Life in the UK Test
Practice for the Life in the UK Test — 24 questions, 45 minutes, 75% to pass — chapter by chapter and as full mock tests.
What the test is, in numbers
- 24 questions, 45 minutes, and you must score 75% or more to pass. That is 18 correct out of 24 — you can afford six wrong answers and no more.
- £50, booked online at least 3 working days in advance, at one of more than 30 test centres.
- Unlimited retakes. If you fail you can rebook as many times as you need, and you pay each time.
- Required if you are applying for British citizenship or for settlement (indefinite leave to remain). You are exempt if you are under 18 or 65 or over, if you have already passed it, or if you have a long-term physical or mental condition — the last of those needs medical evidence.
Take the ID rules seriously. You must bring the same ID you used to book, and it must be the original document, not a copy or a photograph of one. A photo of you is taken at the centre. Turn up with the wrong ID, or refuse the photo, and you will not sit the test and you will not get your £50 back.
The English requirement is separate, and people miss this
Passing the Life in the UK Test does not satisfy the English language requirement. They are two different conditions and you need both.
For citizenship or settlement at 18 or over you must also show English at CEFR level B1 or above — through an approved speaking-and-listening qualification, or a degree taught or researched in English. Wrong qualification, refused application.
Which means the sensible order is: sort out the English evidence first, because it takes longer and more can go wrong with it, then book the test.
What the questions come from
There is exactly one syllabus: the official handbook, Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents, third edition. Everything in the test comes from it and nothing comes from outside it — which is unusually helpful, because it means the material is finite and you can know when you have finished.
Get the official handbook. It is a real book, sold by the official shop and widely available second-hand, and no practice site replaces it, including this one. What practice does is find the parts you think you know and do not.
How this track is organised
Five sections follow the handbook's own five chapters — the values and principles of the UK, what the UK is, the history, modern British society, and the government and the law — plus a set of full mock tests in the real format: 24 questions, a mixed selection, 18 to pass.
Work through the chapters first and the mock tests after. Chapter revision tells you which chapter is weak; a mock test tells you whether you would pass today, and those are different questions.
What is hard about this test, and what is not
The history chapter is where most people lose marks, and it is not because the history is difficult. It is because the chapter covers two thousand years in perhaps sixty pages, at a fairly even level of detail, so there is no natural shape to hang it on: a date from the Roman occupation and a date from the twentieth century get the same weight. Dates, names and numbers are what the questions ask for.
The rest is more forgiving. The values chapter is short. The government chapter is mostly systems you can reason about once you understand how the pieces fit. The society chapter is largely a matter of recognising names and institutions.
A note on what is not here
Questions whose answer depends on who currently holds office — the monarch, the Prime Minister — are deliberately left out. Those answers change, and a practice question with a fixed key would eventually be teaching you something out of date. The handbook is the syllabus; check the current edition for how it treats them.
Official sources
- Booking, fee and centres: gov.uk — Life in the UK Test
- The pass mark, ID rules and what happens on the day: gov.uk — what happens at the test
- The separate English requirement: gov.uk — prove your knowledge of English
- Applying for citizenship: gov.uk — becoming a British citizen
- The official handbook and e-learning: Official Life in the UK Learning
Zestly is an independent study tool. It is not affiliated with the Home Office, UK Visas and Immigration, TSO or any official test provider, and nothing here is immigration advice. The questions and explanations are written by Zestly from publicly known facts; no text is reproduced from the official handbook, which is a separate copyrighted publication you should buy and read. Eligibility, fees, booking and the conduct of your test are matters for GOV.UK, and for an immigration adviser if you need one.