Is the British citizenship test getting too hard? Let’s see
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ส.ค. 2023
- Time to see if Ellie can pass the official British citizenship test!
Vlog channel / evanedinger
Ellie: / doyouknowellie
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I feel like questions for life in UK should be something like "what side of the road do british people drive on?" "what are your rights as a citizen of the UK?" things like that.
I don't think our government wants immigrants to know what their rights are.
Yeah, despite being British I would have failed myself. Most of this doesn't help at all - it'd be better to have a "translate Cockney rhyming slang" quiz instead.
@@marikothecheetah9342 - k, but what's the point in asking someone how many London boroughs there are if they're not even planning to live in London? What does knowing the location of a statue of Boudicca tell you about our history?
I had no idea about the population thingy or the French refugees.
Only thing that comes to mind when I hear "What were the French refugees called that came to England?" is drowned >.>
What are your rights as s British citizen, is a pretty vague question tbf.
What is worrying is, as a natural born citizen of the UK, I did not know the answer to a lot of these questions and I expect that is fairly common to!
It's remarkably uncommon. You have to be pretty stupid to think these are hard questions.
I'm British and would've failed too. It's too Londoncentric imo. Most people up north aren't going to know about boroughs in London, Boudicca or French invasions. Most of us are taught local history.
... but if your continued presence in the country relied on you knowing it, would you learn it?
It's also a sad indictment of the education system that children are not taught enough about their history to at least take an educated guess. That said the questions are mostly stupid.
@@I_Don_t_want_a_handle The way the questions are worded doesn't allow for that though (and there's also no points for being close). For example, most Brits would be able to tell you some basic facts about Boudicca but may not even know there's a statue, let alone know where it is (which doesn't actually tell you anything about who she was).
@@suzannax How far north do you need to be to not know about Boudica? I'm from Glasgow and know about her and the statue of her and her daughters in London.
I'm a Brit who became an Australian citizen and took the Aussie citizenship test. I'd have failed this British test, the questions are more like pub trivia questions. The Australian test was mainly questions about Australian government structure and the duties and rights expected of citizens with only a very few history questions included, and those were about major Aussie events such as the date of Federation, ANZAC Day or the date of the First Fleet landing etc
Yes! I'm a new(ish) immigrant to Ireland. We don't do citizenship tests here, but I think we should; With things like the constitution and democratic values, not with questions about pop music and historical dates
In the UK it's a new thing copied from the US.
Well tbf Australia's history is nothing compared to England's. So those types of questions make alot more sense, like America is the same.
@@luxpursuits Can I ask what you mean by this?
I have always heard that the US citizenship test was stupid. I just looked up US test questions and they are more like what @Helith99 said about Australian test, than the British one. Government related with very few history dates. Although I did see geography questions, which might be what you meant by copying the US? Neighbouring countries, Native Americans, oceans, US territories and strangest to me, which of these is one of the longest US rivers.
I hope this does not sound like I am trying to come to defend the US, but at least when I hear people insulting the US tests, it is because it is like the Australian one, rather than 'every day' things, which is what the UK one appears to include in their examination.
I am guessing the US test is stupid, regardless of what it is because it is the US exam, if so then fair enough. I do not know a single person (here in Europe) that does not hate the US with every fibre in their being, lol.
A pub quiz you pay 1.3k to play. It shouldn't be free but it very much sends a clear message.
These are weird questions to ask for citizenship.
Yep. That's because having a citizenship test is weird.
@@philwoodward5069 The German test is full of stuff about voting, the law, your rights and things you otherwise need to know to be a citizen of the country; with only a handful of these kinds of history questions. That kind of test doesn't seem weird.
It's almost like they're trying to make it hard in order to exclude people or something. lol
@@ecoomber The UK test is not hard though. Just a trivia quiz, with virtually zero 'Britishness' in it.
@@ecoomber yeah, the whole Brexit
was also about excluding peoples.
