100 Questions for Citizenship Interview: What Officers Ask
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An officer will ask up to 10 questions drawn from a list of 100, and you need 6 correct to pass, but only if you filed Form N-400 before October 20, 2025. If you filed on or after that date, you study a different, 128-question list instead. USCIS confirmed the filing-date split when it rolled out the redesigned test (USCIS, 2025 Civics Test).
Which list applies to you depends entirely on when your N-400 was filed, not on when your interview happens. Someone who filed in September 2025 and interviews in 2027 still studies the 100-question list. That single date on your receipt notice matters more than anything else in your prep.
Which list applies to you: 100 or 128 questions?
Check your N-400 receipt notice (Form I-797C) for the filing date. Filed before October 20, 2025: you study the 100-question 2008 test. Filed on or after October 20, 2025: you study the 128-question 2025 test. USCIS does not let you choose; the version is fixed by your filing date (USCIS, Naturalization Interview and Test).
How does the 100-question test actually work?
The officer asks civics questions one at a time, out loud, in English. Questions stop the moment you’ve answered 6 correctly or missed 5, whichever comes first, so most interviews don’t reach all 10. That stop-early rule is worth internalizing, because it means the first 6 correct answers end your civics portion on the spot.
What do officers ask, word for word?
Officers pull straight from the official 100-question bank, not from paraphrased or trick versions. Here are 10 real questions with the plain-English answers we’d give:
- What is the supreme law of the land? Answer: The Constitution.
- What do we call the first ten amendments to the Constitution? Answer: The Bill of Rights.
- How many U.S. Senators are there? Answer: 100.
- We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years? Answer: 6 years.
- Who is one of your state’s U.S. Senators now? Answer: varies by state; look up your current senators before the interview.
- What is the name of the President of the United States now? Answer: Donald Trump.
- What is the name of the Vice President of the United States now? Answer: JD Vance.
- Name one branch or part of the government. Answer: Congress (legislative), President (executive), or the courts (judicial).
- What did the Declaration of Independence do? Answer: announced our independence from Great Britain.
- Why does the flag have 13 stripes? Answer: because there were 13 original colonies.
Officeholder questions (5, 6, 7 above) change with elections, so confirm current names within a few weeks of your interview date rather than trusting an old study sheet.
Who gets a shorter, different list?
Applicants who are 65 or older at filing, with at least 20 years as a lawful permanent resident, study a marked 20-question subset of the 100 (or of the 128, if they filed after October 20, 2025) and answer only 10 questions, needing 6 correct. This “65/20” group is also exempt from the English requirement and may take the civics test in their own language with an interpreter (USCIS, Exceptions and Accommodations).
Pass thresholds at a glance
| Test version | Filed N-400 | Questions asked | Correct needed | Bank size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 test | Before Oct 20, 2025 | Up to 10 | 6 | 100 |
| 2025 test | On/after Oct 20, 2025 | Up to 20 | 12 | 128 |
| 65/20 special consideration | Either version, if 65+ and 20+ years LPR | 10 | 6 | 20 marked questions |
How do you study 100 questions without cramming the night before?
Split the list into government (branches, rights, amendments), history (colonial era through modern), and geography/symbols, then drill one category a day instead of the whole set at once. Read each question and answer out loud, since the interview is oral, not written, and hearing yourself answer matters more than silently recognizing the right choice on a page. Run through the set in the Liberty Lane Prep practice quiz, which reads each question aloud and offers an Easy English toggle for simpler wording, then flags the ones you keep missing so your last week of study is your weakest 15 questions instead of all 100.
Once you can answer a shuffled set of 20 questions from memory with only one or two misses, you’re past the 6-correct bar with real room to spare. The Liberty Lane Prep Interview Guide (free) adds memory aids for the harder history questions and a week-by-week study plan if you want more structure than flashcards alone.
FAQ
Do I get to pick which 10 questions I’m asked? No. The officer selects questions from the 100-question bank at their discretion during your interview.
What happens if I miss more than 4 questions? The officer stops the test once you’ve missed 5, which means you did not pass that portion. You’ll be scheduled for a second interview on the failed part within 60 to 90 days (USCIS, Naturalization Interview and Test).
Can I study just 20 or 30 of the 100 questions and skip the rest? Only if you qualify for 65/20 special consideration, which comes with its own marked 20-question list. Everyone else should expect any of the full 100.
Are the answers on old study PDFs still accurate? The civics content (history, government structure) stays accurate for years, but officeholder answers (president, vice president, governor, senators) change. Re-check those before your interview.
Bottom line: confirm your N-400 filing date first, since it decides whether you’re really studying 100 questions or 128, then drill the current officeholder answers last, since those are the ones a static PDF gets wrong fastest.