New Citizenship Test is Piloted/USA
A new citizenship test, to be ready for mass release in 2008, was recently tested among a select population of immigrants. According to the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the new test is designed to make immigrants think more about US concepts as opposed to memorizing basic facts. Trials are taking place in 10 cities and aim to expose up to 6,000 people to the new test. The pilot test includes reading and writing sections and is quite different from the existing oral test: applicants are currently required to answer correctly six out of 10 questions, chosen from 140 possible questions.
Maria Elena Garcia-Upson of USCIS explained:
"I want to make sure that people understand that this is certainly not to make the test more difficult. We just want to make sure that when they're giving the oath of allegiance and raising their right hand at the time of the ceremony, they understand our process here in this country and what our forefathers stood for."
There is no penalty for failing the pilot test; those who do fail may take the oral test instead. The cities involved in the pilot test are as follows:
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