A lot of Life In The UK questions have little to do with modern day-to-day "life in the UK" and I feel like a lot of native Brits would fail the test if they didn't read the official test book first. In other words, the test is merely "how good are you at reading English and memorising obscure facts?".
I reckon that the test should be regularly taken by a test group of native Brits each year who have *not* read the test book and if the majority of them get a question wrong, then it should be dropped from the test (in priority order of most wrong to least wrong). That "test test" should also include some brand new questions that, if the majority get right, could be used to replace the ones that were dropped. This way, the stupidly obscure (and therefore useless) questions that most Brits can't answer will be weeded out.
There is more to being a citizen of a place than simply knowing how to live there and I think those questions did a reasonable job in exploring those topics
This is a good idea - from seeing, I guess, comedians taking the piss I had formed the opinion that the citizenship test was full of obsure facts from the past that most native Britons do not know or think about themselves. That's why I was surprised that the question Evan is highlighting is "Who is Andy Murray?" which I would suggest is something that most British people know about.
There shouldn't be a test. It's just a way to appease racists and show that you're 'British enough' to people who ironically wouldn't be British enough to pass the test themselves.
@@joepiekl Like people who 'proudly' display the Union flag/jack and can't even be bothered to fly it the correct way up.
Then we'd only have one "date" question: 1066.
ive lived in england my whole life and i dont even think i could guess any of these questions
Same!
When studying English in Poland I had to know what cuirns were, we had to read The Canterbury Tales, Beowulf etc. I only didn't know the Battle of Boyne and I did not remember Victoria's coronation year, but the rest of it was relatively easy.
You don't know who Andy Murray is?
@@thomasmilligan3502 okay, maybe i wrote this comment just before the end. that was the only question i knew, though
90% of them I’ve never heard of it
I'm British, and there were a few questions there I hadn't a clue about., in fact I think I failed. True, it's been a few decades since I left school, so I could be forgiven for not remembering the exact date the Magna Carta was signed, but why would anybody outside of London know or care how many boroughs there are, and I've never heard of the Mercury Music Prize either. Best of luck Ellie!
"but why would anybody outside of London know or care how many boroughs there are"....I'm Australian and I knew, but I'm weird :)
Yes, rather than asking about the exact number of boroughs (an irrelevant bit of trivia for most citizens), it might be more to the point to ask something that would show whether the person understood the basics of the various levels of governance in the UK, and what they're each responsible for.
I know the Magna Carta question- because of a joke.
Two tourists visit Runnymede. They see the plaque saying Magna Carta signed here: 1215. One looks at his watch and says, ‘One o’clock. Damn we just missed it.’
That’s how you can remember the year.
I only know the year of the Magna Carta because Americans have to learn it so years ago I saw Lisa Simpson saying a mnemonic rhyme in the Simpsons. I've been to Runnymede as my ex-gf lived near there, but was never taught much at all about history between William I and maybe Henry VIII at school.
@@brontewcat Oh, gosh - I love it! Thanks for sharing. Hopefully I'll always remember it now - if I can remember the joke...
Guess I better pack my bags and leave 😢 - Oh wait I was born here 🤔 - Bloody stupid questions.
Lived here 66 years (all my life), educated to a reasonably high level, but I failed. That said, I'm scottish and I found a lot of these questions England centric.
Well apart from the Irish ones??
It’s just like it was written by a bunch of horray henries who were too stupid to understand or learn anything useful, but think they are clever cos they’re fantastic at memorising useless facts.
Andy Murray… that well known English tennis player! 😉
Just pulling your leg before you get offended…
As a British person this trivia test is worse than pointless.
These questions are so London centric. They were probably written by a Londoner. Having lived in Britain for 64 years I am having difficulty on the history questions. Love the tatoos.
That was my conclusion
More questions about Ireland.. ..how did you jump to your conclusion
they can't be written by a Londoner. They would have know - i the question about London Boroughs - that the City of London is technically a London borough. They should have referred to Greater London, so all the answers they give are wrong.
