Not all naturalization
applicants can take the pilot
naturalization test. Only certain
applicants interviewing at a few USCIS
locations during the pilot period can
take it. USCIS will mail letters to
applicants who can take the test pilot
several weeks before their interview
date. Applicants who do not receive such
a letter should prepare to take the
current naturalization test. Information
on the current naturalization test can
be found on pages 56-62 of A Guide
to Naturalization. For additional
materials you can use to prepare for the
current naturalization test, please see
the related links to the right.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration
Services (USCIS) plans to pilot 142 U.S.
history and government questions in
connection with the naturalization test
redesign project. USCIS will administer
the pilot test to about 6,000 volunteer
citizenship applicants in 10 cities
beginning in early 2007.
USCIS included new questions that
focus on the concepts of democracy and
the rights and responsibilities of
citizenship. In designing the new test,
USCIS received assistance and worked
with test development contractors, U.S.
history and government scholars, and
English as a Second Language experts.
USCIS also sought input from a variety
of stakeholders, including immigrant
advocacy groups, citizenship instructors
and District Adjudications Officers.
The pilot will allow USCIS to work
out any problems and refine the test
before it is fully implemented
nationwide in the spring of 2008.
During the trial period, volunteer
applicants who choose to take the pilot
test can immediately take the current
test if they incorrectly answer a pilot
question. To pass, applicants will have
to correctly answer six of 10 selected
questions. The 10 pilot test sites are:
Albany, NY; Boston, MA; Charleston, SC;
Denver, CO; El Paso, TX; Kansas City,
MO; Miami, FL; San Antonio, TX; Tucson,
AZ; and Yakima, WA.
*If you are 65 years old
or older and have been a legal permanent
resident of the United States for 20 or
more years, you may study just the
questions that have been marked with an
asterisk.
Citizenship Pilot Test
Questions
Click Here for Answers
AMERICAN GOVERNMENT
A: Principles of American Democracy
1. Name one important idea found in
the Declaration of Independence.
2. What is the supreme law of the
land? *
3. What does the Constitution do?
4. What does “We the People” mean in
the Constitution?
5. What do we call changes to the
Constitution?
6. What is an amendment?
7. What do we call the first ten
amendments to the Constitution?
8. Name one right or freedom from the
First Amendment. *
9. How many amendments does the
Constitution have?
10. What did the Declaration of
Independence do?
11. What does freedom of religion
mean?
12. What type of economic system does
the U.S. have?
B: System of Government
13. What are the three branches or
parts of the government?
14. Name one branch or part of the
government.
15. Who is in charge of the executive
branch?
16. Who makes federal laws?
17. What are the two parts of the
United States Congress?
18. How many United States Senators
are there?
19. We elect a U.S. Senator for how
many years? *
20. Name your state’s two U.S.
Senators. *
21. How many U.S. Senators does each
state have?
22. The House of Representatives has how
many voting members? *
23. We elect a U.S. Representative
for how many years?
24. Name your U.S. Representative.
25. Who does a U.S. Senator represent?
26. Who does a U.S. Representative
represent?
27. What decides each state’s number of
U.S. Representatives?
28. How is each state’s number of
Representatives decided?
29. Why do we have three branches of
government? *
30. Name one example of checks and
balances.
31. We elect a President for how many
years?
32. How old must a President be?
33. To become President of the United
States, what must the person be at
birth?
34. Who is the President now?
35. What is the name of the President of
the United States?
36. Who is the Vice President now?
37. What is the name of the Vice
President of the United States?
38. If the President can no longer
serve, who becomes President?
39. Who becomes President if both the
President and the Vice President can no
longer serve?
40. Who is the Commander-in-Chief of the
military?
41. How many full terms can a President
serve?
42. Who signs bills to become laws?
43. Who vetoes bills?
44. What is a veto?
45. What does the President’s Cabinet
do? *
46. Name two Cabinet-level positions.
47. What Cabinet-level agency advises
the President on foreign policy?
48. What does the judicial branch do? *
49. Who confirms Supreme Court justices?
50. Who is the Chief Justice of the
United States?
51. How many justices are on the Supreme
Court?
52. Who nominates justices to the
Supreme Court?
53. Name one thing only the federal
government can do.
54. What is one thing a state government
can do?
55. What does it mean that the U.S.
Constitution is a constitution of
limited powers?
56. Who is the Governor of your state?
57. What is the capital (or capital
city) of your state?
