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13 Tips For The Citizenship Test In Australia (And I Passed!)

Wondering what is involved in the citizenship test in Australia? If you didn’t already know, you have to take the Australian citizenship test as part of your application to gain citizenship.

If you’re unsure if you are eligible to apply for citizenship, check the Australian Residence Calculator first to see if you can apply.

As someone who has waited nearly 11 years to apply for Australian citizenship, today my friends, was the day I finally took the test and passed with 95%!

So, I’m bringing you this article to help you prepare, because I was absolutely bricking it and wish I found an article like this to reassure and help me prepare me for what to expect.

If you’re looking for tips about how to apply for citizenship, check out my guide, Everything I Learned About Applying For Citizenship In Australia.


1. How long to prepare for the Australian citizenship test

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The Australian citizenship test takes place at your local Centrelink

I applied for Australian citizenship in June 2022. Within three weeks of applying, I was sent an email saying my citizenship test would be in nine days time. It wasn’t great timing because I had literally just started a brand new job and didn’t quite know how I would have the time to even revise.

I was really lucky to get it through so fast as I know it took some friends two years from applying to go to the ceremony. On the other hand, a follower told me her husband applied in April 2022 and took his test and ceremony by June 2022. I think that is really unheard of though.

When I took my test earlier today, the lady who took me through it said she knew of someone who applied three months ago and hadn’t heard anything yet about the test. She told me how he was revising everyday and even quit his job to continue revising (which she thought was a little over the top). I don’t think you need to go to these lengths to revise for the test personally.


2. What you need to bring with you

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In the citizenship test in Australia email, you’ll be asked to bring some documents with you. It took me a while to dig out my old passport which has the stamp in from when I first came to Australia. I also brought along a print out of the letter, my current passport, drivers licence, rental lease, a utility bill, my police clearance from the UK, my birth certificate and I think that was about it.

When I arrived the local Centrelink, all I was asked for was:

  • My medicare card
  • Australian drivers licence
  • My current Passport

The lady conducting the test didn’t actually interview me. She basically took a copy of my drivers licence and passport, then took my photo and I did the test. I out of the door and on my way back to my car within 15 minutes. It says in the email, it will take up to two hours but it was really fast for me and the same as a lot of our Instagram followers told us.


3. What does the test look like?

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I took the test on an iPad in a small office at Centrelink

The Australian citizenship test is a round up of 20 multiple choice questions based around Our Common Bond booklet which you’ll be sent in the email you receive about your test. It’s broken up into four sections:

Part 1: Australia and its people

Part 2: Australia’s democratic beliefs, rights and liberties

Part 3: Government and the law in Australia

Part 4: Australian values

Out of the 20 questions, you need to get 75% correct, with all of the Australian values questions right as well, which make up around five of the 20 questions.

You get 45 minutes to take the test on an iPad at your local Centre Link Office. The person conducting the interview and Australian citizenship test stays in the room with you, but leaves you to take the test in silence.

When you have finished the test, she will come over and watch you click the ‘submit’ button to see what your score is. You can take your time when completing the test and go back and forth between the questions to make sure you’re happy with your answers before hitting the submit button. If you get over 75% right including all of the Australian values questions, you’ll pass.


4. How to prepare for the citizenship test

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I’m not someone who is particularly good at tests. I was really nervous about the whole thing and didn’t even read the email properly when I got it. I literally went straight to my Instagram followers and asked them what I needed to do to prepare for the test.

I got some really good advice from my followers (of course) and as I went back through the email, I realised what I needed to do.

So, if you’re freaking out about the whole thing, here’s what I did to help me go from a first 60% answer rate to ending up with getting 95% in the actual test.


5. Read Our Common Bond Booklet

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In the Australian citizenship test email, you’ll be advised to read Our Common Bond document. The booklet is like 50 pages long which seems a lot, and it took me about three hours to write some notes down which helped me learn some of the key dates and Australian government questions.

This is your main source for learning everything you need to know about the Australian citizenship test before you do it.


6. Listen to Our Common Bond Podcast

A follower told me to download Our Common Bond Podcast which I thought was a great idea. I listen to podcasts all the time so I literally listened to it everyday in the nine days before the test. It consists of around five short episodes so you can listen to it at any time.

