Comments on: Who’d be an Immigrant?

By: Left Outside

Left Outside — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 11:03:17 +0000

Deport me Nick Griffin: UPDATED…

I have just taken the Life in the United Kingdom Citizenship test. This is a test which people must pass in order to become citizens, and is also mandatory for those who want to extend their visas. As they say themselves: This practice test is presente…

By: Euan

Euan — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 18:19:45 +0000

Hmmm… I failed too, achieving 17 out of 24.

The ones I got wrong tended to be the numeric ones – i.e. I didn’t get the number of constituencies right, I knew it was either 646 or 664 but guessed wrong.

Crazy isn’t it? But I think your conclusion that it’s an attempt to appease Daily Mail readers is spot on. Hateful rag.

By: FatBigot

FatBigot — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 13:37:00 +0000

This test is simply bizarre.

Two questions did not contain the correct answers (Brussels and ACAS were not on the lists I saw and I was using the maximum screen size I can). More importantly, the number of questions of the “I know my rights” genre is terrifying. It tells us so much about what our current government thinks is important.

By: Heresiarch

Heresiarch — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 12:17:53 +0000

Thanks for this. I got 20/24, in slightly under two minutes, which I think is a result. And I’ve never had a “citizenship” lesson in my life. But that doesn’t stop me thinking the whole thing is a complete waste of time.

By the way – forty-five minutes?

By: Bryan

Bryan — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:48:12 +0000

Well I passed – just – mostly by guesswork on a number of questions. Frankly, this shook me rigid. Nobody in this country with a GCSE in anything would pass this, let alone a highly qualified brain surgeon from (say) South Africa. Just what the fuck is going on here?

By: The Nameless Libertarian

The Nameless Libertarian — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 18:33:44 +0000

That test is obscure, difficult and deeply obtuse. The answer to most questions, if you put them to a British national, would be “who cares?” Which is the tragedy, really. We could end up putting off immigrants and end up with a country of Mail reading morons. Which is pretty much my idea of hell on earth.

By: Jonny Oates

Jonny Oates — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:31:29 +0000

My partner is due to take the test this month and is busy trying to learn what he needs to know from TSO’s rather over priced books. Every five minutes (at least so it seems to me) he looks up from a particularly stupid question and says ‘What is wrong with you people?!’ To which I have no answer…

By: Frank Davis

Frank Davis — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 12:47:24 +0000

I got 12 out of 24. But some of the questions didn’t show the full range of answers. e.g. in question 8, Brussels wasn’t included in the list of places where the European parliament met. It turned out the Brussels only showed if I maximized the screen. Otherwise it wasn’t there.

By: Joe Otten

Joe Otten — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 08:35:50 +0000

Well I got a bare pass. 18/24. Woohoo. Get out of my country you bunch of whiners.

Mostly I think it was due to guessing the right unimportant statistics. That makes me British, in the same way I guess that memorising railway timetables is a British thing to do.

By: hellblazer

hellblazer — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 05:18:49 +0000

Native Brit, fairly well-educated, though with a poor memory for Practical Facts and Figures. 15/24 in 4 minutes 40 but quite frankly another 30 minutes would have made no difference.

Agree that it’s obviously just a question of rote memorization and — even if you believe countries should impose this kind of general knowledge test on prospective immigrants — has some bizarre/moronic/wrong questions.