58. What are the two major political
parties in the U.S. today?
59. What is the highest court in the
U.S.?
60. What is the majority political party
in the House of Representatives now? *
61. What is the political party of the
majority in the Senate now?
62. What is the political party of the
President now?
63. Who is the Speaker of the House of
Representatives now?
64. Who is the Senate Majority Leader
now? *
65. In what month are general
presidential elections held in the
United States?
66. When must all males register for the
Selective Service?
67. Who is the Secretary of State now?
68. Who is the Attorney General now?
69. Is the current President in his
first or second term? *
C: Rule of Law
70. What is self-government?
71. Who governs the people in a
self-governed country?
72. What is the “rule of law”?
73. What are “inalienable rights”?
D: Rights and Responsibilities
74. There are four amendments to the
Constitution about who can vote.
Describe one of them.
75. Name one responsibility that is only
for United States citizens.
76. Name two rights that are only for
United States citizens.
77. Name two rights of everyone living
in the U.S.
78. What is the Pledge of Allegiance?
79. Name one promise you make when you
say the Oath of Allegiance.
80. Who can vote in the U.S.
presidential elections?
81. Name two ways that Americans can
participate in their democracy.
82. When is the last day you can send in
federal income tax forms?
83. Name two of the natural, or
inalienable, rights in the Declaration
of Independence.
AMERICAN HISTORY
84. Who wrote the Declaration of
Independence?
85. When was the Declaration of
Independence adopted?
86. Name one reason why the colonists
came to America?
87. What happened at the Constitutional
Convention? *
88. Why did the colonists fight the
British?
89. When was the Constitution drafted?
90. There are 13 original states. Name
three.
91. What group of people was taken to
America and sold as slaves?
92. Who lived in America before the
Europeans arrived?
93. Where did most of America’s
colonists come from before the
Revolution? *
94. Why were the colonists upset with
the British government?
95. Name one thing Benjamin Franklin is
famous for.
96. Who is called the “Father of Our
Country”?
97. Who was the first President?
98. Name one of the writers of the
Federalist Papers? *
99. What group of essays supported
passage of the U.S. Constitution?
B: 1800s
100. Name one war fought by the
United States in the 1800s. *
101. What territory did the United
States buy from France in 1803?
102. What country sold the Louisiana
Territory to the United States?
103. In 1803, the United States bought a
large amount of land from France. Where
was that land?
104. Name one of the things that Abraham
Lincoln did.
105. Name the U.S. war between the North
and the South. *
106. Name one problem that led to the
Civil War.
107. What did the Emancipation
Proclamation do?
108. What did the abolitionists try to
end before the Civil War?
109. What did Susan B. Anthony do?
C: Recent American History and Other
Important Historical Information
110. Name one war fought by the
United States in the 1900s.
111. Who was President during World War
I?
112. The United States fought Japan,
Germany, and Italy during which war?
113. What was the main concern of the
United States during the Cold War?
114. What major event happened on
September 11, 2001, in the United
States?
115. What international organization was
established after World War II (WWII) to
keep the world at peace?
116. What alliance of North America and
European countries was created during
the Cold War?
117. Who was President during the Great
Depression and World War II? *
118. Which U.S. World War II general
later became President?
119. What did Martin Luther King, Jr.
do?
120. Martin Luther King, Jr. had a dream
for America. What was his dream?
121. What movement tried to end racial
discrimination?
122. Name one of the major American
Indian tribes in the United States.
INTEGRATED CIVICS
A: Geography
123. Name one of the two longest
rivers in the United States.
124. What ocean is on the west coast of
the United States?
125. What country is on the northern
border of the United States?
126. Where is the Grand Canyon?
127. Where is the Statue of Liberty?
128. What country is on the southern
border of the United States?
129. Name one large mountain range in
the United States.
130. What is the tallest mountain in the
United States?
131. Name one U.S. territory.
132. Name the state that is in the
middle of the Pacific Ocean.
133. Name one state that borders Canada.
*
134. Name one state that borders on
Mexico.
135. What is the capital of the U.S.?
B: Symbols
136. Why does the flag have 13
stripes?
137. Why do we have 13 stripes on the
flag? *
138. Why does the flag have 50 stars?
139. What is the name of the National
Anthem?
C: Holidays
140. On the Fourth of July we
celebrate independence from what
country?
141. When do we celebrate Independence
Day?
142. Name two national U.S. holidays.