How the civics test works
During your naturalization interview, a USCIS officer asks you up to 10 questions drawn from these 100. You must answer 6 out of 10 correctly to pass. The test is oral — the officer asks, you answer out loud.
- 65/20 rule: if you're 65 or older and have been a permanent resident for 20+ years, you study a shorter set of questions and get special consideration.
- Answers change: questions about current officeholders (President, Vice President, Governor, your representatives) must be answered with whoever holds the office at the time of your interview.
- Based on the 2008 test: these are the 100 civics questions from the USCIS 2008 test version, still in use for naturalization. [VERIFY] USCIS has discussed test updates — confirm the current version at uscis.gov before your interview.
Click any question to reveal the answer. Study tip: learn the starred concepts first, then drill the officeholder questions last (closest to your interview date).
American Government: Principles of Democracy
The ideas the country was founded on. · 12 questions
1. What is the supreme law of the land?
Answer: The Constitution.
2. What does the Constitution do?
Answer: It sets up the government, defines how the government works, and protects Americans' basic rights.
3. The idea of self-government is in the first three words of the Constitution. What are these words?
Answer: “We the People.”
4. What is an amendment?
Answer: A change or addition to the Constitution.
5. What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution?
Answer: The Bill of Rights.
6. What is one right or freedom from the First Amendment?
Answer: Speech (also: religion, assembly, press, or petition the government).
7. How many amendments does the Constitution have?
Answer: Twenty-seven (27).
8. What did the Declaration of Independence do?
Answer: It announced that the colonies were free and independent from Great Britain.
9. What are two rights in the Declaration of Independence?
Answer: Life and liberty (also: pursuit of happiness).
10. What is freedom of religion?
Answer: You can practice any religion, or choose not to practice a religion.
11. What is the economic system in the United States?
Answer: A capitalist (free-market) economy.
12. What is the “rule of law”?
Answer: Everyone must follow the law — leaders, government, and citizens. No one is above it.
American Government: System of Government
How the three branches work. · 35 questions
13. Name one branch or part of the government.
Answer: Congress (legislative), the President (executive), or the courts (judicial).
14. What stops one branch of government from becoming too powerful?
Answer: Checks and balances — the separation of powers.
15. Who is in charge of the executive branch?
Answer: The President.
16. Who makes federal laws?
Answer: Congress — the Senate and the House of Representatives.
17. What are the two parts of the U.S. Congress?
Answer: The Senate and the House of Representatives.
18. How many U.S. Senators are there?
Answer: One hundred (100).
19. We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?
Answer: Six (6).
20. Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now?
Answer: It depends on your state — look up the current senators at senate.gov. [VERIFY]
21. The House of Representatives has how many voting members?
Answer: Four hundred thirty-five (435).
22. We elect a U.S. Representative for how many years?
Answer: Two (2).
23. Name your U.S. Representative.
Answer: It depends on your congressional district — look it up at house.gov. [VERIFY]
24. Who does a U.S. Senator represent?
Answer: All the people of their state.
25. Why do some states have more Representatives than other states?
Answer: Because representation is based on population — more people means more Representatives.
26. We elect a President for how many years?
Answer: Four (4).
27. In what month do we vote for President?
Answer: November.
28. What is the name of the President of the United States now?
Answer: Donald Trump (took office January 2025 — confirm the current officeholder). [VERIFY]
29. What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now?
Answer: JD Vance (took office January 2025 — confirm the current officeholder). [VERIFY]
30. If the President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
Answer: The Vice President.
31. If both the President and the Vice President can no longer serve, who becomes President?
Answer: The Speaker of the House.
32. Who is the Commander in Chief of the military?
Answer: The President.
33. Who signs bills to become laws?
Answer: The President.
34. Who vetoes bills?
Answer: The President.
35. What does the President’s Cabinet do?
Answer: It advises the President.
36. What are two Cabinet-level positions?
Answer: Secretary of State and Secretary of Defense (also: Treasury, Attorney General, Homeland Security, and others).
37. What does the judicial branch do?
Answer: It reviews and explains laws, settles disputes, and decides whether a law goes against the Constitution.
38. What is the highest court in the United States?
Answer: The Supreme Court.
39. How many justices are on the Supreme Court?
Answer: Nine (9).
40. Who is the Chief Justice of the United States now?
Answer: John Roberts (confirm the current Chief Justice). [VERIFY]
41. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the federal government. What is one power of the federal government?
Answer: To print money (also: declare war, create an army, or make treaties).
42. Under our Constitution, some powers belong to the states. What is one power of the states?
Answer: To provide schooling and education (also: police protection, driver’s licenses, or zoning).
43. Who is the Governor of your state now?
Answer: It varies by state — check your state government’s website. [VERIFY]
44. What is the capital of your state?
Answer: It varies by state — look it up on your state government’s website. [VERIFY]
45. What are the two major political parties in the United States?
Answer: Democratic and Republican.
46. What is the political party of the President now?
Answer: Republican (confirm the current President’s party). [VERIFY]
47. What is the name of the Speaker of the House of Representatives now?
Answer: Mike Johnson (confirm the current Speaker). [VERIFY]
American Government: Rights and Responsibilities
What citizenship asks of you. · 10 questions
48. There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
Answer: Citizens eighteen and older can vote (also: no poll tax to vote; any citizen can vote regardless of race; women can vote).
49. What is one responsibility that is only for United States citizens?
Answer: Serve on a jury (also: vote in a federal election).
50. Name one right only for United States citizens.
Answer: Vote in a federal election (also: run for federal office).
