Mock oral civics test — 65/20, 2025 rules

If you are 65 or older and have been a permanent resident for at least 20 years when you file, the civics test works differently. You study only the 20 questions marked with an asterisk on the 2025 list, the officer asks 10 of them, and you need 6 correct. You are also exempt from the English test and may take the civics test in the language of your choice with an interpreter. This mock rehearses exactly that shape.

How it works here

The examiner asks each question in English and you may answer in English or in your own language; it judges the meaning, not the language. If you do not understand a question, ask for it again, and it is said once more in simpler English. It gives no verdict, no praise and no second attempt: every answer is final, even an incomplete one. All ten questions are asked; a real officer stops as soon as you reach six correct or can no longer reach six, and the report reminds you of that.

The ten questions

George Washington, Abraham Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.; the number of amendments; the economic system; one power of Congress; what the Pledge of Allegiance shows loyalty to; why the flag has 13 stripes; what happened on September 11, 2001; and three national holidays, all three needed.

They are ten of the sixteen starred questions whose answers do not change. The other four starred questions ask for the current President, Vice President and Speaker of the House and for the governor of your state. No fixed script can judge those, so they are not asked; look them up on uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates and usa.gov shortly before your interview.

The report at the end

Written in simple English, it gives:

1. The score out of ten, and whether it is a pass under the rule of six out of ten.
2. Every question you got wrong, with your own reply and the answers USCIS accepts.
3. A reminder of what this run did not cover: the six other starred questions and the four whose answers change.

It says nothing about your English, because this test does not assess it.

If you filed before October 20, 2025

Then your 65/20 test uses the starred questions of the 2008 list, which are not the same twenty. Use the 2008 materials in this catalog instead.

The questions and accepted answers come from the USCIS list of 128 civics questions (2025 version), a work of the United States government. The simulation and the assessment are Zestly's own. The report is practice feedback, not a prediction of your result.

• Know how the 65/20 special consideration changes the civics test: 20 starred questions to study, 10 asked, 6 to pass
• Answer ten starred questions out loud, in English or in your own language
• See every missed question with the answers USCIS accepts
• Know which starred questions to look up yourself before the interview: the office holders and your governor

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the 20 questions marked with an asterisk on the USCIS list of 128 civics questions (2025 version, M-1778, 09/25), with the accepted answers taken verbatim from it — for example "How many amendments does the U.S. Constitution have? — Twenty-seven (27)"; "Why does the flag have 13 stripes? — (Because there were) 13 original colonies". The rule — 10 of the 20 asked, 6 correct to pass, the test in the language of the applicant's choice — is the 65/20 special consideration described by USCIS for applicants aged 65 or older with 20 years as permanent residents.