Nicklas Johnson · morons.org - How Well Would You Do on the INS Test?

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How well would most natural-born US citizens do on the INS citizenship test?
Posted by spatula on Sep. 29, 2002 17:38 UTC
43 comments from readers. Join the discussion!

The other day I wagered that most Americans would do worse on the INS naturalized citizenship test than foreign immigrants; that is, most people seem to know very little about how our government operates, what the roles and responsibilities of the branches are, what the Constitution is about, what checks and balances are, and something about US history.

I'm happy to say that I could easily become a US citizen if I were born on foreign soil. Check out the INS citizenship sample tests and see how well you would do! Some of the questions will actually make you have to stop and think. When you're done, think about how many people you know who would fail, and how many of those people are serving in Congress.

---Nick

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Posted by doggiebiscuit from Missouri on Sep. 29, 2002 17:59

Wow, great test. Why is it important to know that the pilgrims came on the Mayflower though?

Tha Master Baiter: It is not any more important that you know about your countries history anymore...

doggiebiscuit: Please note that I wasn't saying it's not important that pilgrims were the...

Posted by Technogeek on Sep. 29, 2002 18:00

24 out of 25 (took 5 sets).

Got tripped up on the 'first president to be Commander-In-Chief' bit, but it was something of a trick question anyway.

Posted by The_Godless_Infidel from Pueblo, CO on Sep. 29, 2002 18:06

How many questions are there? I stopped after about 35! Some of the questions are the same, yet they're just worded differently.

Doozer: I think it just picks questions randomly, because some of them start to repeat...

sIr-watermelon: On the actual test to gain citizenship there are 50 questions chosen from a...

Posted by Kallahan from wyoming, michigan on Sep. 29, 2002 18:44

easy, did 5 or 6 sets, never missed one.

Posted by Purple Proze from Central Florida on Sep. 29, 2002 19:29

Did quite a few, didn't count how many, I stopped when I realized I was seeing the same questions. In any case, I missed four. Two of them were those cases where you know the answer but go with something else and your original answer was correct....Christ, I hate that.

Posted by jre from INSIDE YOUR HEAD on Sep. 29, 2002 19:34

I'm surprised "Who has the power to declare war?" hasn't been taken out. The correct answer is very unpatriotic.

Hapfloyde: Maybe they're hoping Bush will se it

Posted by Shadowen on Sep. 29, 2002 21:29

I'm a Canuck! And I got 90% (45/50). Boo fucking yah!

Sophist: I'd just like to ask, and keep in mind that this is totally unrelated to my...

Posted by splorp! from Milky Way on Sep. 29, 2002 21:59

Out of 30, I missed "What INS form is used to apply to become a naturalized citizen?".

Oh, and Mozilla didn't display the page correctly. Bastards made me use MSIEvil.

splorp! Evil Bastard

spatula: I filed a bug on that earlier tonight. ...

plugh: I notice that, too. My guess is that some Frontpage kiddie out there assumed...

spatula: There's some fairly awful HTML going on inside that page... notably some font...

Technogeek: Works fine in Opera.

Posted by slv138 from Madison, WI on Sep. 29, 2002 23:29

I only missed 2 out of the 50 I tried -- the one about the INS form (which I doubt I would ever care/need to know) and the one about the year the Constitution was written (hey, at least I was in the right century on that one...).

Sophist: Did you choose 1776 too?

Posted by Legion303 on Sep. 30, 2002 01:24

"4. Whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights? Everyone ( citizens and non-citizens living in the U.S. )"

Someone better tell Asscroft.

Posted by GWTPict on Sep. 30, 2002 01:44

8 out of 10, and one of those was from not reading the question properly. Not brilliant but then I am English.

Posted by Kitsune from Its Own Twisted Reality on Sep. 30, 2002 02:37

Every question except the one about the form to be filed for Naturalization. How do people fail this? Oh, wait...what causes the people this site is named after to be so ignorant.

Posted by Klep on Sep. 30, 2002 05:31

Only took one set, but I aced it. Not hard.

-David 'Klep' Kleppinger, Raving Lunatic

Posted by Deft from England on Sep. 30, 2002 08:05

Well, I managed to only get 17 out of 20, but why should I care? I've never even been to the US...

Pansy Bedwetter: I would say you're lucky, but you guys have it just about as bad there. But at...

Daniel: A monkey boy's pet poodle is better?

Posted by Random Guest from Ramstein, Germany on Sep. 30, 2002 08:29

nothing to incredibly challenging for a US History student, but prolly a pain in the ass for somebody trying to get out of a backwater country with a localized or specialized education. Why the hell is history between 1790 and 1990 important at all? Immigrants need to know what's going on and why, not what's been going on in the past centuries.

Squidface: You've got a pretty good point there. On the other hand, it really does help to...

Posted by afree87 from Cephiro on Sep. 30, 2002 08:33

3. Which of the following amendments to the Constitution does not address or guarantee voting rights?

19th Amendment 24th Amendment 15th Amendment 7th Amendment

How the hell am I supposed to know? How would any immigrant know this? The answer is 7th, BTW.

Posted by Space Butler from Eastern Canada on Sep. 30, 2002 09:18

32 / 35 here. Which I think reflects on how much America influences Canada.

Or maybe just on the fact that most of the TV channels I watched as a kid were American. ;)

afree87: Space Butler! How's Nabeshin been doing?

Nabeshin: I'm still running from Kumi-Kumi.

Posted by Lawnmower on Sep. 30, 2002 11:02

w00t! 25/25

Actually, my 7th grade history teacher used this as the final test for our American History unit. He told us it wasn't graded, so just try and pass "to see if you can become a citizen" (it was graded, of course). Out of 50 questions, you needed 35 to pass. I got perfect. So did my best friend. The other 28 children in the classroom ALL got 20 or less.

(Mind you, we didn't study...we did read morons.org then, too. Does that count?)

Posted by Harrm on Sep. 30, 2002 13:54

Damn, I can never get that question that simply says "name" on it. I'll try again next year.

Posted by Worthless Teen on Sep. 30, 2002 15:58

I'd just like to add that I'm 15, and got 1 wrong out of 25, just shows that some people really are fucking morons.

Harrm: Hey!

Posted by ME!!! from Cali. on Sep. 30, 2002 18:52

Missed 7 out of 70. I'm only 15 too. Score one for the youngins, and who says that we (youngins) dont's know shit. I missed "What paperwork is needed to begin naturlizaton?" how would I know I'm a citizen.

Squidface: I'm a citizen, too, but I figured it out...

Posted by asswipe on Oct. 01, 2002 09:00

Hey lookie, this article complety back fired. Looks like everyone could give right answers enougth to become a citizen..

spatula: Hey lookie, this post completely backfired. Of course our readers can do well...

Pansy Bedwetter: I know you have trouble engaging your brian, but stop and think for a second....

Posted by Gabu on Oct. 01, 2002 11:54

I got 100% out of 25 questions, and I'm not even an American.