I would often zone out of it, hence why I had to keep re-listening to it, but getting the Australia citizenship is a big deal for me so I was going to put as much time in as possible before taking it.


7. Take the Australian citizenship practice test

You can take the Australian citizenship practice test on the Immigration website. The thing about this free citizenship practice test is that the questions don’t change no matter how many times you take it.

A follower told me the questions on this practice test are the same in the real test. It definitely wasn’t the case for me. But when I first took this test without any revising, I got like 60% right. By the time I took the real test today, I got 95%. I did so many practice tests before I took the one today.

I would definitely advise to check out some of the many citizenship test apps you can download on your phone. I used the Australian Citizenship Test app which has a series of random questions. You could spend all day on this free practice test and keep going through it by answering the questions.

There are some paid citizenship practice tests apps you can download but I didn’t pay for any.


8. What do the questions in the real test look like?

As I said above, I thought the Australia citizenship test questions were going to be the same as they are in the actual test. I thought the practice Australian citizenship test I did on the Immi website would be the actual questions but it’s not.

What’s even more confusing is some of the questions are reworded which threw me. I would recommend remembering the difference with the dates for 1788, 1901 and 1915. I was literally freaking out at the beginning of the test because they re-worded a question to how I had seen it before and I then totally forgot which answer it was.

It looks like the questions might change for every test. One friend told me to remember the Torres Strait Islander flag and another follower told me to know my stuff about religion. A lot of the questions I had were based on social media abuse which required common sense answers to be honest.

So, it doesn’t really matter what anyone says about what test questions to revise for, I think it’s probably done at random. Just make sure you can answer the Australian values questions the most as you need to get them all right (they are the easiest questions thankfully!).


9. How easy is the test?

Everyone on my Instagram page told me the test is super easy. I panicked and wondered if I would be the only person to not pass it. Steve literally thought the test would be about typical Aussie things like a Bunnings sausage sizzle or beer, but it’s not that easy!! In fact, I asked him a few of the practice test questions and he couldn’t answer them all!

And while most of the test is common sense questions, you do need to know about specific important dates in Australian history, as well as in the order of the Australian government.

Seriously, I had no idea what a Chief Minister was until now. I remember having a temp job in NSW Housing years a go and people would talk about the Minister. I genuinely thought they were talking about a Priest. That my friends just shows you what my lack of knowledge is like when it comes to politics!

So, unless you confidently know everything about dates, the Australian government, who Captain Arthur Phillip was, the first fleet, why Great Britain is important to the country, and know the Australian Aboriginal flag like the back of your hand, I would be reading Our Common Bond pronto!


10. What happens if you fail the Australia citizenship test?

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I took my test in one of these small offices

As you get 45 minutes to take your citizenship test in Australia, if you don’t pass within the time frame, you can take it again there and then, which is what I was told at the time of the test.

If you don’t pass the test within 45 minutes, you can book another time to re-do it. This won’t affect your Australian citizenship application. Phew! That’s what I was really worried about as I have waited so long to do it.


11. How much does the test cost?

The Australian Citizenship test doesn’t cost anything extra to your citizenship application fee which is around $485 from memory.


12. One last tip

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If there’s one tip I can advise when taking the real citizenship test, get there early and don’t be late. Listen to the podcast, write some notes down when you read Our Common Bond document and take loads of mock tests, and you’ll gain adequate knowledge to understand Australia’s democratic beliefs and history to pass the official test with ease.

Next up! I cannot wait to become an Australian citizen – finally! All I’ve been told is that I’ll receive a letter in the post about when my citizenship ceremony will be. If I’m planning on going overseas any time soon, I’ll need to let immigration know.

And that my friends is my citizenship test experience!

If you’re looking for tips about how to apply for citizenship, check out my guide, Everything I Learned About Applying For Citizenship In Australia.


13. Need help from a migration agent?

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If you’re looking to apply for Australian citizenship or any Australian visa, get in touch with our migration specialists at True Blue Migration Services. They are our only go migration agents whom our many of our readers have used. You can send them an email with any questions or concerns you have about Australian visas, and they will get back to you with the right answers!


More Australia visa and moving to Australia posts to read

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Need more help with your Australian visa process? Check out my guides here.

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