Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?
- Answer: Print money, declare war, create an army, and make treaties.
- Responses: 12, 58% correct.
Q 5: Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?
- Answer: Provide schooling and education, provide protection (police,) provide safety (fire departments,) give a driver’s license, and approve zoning and land use/
- Responses: 12, 58% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 3 (2/15/24)
Q 1: Name two national U.S. holidays.
- Answer: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Labor Day, Columbus Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving and Christmas.
- Responses: 22, 100% correct.
Q 2: Name one U.S. territory.
- Answer: Puerto Rico, U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands and Guam.
- Responses: 22, 100% correct.
Q 3: Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
- Answer: Missouri and Mississippi
- Responses: 22, 100% correct.
Q 4: Who did the United States fight in World War II?
- Answer: Japan, Germany, and Italy
- Responses: 22, 50% correct.
Q 5: What is the capital of your state?
- Answer: Jefferson City for Missouri
- Responses: 22. 93% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 2 (2/8/24)
Q 1: What does the Constitution do?
- Answer: Sets up and defines the government, protects basic rights of Americans.
- Responses: 27, 93% correct.
Q 2: What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
- Answer: Speech, religion, assembly, press, petition the government.
- Responses: 28, 100% correct.
Q 3: What does the judicial branch do?
- Answer: Reviews and explains laws, resolves disputes and determines if laws are Constitutional.
- Responses: 27, 93% correct.
Q 4: What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
- Answer: Serve on a jury, vote in federal elections.
- Responses: 27, 85% correct.
Q 5: What is the name of the national anthem?
- Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner.
- Responses: 28, 100% correct.
Citizenship Test No. 1 (2/1/24)
Q 1: What is the supreme law of the land?
- Answer; The U.S. Constitution.
- Responses: 15, 73% correct.
Q 2: How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
- Answer: 18 years old.
- Responses: 15, 87% correct.
Q 3: There were 13 original states. Name three.
- Answer: Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Massachusetts, Maryland, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Virginia.
- Responses: 15, 93% correct.
Q 4: Who was the first President?
- Answer: George Washington
- Responses: 15, 100% correct.
Q 5: Name one state that borders Mexico.
- Answer: Arizona, California, New Mexico or Texas.
- Responses: 15, 100% correct.
