The 2025 Citizenship Test Is Longer: What Changed and How to Study for It
If USCIS received your N-400 on or after October 20, 2025, you'll take a longer civics test: up to 20 questions from a bank of 128, with 12 correct answers needed to pass. Here is how it works and how to prepare.
Published Last updated 4 min read
Not legal advice. This article is general information only. It is not legal advice, and it does not create an attorney–client relationship. Do not rely on it to decide what to do in your own case. Immigration rules change, so confirm current requirements at uscis.gov and talk to a licensed immigration attorney or DOJ-accredited representative.
In this article
Which civics test you take depends on one date. If you filed your Form N-400 on or after October 20, 2025, you take the 2025 civics test. If you filed earlier, you stay on the 2008 test: a bank of 100 questions, 10 asked, 6 correct to pass.
The 2025 test is bigger in the ways that matter to someone studying for it. This article covers what changed, how the officer decides when to stop, and how to study without wasting time on the wrong material. Everything below comes from USCIS's own policy guidance and study materials, current as of September 21, 2026.
The numbers, side by side
- Question bank: 128 questions (was 100)
- Questions the officer asks: up to 20 (was 10)
- Correct answers to pass: 12 (was 6)
- Format: oral. The officer asks, you answer out loud
The pass mark is still 60 percent: 12 of 20 is the same proportion as 6 of 10. What went up is how much you have to know. You are now responsible for 128 answers instead of 100, and there is less room for a lucky draw of easy questions to carry you.
When the officer stops asking
The officer stops as soon as you have answered 12 questions correctly, or missed 9. Nine misses ends the test as a fail, because with 9 wrong you can no longer reach 12 out of 20. If you get your first 12 right, the civics portion is over after 12 questions.
One wrong answer does not end anything. Panicking after a miss is the more common way people lose this test than the miss itself.
You also get two chances. USCIS's rules give an applicant two opportunities to pass the English and civics tests before the application is denied: the test at your interview, and a re-examination if you don't pass the first time.
If you are 65 or older with 20 years as a permanent resident
Applicants who are 65 or older and have been lawful permanent residents for at least 20 years get special consideration. You study only the 20 questions marked with an asterisk on USCIS's list. The officer asks 10 of those 20, and you need 6 correct. You may also take the civics test in the language of your choice.
What is actually on the test
USCIS's list of 128 questions splits into three areas:
- American government, 72 questions. This includes principles of government (15), how the system works (47), and rights and responsibilities (10).
- American history, 46 questions. The colonial period and independence (17), the 1800s (10), and recent American history and other important historical information (19).
- Symbols and holidays, 10 questions.
The single biggest block is the 47 questions on how the government works, more than a third of the whole bank. It covers the three branches, the two parts of Congress, and who elects the people in them. If you are short on time, that is where studying pays off most.
Some answers depend on who holds office, or where you live
A few questions have answers that change. Question 30, for example, asks for the name of the Speaker of the House. USCIS says you must answer with the official serving at the time of your naturalization interview, and it posts changes on its Check for Test Updates page. Look at that page in the days before your interview, since interviews get rescheduled. Question 29 asks you to name your U.S. representative, which depends on where you live.
How to study
- Use USCIS's current materials. The 128-question list (form M-1778) and the study guide "One Nation, One People (2025 Version)" are both free on the 2025 civics test page. The list is labeled M-1778 (09/25) at the top. Older 100-question lists still circulating online are for the 2008 test.
- Say the answers out loud. The test is oral. Studying by reading silently and then answering aloud for the first time in front of an officer is a bad way to find out you stumble on "popular sovereignty."
- Learn USCIS's wording. USCIS notes there may be additional correct answers to some questions, but encourages applicants to answer with the ones on its list. Where a question says "name two" or "name three," give that many.
- Pace it. Four weeks at five or six new questions a day, with a daily review of what you learned before, covers all 128. If you qualify for the 65/20 rule, you have 20 questions to learn.
- Quiz each other. Have someone read questions in random order. On the day, the officer will not go in the order of the list.
If you don't understand a question, you can ask the officer to repeat it. A wrong guess and silence count the same, so answering is never worse than not answering.
The test is not the only change
When USCIS announced the new test on September 17, 2025, it described it as the first of several changes to naturalization. The announcement said officers will assess an applicant's positive contributions as part of good moral character, that neighborhood investigations are resuming, and that unlawful voting, unlawful voter registration, and false claims of citizenship will automatically show a lack of good moral character. If you have any of those issues in your history, that is a conversation to have with a licensed immigration attorney before you file, not after you get an interview notice.
