Citizenship Exam Prep
Which US civics test you take depends on your N-400 filing date. 2008 version: 100 questions, 10 asked, 6 to pass. 2025 version: 128 questions, 20 asked, 12 to pass.
If you are preparing for the US naturalization interview in 2026, the first thing to establish is which civics test you will take. USCIS has two versions in use. They draw from different question pools, ask a different number of questions, and have different pass marks. Studying the wrong pool is the most avoidable mistake an applicant can make, and it happens because most study material online still describes only the older test.
| 2008 civics test | 2025 civics test | |
|---|---|---|
| Question pool | 100 questions | 128 questions |
| Questions asked at the interview | up to 10 | up to 20 |
| Correct answers to pass | 6 | 12 |
| Format | oral | oral |
| Who takes it | N-400 filed before 20 October 2025 | N-400 filed on or after 20 October 2025 |
The date that matters is the date USCIS received your Form N-400, printed on your receipt notice, not the date of your interview. Your interview notice should also state which version applies. If anything is unclear, the authoritative source is the USCIS website (uscis.gov), and it is worth checking again shortly before your interview, because the agency has changed test policy more than once in the past five years.
The 2008 test has been the standard for most of the last two decades. The pool is the familiar 100 questions: the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, the three branches of government, American history from colonial times through the Civil Rights movement, geography and national symbols. At the interview the officer asks up to 10 of them and stops once you have answered 6 correctly. Some answers change with elections and appointments (the President, the Speaker of the House, your state's senators), so those must be checked before your interview date.
CivicPass's 100 civics questions with answers is the full pool with explanations, and the free USCIS practice quiz drills it in 20 series of 10.
The 2025 civics test is, in structure, the 2020 test that USCIS briefly introduced and then withdrew, brought back for applications filed on or after 20 October 2025. The pool grows to 128 questions. The officer asks up to 20 and you must answer 12 correctly; the officer stops early once you reach 12 correct or 9 incorrect. The topics are the same five themes, but the pool adds questions that ask for reasons and consequences rather than names and dates: why the colonists fought the British, what the purpose of a specific amendment is, what a particular institution does. Several of the older questions are reworded to require two or three items in the answer instead of one.
The practical effect is that the 2025 test rewards understanding over memorisation. If you learned the 2008 answers as isolated facts, you will find the new pool harder; if you learned the reasoning behind them, the new pool is mostly a longer version of the same material.
Same five themes, different question. The 2008 test asks who; the 2025 test more often asks why.
The free CivicPass practice quiz runs 20 series of 10 USCIS questions with instant feedback and explanations. No signup.
Start the free USCIS practice quizThe only authoritative list of questions and acceptable answers is the one USCIS publishes, and the agency updates answers when officeholders change. Study guides, including CivicPass, mirror that list and add explanations; when a study guide and USCIS disagree, USCIS is right. Before your interview, confirm your test version on your interview notice and re-check the current-officeholder answers on uscis.gov.
For the full process from eligibility to the oath, read how to become a US citizen. For what the interview itself feels like, minute by minute, see the USCIS citizenship interview: what to expect. And for the complete study pool with explanations, the US naturalization test guide is the place to start; CivicPass, free on iOS and Android, carries both question pools offline with timed mock interviews.
It depends on the date USCIS received your Form N-400. Applications filed on or after 20 October 2025 take the 2025 version (128 questions in the pool, up to 20 asked, 12 correct to pass). Applications filed before that date take the 2008 version (100 questions, up to 10 asked, 6 correct to pass). Check your receipt notice and the USCIS website for your case.
12 of up to 20. The officer stops asking once you have answered 12 correctly, or once you have answered 9 incorrectly, so the interview can end early either way.
No. Both versions are oral. A USCIS officer reads each question aloud and you answer in your own words. There is no answer sheet, which is why practising out loud matters.
You get a second opportunity, usually within 60 to 90 days of the first interview, and you only retake the part you failed (civics or English). Failing the second time results in a denial, after which you can request a hearing or file a new N-400.