How Many Questions Are on the U.S. Citizenship Test?

The USCIS civics test has 128 official questions. During your naturalization interview, an officer asks up to 20 — and you must answer 12 correctly to pass. Here is exactly what to expect.

By Marcus G. Bastawros, MBA · Published 2026-05-03 · Updated 2026-09-03

Sources and corrections: read our editorial standards and corrections policy.

The U.S. citizenship civics test has 128 official questions. During your naturalization interview, the USCIS officer will ask you up to 20 of those questions out loud — and you need to answer at least 12 correctly to pass. That's the core of it. Here is everything else you need to know about the format.

The 128-Question Civics Test Bank

USCIS publishes all 128 official civics questions on its website at no cost. The questions are not secret — every single one is publicly available. Your job is to memorize the answers before your interview so that when the officer asks any one of them, you can respond confidently.

The 128 questions are divided into six categories: Principles of American Democracy, System of Government, Rights and Responsibilities, American History (Colonial and Independence period), American History (1800s), and Integrated Civics (Geography, Symbols, and Holidays).

What Happens at the Interview

During your naturalization interview, the USCIS officer asks you the civics questions verbally — this is an oral test, not written. The officer selects questions from the official 128-question list and asks them one at a time. You answer out loud.

The officer stops as soon as you have answered 12 questions correctly. So if you answer the first 12 correctly, the interview is over and you pass — the officer does not ask all 20. If you answer some incorrectly along the way, the officer keeps asking until either you reach 12 correct answers or 20 questions have been asked.

The Six Topic Categories

USCIS groups the 128 questions into two major sections — American Government and American History — plus a third section called Integrated Civics.

• Principles of American Democracy — The Constitution, the Bill of Rights, branches of government
• System of Government — Congress, the President, the courts, state vs. federal powers
• Rights and Responsibilities — Voting, the draft, civic duties
• American History: Colonial and Independence — Causes of the Revolution, Founding Fathers, Declaration of Independence
• American History: 1800s Through Present — Civil War, World Wars, the Civil Rights movement
• Integrated Civics — U.S. geography, national holidays, national symbols like the flag

The 65/20 Exception for Long-Term Residents

If you are 65 years old or older AND have held a permanent resident card (green card) for 20 or more years when you file Form N-400, you qualify for the 65/20 special consideration. You study 20 questions marked with an asterisk (*) on the official list; the officer asks 10, and you need 6 correct.

The 65/20 exception also exempts you from the English language requirement: you may use an interpreter for the civics portion of the interview. Under the 2025 civics test, the officer asks 10 questions from the 20-question senior study list, and you must answer at least 6 correctly to pass.

How Many Questions Are Actually Hard?

Most of the 128 questions test factual knowledge that you can memorize directly: the number of U.S. senators (100), the name of the current President, what the Constitution does. A smaller number ask you to name examples — for instance, naming one of the original 13 colonies or one of the rights in the First Amendment. For those questions, knowing any one of the accepted answers is enough.

Some answers change based on who is currently in office or serving in appointed roles. The name of your governor, your U.S. senators, the Speaker of the House, and the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court are all "variable" answers. USCIS updates the official list when these change, so always use the current version of the study materials.

The English Language Test

In addition to the civics test, the naturalization interview includes an English language component. The officer will ask you to read one sentence in English and write one sentence in English. This tests basic English literacy. Most applicants who have lived and worked in the United States for several years find this portion straightforward.

You get up to three chances to read a sentence and three chances to write a sentence. USCIS provides study vocabulary on its website — the reading and writing vocabulary lists show the types of words you may encounter.

Check your readiness · Try the practice game · Study with Tito · Rehearse with Officer Marcus · Compare free and Premium access