U.S. Unveils New Citizenship Test

WASHINGTON — Do you know the name of the current speaker of the House? Or why the United States flag has 13 stripes? Or the role of the president's cabinet?

If you want to become a U.S. citizen, you must learn the answers to these and 97 other questions in a new citizenship test unveiled Thursday by the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

Emilio Gonzalez, director of the agency, said the new questions are designed to be more profound and test knowledge of basic civic concepts essential to being an American.

"The questions are more about meaning and understanding than rote memorization," he said.

In a pilot program in 10 cities, 142 questions were tested by volunteer immigrant applicants. The questions that showed higher failure rates and did not include basic historical and civic concepts were either changed to make the language clearer or tossed out, USCIS officials said.

Several questions ask for more meaningful answers than the current exam. For example, the old test asks, "What country did we fight during the Revolutionary War?" The new test changes the question to, "Why did the colonists fight the British?"

However, a few questions on the new test appear to be simpler. For example, in the current exam, immigrants are asked to name the two U.S. senators from their state and in the new test, only one.

Alfonso Aguilar, chief of the USCIS Office of Citizenship, said the test is designed to have a high success rate and includes fundamental knowledge of U.S. government and history.

Immigrants have to study the 100 questions for the test. When they take it, however, they will be asked only 10 questions and have to answer six correctly to pass. They also have to a read a sentence in English and write a sentence given to them.

In the pilot program, 92.4 percent of immigrants passed the citizenship test on the first try. Currently, the average is 84 percent.

Gonzalez said that the higher success rate resulted from immigrants having to study harder to answer the more meaningful questions.

Fred Tsao, policy director at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights and an expert on naturalization tests, said he was disappointed with the new questions because they included more complex concepts that are difficult to teach.

He said the new test — and the recent fee hike for citizenship applications — constitute "a significant obstacle" to many immigrants obtaining U.S. citizenship. Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials, said that many of the topics covered by the new test — such as basic information about the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and how our government functions — are the same as the current exam.

But, he added, the new test includes new areas, including questions about U.S. geography and Cabinet-level positions in the federal government.

"It is important that the USCIS work closely with public and private educators and community-based organizations to ensure that newcomers are fully prepared to take the new test when it is implemented next year," Vargas said.

Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, a think tank that supports stronger immigration controls, said the new test is "a good thing" and a step in the right direction to make sure legal immigrants assimilate into American culture.

"This definitely seems to be a sensible move. They're getting their act together, at least in this regard," he said.

The new test will be implemented in one year, to give immigrant advocate groups, English as a Second Language schools and other adult education facilities time to develop new materials to prepare immigrants for the test.

Aguilar said that USCIS would develop educational materials in print and online to assist teachers and would conduct 8 to 10 regional seminars to help educators prepare for the new exam.

"This is not going to happen overnight," he said.

The pilot program cities included Albany, N.Y.; Boston; Charleston, S.C.; Denver; El Paso, Texas; Kansas City; Miami; San Antonio, Texas; Tucson, Ariz.; and Yakima, Wash.

More than half of the participants in the pilot program were Hispanic, Aguilar said.

More than 98 percent of immigrants from North America passed the exam; 96 percent of those from Europe; 95 percent of immigrants from South America; 94 percent of Asian immigrants; 93 percent of immigrants from Africa; 93 percent of immigrants from the Caribbean; and 85 percent of those from Central America.

The government spent $6.5 million over seven years to redevelop the citizenship test.

On the Web:

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services: www.uscis.gov