Starting next month, green card holders seeking to become U.S. citizens will be taking a new and longer version of the naturalization test.
The 2025 Naturalization Civics Test will feature an increased pool of potential questions, growing from 100 to 128. Test takers will be asked 20 questions at random, as opposed to 10. To pass, they must correctly answer at least 12 questions, an increase from the previous requirement of six correct answers.
Like the earlier version, the test remains an oral examination conducted by a U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officer. However, a new rule allows the officer to cease asking questions once enough have been answered to determine a pass or fail outcome.
According to USCIS spokesperson Matthew Tragesser, the updates outlined in this week’s Federal Register notice aim to ensure that only immigrants who fully meet eligibility requirements—such as proficiency in reading, writing, speaking English, and understanding U.S. civics and governance—can achieve naturalization.
Additionally, a notable change in the 2025 test is the removal of geography questions, with a stronger emphasis on American history and governance topics.
To challenge your civics knowledge, you can take the NBC News quiz featuring questions from the updated test. Unlike the actual citizenship test, where questions may have multiple correct answers, the quiz provides only one correct answer per question.
