Could you pass the US Citizenship test?

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2008-07-03 01:22am

20/20, though frankly I guessed at the Chief Justice question because my mind kept going "Rehnquist... no wait, he's dead. Wait... who replaced him?"

Qwerty 42 · Post by **Qwerty 42** » 2008-07-03 01:30am

20/20. I guessed that the Chief Justice wasn't Scalia or Alito, since you hear about them all the time.

Post by **fgalkin** » 2008-07-03 01:35am

I passed the real thing, does it count?

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

B5B7 · Post by **B5B7** » 2008-07-03 03:32am

I got 80% [16/20].
Got wrong:
# of amendments to Constitution - 4 less than correct answer.
Senate - almost put right answer (as that is what is in Australia!), but changed to next lower answer.
Who becomes Pres - almost put right answer, but changed to one who is probably 4th.
Got name of Chief Justice wrong.

Kanastrous · Post by **Kanastrous** » 2008-07-03 12:16pm

19/20

Blew an important one, which is that Roberts is the Chief Justice, not Alito.

But at least I knew who Susan B. Anthony was.

I don't see why these particular questions mark out anything more than a willingness to spend some time memorizing the answers, assuming it's not in your head already.

aerius · Post by **aerius** » 2008-07-03 01:05pm

14/20. I guess this is what happens when I get my info from Saturday morning cartoons.

darthbob88 · Post by **darthbob88** » 2008-07-03 02:09pm

90%. Apparently it's the Speaker of the House who becomes President after the President and VP are gone.

I have to wonder just what would be used to replace this test? What other skills and knowledge are necessary to be a good American citizen?

Rogue 9 · Post by **Rogue 9** » 2008-07-03 02:13pm

20/20

Is this actually the entire citizenship test? I find that a little unbelievable; there's got to be more to it than a few questions easily answered through Google.

Post by **Darth Wong** » 2008-07-03 03:00pm

Rogue 9 wrote:20/20

Is this actually the entire citizenship test? I find that a little unbelievable; there's got to be more to it than a few questions easily answered through Google.

I wonder what "citizenship test" Lou Dobb's ancestors had to pass when they came to America.

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2008-07-03 03:22pm

Darth Wong wrote:
Rogue 9 wrote:20/20

Is this actually the entire citizenship test? I find that a little unbelievable; there's got to be more to it than a few questions easily answered through Google.
I wonder what "citizenship test" Lou Dobb's ancestors had to pass when they came to America.

Sure, he's so afraid of the Hispanic immigration to the point that he actually married and started a family with a Mexican-American woman...

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2008-07-03 03:34pm

I really can't see the need for that sort of trivia test, I thought the citizenship test ran deeper. I did not remember the name of the chief justice and while the name Susan B. Anthony was familiar, my answer was wrong.

Post by **RogueIce** » 2008-07-03 04:17pm

Rogue 9 wrote:20/20

Is this actually the entire citizenship test? I find that a little unbelievable; there's got to be more to it than a few questions easily answered through Google.

No, it's not.

Plus, if you actually read the MSNBC page you'd notice where they said these are taken from a list of 100 sample questions that may be asked. Plus, they're not multiple choice. And they have to do some reading comprehension and writing thing, too.

Aeolus · Post by **Aeolus** » 2008-07-03 06:00pm

I got 19 out of 20 I missed the question about the chief justice.

Majin Gojira · Post by **Majin Gojira** » 2008-07-03 07:10pm

16/20

Not passing, but I thought I'd do worse (less than 15/20). Stinkin' governmental rules are what got me the most. History wasn't as big a problem as I thought(!).

CmdrWilkens · Post by **CmdrWilkens** » 2008-07-03 08:23pm

CaptainZoidberg wrote:
CmdrWilkens wrote:he stuff about who wrote it and when it was adopted or even why there are 13 stripes is just asinine.
I have to disagree. Most people know that the revolutionary war ended in 1776, which is the obvious trick answer. To go beyond the trick answer one would have to know that the US was briefly a failed confederacy before the constitution was ratified. Knowing that the confederacy failed, IMO, is pretty significant and useful knowledge.

Not as a test of CIVICS. The idea behind a citizenship test is, in my mind and obviously not that of the folks who put this together, to accurately analyze a person's knowledge of the government under which they propose to be franchised citizens. US Citizenship means carrying, albeit in miniscule form, the most potent of the classical roots of power: the vote. The test should be designed to test whether a person has a functioning knowledge of how that vote affects the society they live in. Knowing who set up our system of governance is great but it does noting to demonstrate whether the person taking the test understands how modern American democracy works and their part in shaping it.

Metatwaddle · Post by **Metatwaddle** » 2008-07-03 08:25pm

20/20. That was... kind of insulting. (And you all can thank Susan B. Anthony for more than half of the American electorate that usually leans Democratic.)