51. What are two rights of everyone living in the United States?
Answer: Freedom of speech and freedom of assembly (also: expression, petition, worship, or bear arms).
52. What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?
Answer: The United States and the flag.
53. What is one promise you make when you become a United States citizen?
Answer: Give up loyalty to other countries (also: defend the Constitution, obey U.S. laws, or serve the nation if needed).
54. How old do citizens have to be to vote for President?
Answer: Eighteen (18) and older.
55. What are two ways that Americans can participate in their democracy?
Answer: Vote and join a political party (also: help a campaign, contact elected officials, join a civic group, or run for office).
56. When is the last day you can send in federal income tax forms?
Answer: April 15.
57. When must all men register for the Selective Service?
Answer: At age eighteen (18) — between 18 and 26.
American History: Colonial Period and Independence
How the nation began. · 13 questions
58. What is one reason colonists came to America?
Answer: Freedom (also: religious freedom, political liberty, economic opportunity, or escape from persecution).
59. Who lived in America before the Europeans arrived?
Answer: American Indians (Native Americans).
60. What group of people was taken to America and sold as slaves?
Answer: Africans — people from Africa.
61. Why did the colonists fight the British?
Answer: Because of high taxes and taxation without representation (also: British troops housed in colonists’ homes; no self-government).
62. Who wrote the Declaration of Independence?
Answer: Thomas Jefferson.
63. When was the Declaration of Independence adopted?
Answer: July 4, 1776.
64. There were 13 original states. Name three.
Answer: Any three of: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia.
65. What happened at the Constitutional Convention?
Answer: The Constitution was written.
66. When was the Constitution written?
Answer: 1787.
67. The Federalist Papers supported the passage of the U.S. Constitution. Name one of the writers.
Answer: James Madison (also: Alexander Hamilton or John Jay).
68. What is one thing Benjamin Franklin is famous for?
Answer: U.S. diplomat (also: oldest member of the Constitutional Convention, first Postmaster General, or writer of Poor Richard’s Almanac).
69. Who is the “Father of Our Country”?
Answer: George Washington.
70. Who was the first President?
Answer: George Washington.
American History: 1800s
Expansion, division, and reunification. · 7 questions
71. What territory did the United States buy from France in 1803?
Answer: The Louisiana Territory (Louisiana).
72. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1800s.
Answer: The Civil War (also: War of 1812, Mexican-American War, or Spanish-American War).
73. Name the U.S. war between the North and the South.
Answer: The Civil War (the War between the States).
74. Name one problem that led to the Civil War.
Answer: Slavery (also: economic reasons or states’ rights).
75. What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did?
Answer: He freed the slaves through the Emancipation Proclamation (also: saved/preserved the Union).
76. What did the Emancipation Proclamation do?
Answer: It freed enslaved people in the Confederate states.
77. What did Susan B. Anthony do?
Answer: She fought for women’s rights (and civil rights).
American History: Recent History
The 1900s to today. · 10 questions
78. Name one war fought by the United States in the 1900s.
Answer: World War II (also: World War I, Korean War, Vietnam War, or the Gulf War).
79. Who was President during World War I?
Answer: Woodrow Wilson.
80. Who was President during the Great Depression and World War II?
Answer: Franklin Roosevelt.
81. Who did the United States fight in World War II?
Answer: Japan, Germany, and Italy.
82. Before he was President, Eisenhower was a general. What war was he in?
Answer: World War II.
83. During the Cold War, what was the main concern of the United States?
Answer: Communism.
84. What movement tried to end racial discrimination?
Answer: The civil rights movement.
85. What did Martin Luther King, Jr. do?
Answer: He fought for civil rights and worked for equality for all Americans.
86. What major event happened on September 11, 2001, in the United States?
Answer: Terrorists attacked the United States.
87. Name one American Indian tribe in the United States.
Answer: Cherokee (also: Navajo, Sioux, Apache, Iroquois, and many others).
Integrated Civics: Geography
The land itself. · 8 questions
88. Name one of the two longest rivers in the United States.
Answer: The Missouri River (also: the Mississippi River).
89. What ocean is on the West Coast of the United States?
Answer: The Pacific Ocean.
90. What ocean is on the East Coast of the United States?
Answer: The Atlantic Ocean.
91. Name one U.S. territory.
Answer: Puerto Rico (also: U.S. Virgin Islands, American Samoa, Guam, or Northern Mariana Islands).
92. Name one state that borders Canada.
Answer: Any of: Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, Washington, or Alaska.
93. Name one state that borders Mexico.
Answer: California, Arizona, New Mexico, or Texas.
94. What is the capital of the United States?
Answer: Washington, D.C.
95. Where is the Statue of Liberty?
Answer: New York Harbor — Liberty Island (near New York City).
Integrated Civics: Symbols and Holidays
What the symbols mean. · 5 questions
96. Why does the flag have 13 stripes?
Answer: Because there were 13 original colonies — the stripes represent them.
97. Why does the flag have 50 stars?
Answer: Because there is one star for each state.
98. What is the name of the national anthem?
Answer: The Star-Spangled Banner.
99. When do we celebrate Independence Day?
Answer: July 4.
100. Name two national U.S. holidays.
Answer: Any two of: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans Day, Thanksgiving, or Christmas.
Official sources used on this page
- USCIS — Civics test study materials: https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/find-study-materials-and-resources
We summarize these sources in our own words. Always confirm critical details (fees, dates, eligibility) on the official site before acting.