Citizenship test - are you in or out?

[the-e-dealer]

I got 14 SO I am off back to Romford. IS IT THE GOVERNMENT OR THE GUARDIAN WHO CANT SPELL BYE ELECTION (sic)

[maxxi]

15 - Dammit I knew I should have kept tabs on exactly how many people up to the age of 19 there are in this country - and how many hours we can make the little feckers work!

And I agree with peterstorm - hiding behind the sofa in the dark is a perfectly acceptable answer to "How might you stop young people playing tricks on you at Halloween?"

[the-e-dealer]

Giving them sweets will ENCOURAGE THEM to do it again. Thats why we dont pay ransom for Hostages as the Pirates take more people yet Government Policy on other Crime has changed!

[david_carnell]

16.

Most of my wrong answers were statistic based rather than actual knowledge, in my defence.

Still - I choose the Seychelles to emigrate to.

[Undisputedtruth]

My score was 15.

Since when trick and treat at Halloween became a British way of life?

Well at least I beat Hugo's score.

[Huguenot]

So only DaveR passed?

Some of you will have to bring sleeping bags.

[PeckhamRose]

13. I'm off to New Zealand.

[GSJ57]

I failed too .... only 11 correct. Looks like Huguenot will have to buy a bigger house!

[Annette Curtain]

I'm in though, right ?

[Salsaboy]

16. Mostly guesswork.

[Pickle]

In the actual test I did, one of the questions (multi choice) was "On what date is Christmas day celebrated" :) Granted that was one of the easier ones but it did make me laugh at the time.

[maxxi]

73 - for a bonus point (this means exile is restricted to countries that have beer)

[bonniebird]

9............ thank God for the house in Spain :)) Adios!

[bonniebird]

bonniebird Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> 9............ thank God for the house in Spain :))

> Adios!

Looks like me husbands coming with me 14

[Annette Curtain]

Any more tests coming up H ?

MENSA- 2 letters away from MENTAL

Dokuos-A pointless number game for dyslexics

Nette:-S

[cosmonaut]

I took this test officially earlier this year, scored 23/24 at the time, and redid it now with a fail of 18/24. Sshh, don't tell the Home Office!

There are a HUGE number of other test questions available (they're randomly generated when you do the exam), with some of them even stupider than those listed here (eg, "Which statement is correct? A) The Queen is the heir to the throne B,) Prince Charles is the heir to the throne" and my personal favourite, "True or false: in the UK it is illegal to discriminate against women at work because of their sex").

If they're going to keep this test it really needs a massive rewrite...

[civilservant]

ahem - 15 - fail...

Ian Jack today in Guardian on precisely this subject - http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/oct/14/ian-jack-what-is-britishness-citizenship-test

Having done the test, I can't work out what its aim is. There is a clear bias in favour of people who are able to digest and spew out facts and dates on demand i.e. people with at least a secondary education.

Questions such as "In which year did married women get the right to divorce ... a. 1837 b. 1857 c. 1875 d. 1882" - how do they prove true understanding?

If you were really interested in asking people about their understanding of British culture, you'd want to ask it in a less nit-picky way e.g. : "When did married women get the right to divorce ... a. in the 17th century b. in the 18th century c. in the 19th century d. in the 20th century" - which is probably why native Brits fall down so badly.

[peterstorm1985]

I've finally remembered what this all reminds me of - my history 'O' level. A collection of meaningless facts that I managed to learn off by heart to be spilled out on paper on the day and immediately forgotten.

Who cares when British women got the right to divorce, as long as they have it now? Surely that should be the point of the questions; to judge if someone can take an active and sociable part in our community today.

I'd like to see questions such as,

What places should you expect to queue?

Should you let your dog crap on the pavement and not clean up after it?

Is it OK to spit on the ground?

What are litter bins for?

Is it good to open doors for old people and those carrying heavy objects?

OK, so a few questions on the origins of Bonfire night, and how many days before Christmas you can expect to see Santa in his grotto if you go to Selfridges, won't do any harm but they shouldn't be the deciding factor.

[civilservant]

peterstorm1985 Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> I'd like to see questions such as,

> What places should you expect to queue?

> Should you let your dog crap on the pavement and

> not clean up after it?

> Is it OK to spit on the ground?

> What are litter bins for?

> Is it good to open doors for old people and those

> carrying heavy objects?

>

Not so fast! At that rate a worryingly high proportion of the ED population would find itself consigned to Sangatte as a result of spectacularly bad test scores!

[Moos]

16. Packing a sleeping bag.

I'd be interested to know whether the Guardian were making a point by picking the most obscure questions they could or whether they're genuinely representative of the test. If they are representative, it's an outrageous cheat on the people made to take it. Knowing roughly what % of the population is Muslim is relevant but knowing whether it's 4.2% or 1.6% is irrelevant. Ditto between 13 and 16 million young people, the first year a woman could divorce her husband... rubbish. Bah.

[gabrielnagy]

Scored 17 out of 24, too.

[Pickle]

Moos, those questions are genuinely representative of the test.

[Huguenot]

Yes Pickle - the questions are a direct lift from the 'test before the test' in its entirety. If you pass that one it's considered worthwhile to go on to the formal one, but if you don't pass it's not.

[aquarius moon]

10

(I guessed most & they were still wrong!)