Modern society: people, customs and festivals

Twenty questions on the people, customs and festivals of the four nations — the part of the syllabus that is largely a matter of recognising names, dates and emblems, and which therefore rewards learning things in sets rather than one at a time.

The sets

The four patron saints and their days. St David, 1 March, Wales. St Patrick, 17 March, Northern Ireland. St George, 23 April, England. St Andrew, 30 November, Scotland. The test asks about these from every direction — name the saint, name the date, name the country — so the four of them together are one piece of knowledge rather than twelve separate facts.

The national emblems. The rose for England, the thistle for Scotland, the shamrock for Northern Ireland, and for Wales two of them: the daffodil and the leek.

The Union Flag. Three crosses, not four — St George, St Andrew and St Patrick. Wales is not on it, because Wales was already joined to England when the flag was designed. That surprises people, and the test likes it for exactly that reason.

The November pair

5 November is Bonfire Night, marking the failure of the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 — the one British custom that commemorates a crime that did not come off. 11 November is Remembrance Day, when poppies are worn for those who died in wars and there is a silence at eleven o'clock. Six days apart, both in November, and regularly answered with each other.

Two churches, not one in two places

The Church of England is the established church in England, and the monarch is its Supreme Governor. The Church of Scotland is Scotland's national church — Presbyterian, governed by elders rather than bishops, and a genuinely separate institution rather than a regional branch of the English one. Wales and Northern Ireland have no established church at all.

Alongside that, Britain is a country of many faiths in which a large number of people report no religion, and freedom of belief is one of the fundamental principles. The test expects both halves of that picture.

The rest covers the festivals kept across the UK — Hogmanay, Burns Night, Diwali, Eid al-Fitr — bank holidays and what the term actually means, and the basic facts about the size of the country and its cities.

The questions and explanations here are Zestly's own, written from publicly known facts. No text is reproduced from the official handbook, which is a separate copyrighted publication and the only real syllabus.

• Match all four patron saints to their countries and their dates
• Name the national emblem of each country, including the two belonging to Wales
• Say which three crosses make up the Union Flag, and why Wales is absent
• Keep 5 November and 11 November apart, and say what each marks
• Distinguish the Church of England from the Church of Scotland, and say which parts of the UK have no established church
• Identify Hogmanay, Burns Night, Diwali and Eid al-Fitr, and explain what a bank holiday is

Written from publicly known facts about British customs and society, covering the ground the official syllabus sets out: the patron saints of the four countries and their feast days; Bonfire Night on 5 November and Remembrance Day on 11 November; Hogmanay and Burns Night in Scotland; Diwali, Eid al-Fitr, Vaisakhi and Hanukkah among the festivals kept in the UK; the Church of England as the established church and the Church of Scotland as Scotland's national church; bank holidays and the dates of Christmas and Boxing Day; the composition of the Union Flag; the national emblems; and the size and principal cities of the country. No wording is taken from the official handbook, which is a commercial copyrighted publication.