The most bizarre question I came up against was: How many ski centres are there in Scotland? (There are 5 by the way...bet you feel like more of a British citizen for knowing that!).
The life in the UK test needs rebranding to "how much of this book can you regurgitate?"
Considering the state of our education system. Very apt that you're just supposed to absorb and regurgitate facts, and doing that is called 'getting an education'.
"Welcome to Britain, remember things, because everything we ever did of note is in the past".
On paper there's 5 (glenshee, glencoe, cairngorms, the lecht and nevis) in practicality there may as well be none due to the lack of snow in winter, even the permanent snowfields are not really a thing anymore
The scary thing is that I have never been outside of the UK and I have failed some of the mock citizenship tests online.
It's not scary, it's just because they ask pointless (for a citizenship test) questions/misleading questions/misspelled questions.
Me too 😂
@@bencodykirk I think you might have misunderstood my post, I didn’t say that the test was scary, what I meant was scary is that I was born in the UK and have never been outside of the country.
@@Ravendarkwytch No, I think you misunderstood my post. I get what you were saying, but what I was saying is that you shouldn't feel bad for getting things wrong as the test is stupid. I got most of them wrong too. Yes, I've spent 50% of my life in other countries and haven't been to the UK since I left in 1996, but I don't think that matters. I'm sure you know about the UK what is important to know 😊
@@bencodykirk well I must confess I don’t keep track of current affairs, so I don’t even know who our prime minister is for this week. Last I heard it was Rishi Sunak, but that might have changed this morning.
Britain has four national dishes: Chicken Tikka Masala in England; Haggis in Scotland; Welsh Cawl in Wales; and Irish Stew in Ireland. But there's also many other traditional meals from the UK that get mentioned among the topic of Britain's national dish, such as the Full Breakfast, Shepherd's Pie and Sunday Roast.
I was thinking Welsh Rarebit, Cornish Pasty, Cullen Skink & Cottage Pie
True, but you have nations in the wrong order; Chicken Tikka Masala is Scottish (Glasgow) and Haggis is English (Lancashire).
@@heycidskyja4668 :-)
Chicken Tikka Masala is not a traditional national dish, If you think it is you have been spending to much time with our Marxist Media studies Tutor.
@@hyramhackenbacker3953 That was a quote from an official web page, apparently Chicken Tikka Masala was voted to be the official national dish of England.
I don't care if it's traditional or not, I don't really care if everybody agrees on the vote. We don't have a national dish (or a national anthem) so the concept is a bit foreign (pun intended) to me
That was fun. And what a good accent Ellie has. I've known Italians who've been here 50 years who still retain a much stronger Italian accent.
I was thinking that and I'm guessing she must have come here as a teenager the latest. It's nearly impossible to get rid of your accent as an adult unless you put some serious work into it. Speaking from experience here.
Ellie seems to have a broader local English accent than most English people one sees on TH-cam, and she has only been here ten years or so.
Justa alika my mamma!
You should give the citizenship test to a native born British citizen.
I filmed jay foreman taking the test 4 years ago and I haven’t gotten around to filming anyone else 😅 was gonna be a big video for lockdowns hit so I gotta call some people
I was answering those questions along with them. I only got 19 right and was born and lived my whole life in England. That is not a well designed test😢.
I was British when I started this test. Not now.
I'm a 50+ Year Old Brit...and no way would I be able to pass this test. I dont watch TV, I couldnt care less how many councils are in London, nor do I give a fig about Irish history.
@@evan - Gotta get Tom Scott to take it!
I have been born and raised in Scotland my entire 50 years and I only got 9 right and some of those were guessed so well done Ellie x I clearly am not a British citizen based on this 🙄
Also, can I just add, we NEVER got taught the rhyme to learn the wives of Henry the eighth either 🤷♀️
As a brit, I got like 4 right 😂 thank god I’m a citizen eh! Well done Ellie & good luck ❤
I don't know about the national dish, but I think right now the UK's favourite dish is the Chicken Tikka Masala.
