Can you Pass the Canadian Citizenship Test?

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Good job I have no desire to move to the land of cold or flies (or both)

What a bunch of weird questions. Still, I guess the UK citizenship test (do we actually have one? or is getting out of a dinghy at Dover suffficient?) would be full of equally weird questions I would know the answer to but still wouldn't consider relevant to whether I would make a good citizen of the UK.

eh.

You made me look!

The all-new British citizenship test – take the quiz (It's 0ver ten years old but what the heck.)

You got...8/10
Congratulations – you are safely over the 75% hurdle. You have passed the Britishness test

Enjoy!

 

[Ziggurat]

My reaction is that the test-makers need to seriously reconsider their idea of what makes a Canadian citizen.

My reaction is that the actual citizenship test isn’t administered like a pop quiz, but the polling test is, making this an apples to oranges comparison.

It’s a separate question of how useful the test is in sorting out who is qualified to become a citizen, but this unequal comparison doesn’t tell us anything about that.

 

[rjh01]

You made me look!

The all-new British citizenship test – take the quiz (It's 0ver ten years old but what the heck.)



Enjoy!

I got 9/10. I can remain a British citizen. I only got this question wrong

Which of these sporting events was hosted in London in 2012?

 

[jeremyp]

I got 9/10. I can remain a British citizen. I only got this question wrong

10/10.

Not sure how you managed to get the sporting event wrong unless you answered too quickly.

 

[Lplus]

You made me look!

The all-new British citizenship test – take the quiz (It's 0ver ten years old but what the heck.)



Enjoy!

Thanks - 9/10 Got Jury age wrong.

Yep a bunch weird questions, none of which I would consider a test of a good citizen...

 

[jeremyp]

If you are thinking off leaving your current domocile and moving to Canada, you can practice the test here:

Canadian Citizenship Test



As a British Subject I did not have to take the test. Just swear allegiance to Her Majesty to get my citizenship card.

I only got 19 out of twenty on the test but in real life I would have reread my answers and noticed an "All of the Above" for one question that dithered over.

However,

Actually, you are almost certainly not a British subject. That's a specific legal category that applies only to a few people retrospectively.

https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-subject

Although as a Canadian, you might be one of those few people.

 

[Gord_in_Toronto]

Actually, you are almost certainly not a British subject. That's a specific legal category that applies only to a few people retrospectively.

https://www.gov.uk/types-of-british-nationality/british-subject

Although as a Canadian, you might be one of those few people.

Gark! Apparently I was not a British Subject but was a British subject. (This was all a very long time ago.)

 

[TragicMonkey]

Gark! Apparently I was not a British Subject but was a British subject. (This was all a very long time ago.)

Better than being a British object, I guess. British objects are: cups of tea, TARDISes, red telephone booths, spotted dick, and Mrs Slocombe's pussy. An eclectic crowd, and venerable, but not one you'd particularly want to showcase being part of.

 

[Segnosaur]

What a bunch of weird questions.

What questions do you consider 'weird'?

Seems like some basic questions on things like geography, the economy, history and politics, most of which might be useful to know for a Canadian citizen who will be working (and voting) in Canada.

 

[Segnosaur]

I got 18/20.

Admittedly I guessed at one of the questions I got right:

Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine

The 2 that I got wrong to me were:

I said the peace tower was built to honor the fathers of confederation, but it was to honor soldiers from WW1. That should have been obvious, given the name

I said the federal court handled 'all of the above' (serious crimes, matters affecting the federal gov, trade policy) when it really only handles matters affecting the gov. (I had assumed trade issues would be under the jurristiction of the federal court.)

 

[Lplus]

What questions do you consider 'weird'?

Seems like some basic questions on things like geography, the economy, history and politics, most of which might be useful to know for a Canadian citizen who will be working (and voting) in Canada.

Useful yes, but do you think knowing that sort of detail is evidence of being a good, law abiding tax paying and industrious citizen who gives allegence to The institution of Canada?

Not convinced, but if you think they're such evidence, then fine.

To be honest, I'm not sure what questions would actually provide such evidence, but I suppose the authorities have to put together some sort of questionaire.

 

[Segnosaur]

You made me look!

The all-new British citizenship test – take the quiz (It's 0ver ten years old but what the heck.)

You got...8/10
Congratulations – you are safely over the 75% hurdle. You have passed the Britishness test

I only got 7/10. Guess I'll have to drink more tea and eat more spotted dick if I want to migrate to the mother country.

 

[theprestige]

It's a good thing you are not taking this seriously.

It's a funny thing. I used to not take it seriously. I'd hear stories about Americans not being able to pass an American citizenship test, and it kinda bugged me, but whatever.

Now that you've brought it (back) to my attention, though, I think it probably should be taken seriously. Citizenship is a serious thing. Why are the Canadian test-writers writing a test that most Canadians can't pass? That can't be what defines citizenship, if most Canadians don't meet that definition. That seems like a serious problem. Not, thankfully, a major problem, but still a serious one.

Conversely, if this is the definition of Canadian, why aren't Canadian schools teaching it? That seems like a bigger problem than the test itself.

 

[Lplus]

It's a funny thing. I used to not take it seriously. I'd hear stories about Americans not being able to pass an American citizenship test, and it kinda bugged me, but whatever.

Now that you've brought it (back) to my attention, though, I think it probably should be taken seriously. Citizenship is a serious thing. Why are the Canadian test-writers writing a test that most Canadians can't pass? That can't be what defines citizenship, if most Canadians don't meet that definition. That seems like a serious problem. Not, thankfully, a major problem, but still a serious one.

