Citizenship test becoming tougher
Posted Nov 29, 2010 10:47:57 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It’s getting tougher to become a Canadian. The revamped citizenship test, which was updated in the spring, shows that the failure rate has spiked.
The new test is based on an expanded citizenship guide released last year that has many more facts to memorize.
Internal documents released to The Canadian Press show the failure rate was initially about 30 per cent, compared with just four-to-eight per cent for the old test, which was based on a smaller, older guide.
At South Keys Monday morning, Stacey told 1310News she is in full agreement with making the citizenship test tough. But like many others, she struggled to answer the questions herself. For example, naming the three main aboriginal groups in Canada.
“You know, I probably could not,” she admitted, after a thoughtful pause. She also couldn’t recall Canada’s population.
Sarah got the population question right, but failed the question about whether a member of parliament represents their electorial district or their province.
“He represents everyone in the province,” she said with uncertainty.
“I don’t know,” she laughed.
Those two are not alone in not knowing the answers to many of the citizenship questions. The updated citizenship test has had a 30 per cent failure rate. That’s up from about eight per cent in the past.
