I failed my life in Britain mock test

[Britishfailure]

So I am a European citizen who has lived in London for 3 decades married to a Brit and raised 2 children. I have been toying with the idea of citizenship I light
of the Reform “we want to deport you all” rhetoric.

I took the mock citizenship test tonight and scored 71% which was not enough to pass. However, I made my British DH and children take it too and I actually scored way higher than they did.

The test is honestly crazy. Questions about roast beef. Honestly so weird. I think I won’t bother becoming a British citizen as I really don’t like roast beef 😂

We should all suggest a new Reform policy. Everyone takes the test and we deport failures and keep the people who pass, regardless of what their citizenship is.

I think the questions about the golden revolution, David Hume, the NHS do sort of vaguely hint at important aspects of British culture/politics. The golden revolution was important in establishing the UK as a constitutional monarchy rather than an absolute monarchy. The enlightenment is another important inflexion point. And the NHS and development of the welfare state are also an important part of modern social history as is the studied erosion of said welfare state

But structuring it as a list of random questions about dates and facts to learn doesn't really help that. I am.super interested in British political history and got the exact date of Walpole wrong. you could learn that date but you wouldn't know how the position of Prime Minister evolved or why/how parliament became more powerful.

The history questions are a bit like asking "what colour ink was the Magna Carta written in?" as a way of establishing whether people know about the evolution of democratic ideals.

I got 50% on the Dutch one, but my level of Dutch is only about A2, so I was taking a guess at some of the vocan/meanings.

They are more sensible questions. Knowing how to sign up for a GP, how to rent a house, what you have to do for educating your children... although if they had some questions on things like what year did Rembrandt die, which king was murdered, which artist was associated with Delft, it might be more fun.

Yep it is a general knowledge quiz with a bit of history thrown in - in surprised at the about of people who must just not take notice of things which happen around them/are on the news etc.

I think the idea is to ensure anyone coming into the UK has a basic knowledge of things that, tbh I’d expect most people here to know something about - people might not know the exact dates, but they would know roughly when.

If people here don’t broadly know the answers to these questions - it’s interesting why. Is our educational system not teaching enough about British culture and history? Is society and the media focusing too much on things external to the UK?

Many kids now seem to confuse America and Britain on so many levels, lots of kids talk about dollars and rights under the constitution (referring to the US).

Should we be able to filter social media so it only shows stuff from the UK?

Should we have more investment to in creating entertainment based on British culture etc.

Who will take all the rejected British people? I suspect there would be a lot of them...

Pretty easy. I'm neither British nor live in the UK and I passed first go with 83 %

The boat is called the Sir David Attenborough - I think Boaty McBoatface won the public poll. But ultimately the boat wasn’t named that.

it was everywhere at the time, including here, it spawned a load of similar names for vehicles at the time. I still quite often hear it mentioned.

Id like them to include questions on Only Fools and Horses, Black Adder, Monty Python etc as well if you’re over 45 Everyone should be able to recognise quotes and references from those within that age range.

But the questions arent testing broad knowledge. Eg, the Walpole question I go wrong. It would make sense to ask people "what century did Walpole become prime minister". If you know he is usually regarded as the first PM, knowing roughly when that position evolved is part of understanding British political history. But the question was "what year" with a choice of answers
1727
1747
1757
1776

I might just be bitter because I got it wrong. But I don't think most people would know unless they had been very recently studying that particular period and/or were just good at dates. So then the test does just become "learn these random dates beforehand". Which is fine, but it tests how well you do that.

That’s me gone then. Where do you think I should be sent?

I’d expect most people here to know something about - people might not know the exact dates, but they would know roughly when.

So would I. Which is why such a narrow range of dates on the Walpole question is nonsensical.

But there isn't one test of citizenship - there are 3

1. Were you born in the UK to at least one parent with British residency? OR
2. Were you born overseas to a British citizen? OR
3. Have you gone through the British naturalisation process which includes the citizenship test?

I find it hard to believe that people would go to the effort of living and working and raising children in our terrible country for 30 years but not to the effort of learning a small 45 minute multiple choice test of 24 questions of which you only have to get 18 right.

They're different questions each time though. So you can't just learn 24 questions, you would have to learn the entire book of questions as you don't know which one will come up. Which isn't the worst thing to happen in the world. I just also don't think it's particularly useful in assessing how well people know the country. Especially when some of the questions/answers aren't accurate.

I reckon that would backfire pretty badly 😉

I am actually quite annoyed that I after living quite happily here for 30 years without citizenship, now feel worried enough to having to consider I might be safer here with citizenship. It will cost me money too. The equivalent to a nice little weekend away with my DH.

Imagine if one of the questions was:
"The concept of fair play is considered a central British value. True or False"🤐

Edited: to clarify I mean changing the rules on people retrospectively isn't fair. Not you not wanting to take the test

I've never wanted to be one British, though have lived here for a fair few years. I feel I have to now due to threats from a variety of political scum.
And pay a great deal of money for the privilege.

Well yes, you are applying for citizenship. You already have residency but this is about pledging allegiance to a nation state and its figurehead.

I say this as a republican non-nationalist, but I think it’s your attitude that’s weird. You want to be a British citizen, which I don’t understand if you don’t feel some kind of affinity with that identity.

No I don’t want to be a British citizen particularly. Like I have said, I have happily lived here for 30 years without citizenship, but like many I now feel worried enough to have to think it might be a good idea. Never know what Reform will come up with
next. I don’t particularly want to pledge allegiance to the king either. I rather spend my day doing something more enjoyable.

I’m a British Citizen by birth but I’m not sure what I’d do if I had to pledge allegiance to the King. I don’t think I could, in good conscience. Then what?

But if you don't want to be a British citizen don't be. It's not mandatory, no rules have changed and if they do you can make the decision then.

In the Netherlands when you sing the National anthem you promise to respect the Spanish king. Which is even weirder. But I was still happy living and contributing to the country (as a non Dutch citizen). I don't see why me thinking that was weird should negate that.

Op does the test include anything about laws, freedoms ,protected characteristics etc .

I think an education in that would be far more useful

I read your post and tried a practice one on the gov.com website. I passed and only answered 2 incorrectly. I don't think it's exceptionally difficult.

No rules have changed yet and hopefully won’t, but I am worried that they will in future and maybe when I am not in a position to go through it all. I am early 50s now. I can easily see someone from Reform saying Uk should only pay for British pensioners for example. Would probably be a vote winner and then it wouldn’t matter how much I had paid into the system over the years. Hopefully I am just a bit paranoid, but the stuff that lot come out with… idk🤷🏻‍♀️

Not really and I agree that would feel
more meaningful.