Conversely, if this is the definition of Canadian, why aren't Canadian schools teaching it? That seems like a bigger problem than the test itself.

So what questions would you ask to determine if a person would make a good citizen of the US? I'm darned if I can think of a fool proof set for the UK, any better luck for the US?

 

[Segnosaur]

Useful yes, but do you think knowing that sort of detail is evidence of being a good, law abiding tax paying and industrious citizen who gives allegence to The institution of Canada?

Not convinced, but if you think they're such evidence, then fine.

To be honest, I'm not sure what questions would actually provide such evidence, but I suppose the authorities have to put together some sort of questionaire.

It is true that passing the test is no guarantee a person would be a "good citizen". A person could pass the test but still make a living stealing candy from babies, whereas someone who failed the test might have been a hard worker who would have done quite well.

But then, that is not the only factor Canada uses when deciding who can move here. We do various background checks, and also vet potential immigrants based on their educational and skill levels.

And if all other factors are considered, if you have 2 potential citizens with equal skill levels, equally clean background checks, etc., we are better off to let someone immigrate if they can pass the citizenship quiz than if they can't.

 

[Darat]

15. With a couple of intelligent (yeah I types that) guesses.

 

[Ivor the Engineer]

A poor 11 (given my wife is Canadian) but where was the question about which is the best Timbit to have with a Double Double, Eh?

 

[Darat]

It is true that passing the test is no guarantee a person would be a "good citizen". A person could pass the test but still make a living stealing candy from babies, whereas someone who failed the test might have been a hard worker who would have done quite well.

But then, that is not the only factor Canada uses when deciding who can move here. We do various background checks, and also vet potential immigrants based on their educational and skill levels.

And if all other factors are considered, if you have 2 potential citizens with equal skill levels, equally clean background checks, etc., we are better off to let someone immigrate if they can pass the citizenship quiz than if they can't.

The purpose of these types of "tests" is to demonstrate you know something about the country you are seeking citizenship of, as you say they are not meant to check for how "good" a citizen you are going to be, there are other checks for that.

Of course, what they tend to do, if they are created by politicians, is to highlight what they consider to be important, usually with a dash of whatever flavour of populism they want to promote.

 

[theprestige]

So what questions would you ask to determine if a person would make a good citizen of the US? I'm darned if I can think of a fool proof set for the UK, any better luck for the US?

A good citizen? I have no opinion about that. A naturalized citizen on par with the majority of born citizens? I can think of a couple ways to go about it.

One way is, test what's taught. Survey your citizens on a wide range of civics and geography subjects. Whatever the majority of current citizens know, write a test of that knowledge.

Another way is, teach what's tested. For that, you can even keep the current test. Just make sure your educational system really locks in that particular collection of national trivia by the time the majority of students graduate.

---

My guess is the test writers are half-assing some middle ground approach: Testing a selection of civics and geography material from the elementary school curricula, and naively assuming it's stuff most people would therefore know.

The truth is, the vast majority of what we're taught in school has little practical value, and need not be retained past the final exam. Nobody needs to know what the capital of anything is, off the top of their head. Very few people think about how taxation actually works, or what their representative actually does. Where Canadia ranks in terms of land area is completely inconsequential trivia.

Asking adults to reach back and remember a bunch of elementary school civics trivia, information that doesn't inform their daily lives, that they don't have to exercise regularly, is a fool's game. Now, if this were to be locked in with mnemonics and other didactic tools, to make sure the information was retained, whether it gets regular exercise or not, it would be a different matter.

I suppose that testing the elementary school civics and geography curricula will be the more attractive approach. But that would put a lot of burden on Canadian educators, to really up their game. For that and other reasons, I favor the approach of just testing what's actually known. Find out what Canadiana is actually retained by Canadians, and make the standard.

 

[theprestige]

So what questions would you ask to determine if a person would make a good citizen of the US? I'm darned if I can think of a fool proof set for the UK, any better luck for the US?

A good citizen? I have no opinion about that. A naturalized citizen on par with the majority of born citizens? I can think of a couple ways to go about it.

One way is, test what's taught. Survey your citizens on a wide range of civics and geography subjects. Whatever the majority of current citizens know, write a test of that knowledge.

Another way is, teach what's tested. For that, you can even keep the current test. Just make sure your educational system really locks in that particular collection of national trivia by the time the majority of students graduate.

---

My guess is the test writers are half-assing some middle ground approach: Testing a selection of civics and geography material from the elementary school curricula, and naively assuming it's stuff most people would therefore know.

The truth is, the vast majority of what we're taught in school has little practical value, and need not be retained past the final exam. Nobody needs to know what the capital of anything is, off the top of their head. Very few people think about how taxation actually works, or what their representative actually does. Where Canadia ranks in terms of land area is completely inconsequential trivia.

Asking adults to reach back and remember a bunch of elementary school civics trivia, information that doesn't inform their daily lives, that they don't have to exercise regularly, is a fool's game. Now, if this were to be locked in with mnemonics and other didactic tools, to make sure the information was retained, whether it gets regular exercise or not, it would be a different matter.

I suppose that testing the elementary school civics and geography curricula will be the more attractive approach. But that would put a lot of burden on Canadian educators, to really up their game. For that and other reasons, I favor the approach of just testing what's actually known. Find out what Canadiana is actually retained by Canadians, and make that the standard.