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New questions in
US citizenship now
WSN Network
Washington: What do the 13 stars on the American flag represent?
What territory did the US buy from France in 1813? What did Susan B
Anthony do? What major event happened on September 11, 2001 in the
US?
These are some of
the 100 new questions made public by the US government for the new
citizenship test that will come into effect from October 1, 2008.
The new set of questions was devised following a pilot programme in
10 cities this spring after a raging debate lasting years over
whether the old test was too easy or too tough, administration
officials said.
While many of the
questions are totally new, some are variations or reworded versions
of the old ones. So, instead of the old What country did we fight
during the Revolutionary War?, aspiring citizens will be asked
Why did the colonists fight the British? Officials said the new
test was designed to encourage better understanding of the US than
learning by rote or memorisation. It encourages even well-educated
aspirants to put in greater effort to understand the US, they
suggested.
Of more than 6,000
applicants who volunteered to take the pilot test, 92.4% passed,
officials said. The pass rate on the old test is 84%. Close to a
million immigrants, typically permanent US residents, otherwise
known as Green Card holders, take the citizenship test each year.
Despite the
revised questions, the overall format of the test has not changed.
Legal immigrants who are eligible to become citizens must pass the
civics exam as well as a test of proficiency in English reading and
writing.
In a one-on-one
oral examination, an immigration officer asks the applicant 10
questions of varying degrees of difficulty selected from the list of
100. To pass, the applicant must answer six of those 10 questions
correctly.
Thousands of
Indians move from permanent residency to citizenship each year.
Because of higher education levels and comfort with English, Indians
typically breeze through the tests. But it is considered slightly
harder for Hispanics, East Asians and other immigrants less grounded
in English.
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October, 2007
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