Oh, McLeod is pronounced "Mc-loud" 😊
CTM is officially 'a' national dish of the UK, at least according to QI.
@michaellogan8359 I thought so, but I wasn't sure so didn't say in case I was wrong 😅
Exactly. Whoever wrote that question should be deported
@@ShaneH42 Hah! It's probably outdated in some respects
Evan was asked about the most popular 'English' dish which is roast beef, while the UK's most popular is CTM. Also; his mispronunciation of the French word, Huguenot really 'grated' on me - But hey! He's an American Brit, so forgiven 😃LOL!
WTH. These questions are ridiculous. Just the London authorities question. Why would anyone NOT living in London need to know that.
Why would anyone living in London need to know that?
@@stephenlee5929 I must admit, it was one of about 4 that I got right, but I agree, why does ANYONE need to know how many LGAs there are in the Greater London area?!
I knew that and never lived in London but I am one of these people who has a mind full of useless information, ideal for a pub quiz or a British Citizen test.
Because it’s general knowledge about the nation’s capital city? Anyone who’s read the accompanying book for the citizenship test would know.
It’s a test, it’s mostly about studying the book and retaining the information. Pretty meaningless beyond actually testing someone’s ability to read English.
@@ffotograffyddit doesn't actually help you in daily life, though, does it? It's irrelevant trivia - the point isn't whether it's something you can or can't learn out of a book, the point is whether knowing it or not knowing it is likely to signal whether or not you culturally fit in UK society... for which it's a useless question.
But let's face it, the test only exists for the same reason as Brexit: so that Cameron could scrabble for the votes of racist pensioners.
There should be a practical exam where they take you to a pub and are given a round to order. If you don't order the Guinness first on the list, you fail. If you don't rip the bag of crisps fully open for everyone at the table to share, you fail. If you don't cheer when somebody smashes a glass behind the bar, you fail.
Try to push in the unspoken queue at the bar: immediate deportation and blacklisting for life. 😆
@@zak3744 This is the British Implicit Queue. It is invisble to everyone except those who grew up in the UK.
As an anxious woman who doesn't really drink I would fail that immediately 😂
@@zak3744 I'd apply that to failing to queue properly in any queue. Getting the bus in London is like a rugby scrum sometimes.
I've seen this thing about ripping open a bag of crisps for everyone to share, but only ever on the internet.
I've never seen this happen in real life.
I've been in plenty of pubs over the course of 50 odd years.
I think this is either a local thing, that someone saw once and now it gets repeated, or it's just plain bullshit that someone once saw and now gets repeated.
If it does happen, it's certainly not so common or widespread that it can be seen as "British pub etiquette".
Did anyone notice that on the question about British TV shows, it called it the ‘Bing Bang Theory’?
I didn't notice that, well done.👏
Today I learned there are 33 London Boroughs.
Tomorrow I will forget there are 33 London boroughs because that is not useful information to anyone outside of London.
Actually there are 32 Boroughs and the City of London, which is not a Borough, please correct your learning before discarding.
I'm Scottish and every time I've seen somebody taking this test , I've failed it. The anglocentric questions always beat me in the Northern Colony.
The book has an absurdly pro-English bias. It describes the colonisation of Ireland as "Ireland gradually came under the influence of England". People complain about Americans and their bias, but the Life in the UK book could give a Texan politician a run for his money in how it portrays England as super great at all times and almost entirely omits any bad details of history.
You should see Polish bias then. :D
@@marikothecheetah9342*2137 intensifies*
As a Welshman I totally agree and what totally crap questions.
"and they scottish decided to rid themselves of clans in favor of english monarchy. and they thought english was the best language so they stopped speaking scots gaelic. and since they had banned the clans the tartans were pretty useless as were the bagpipes, so they abandoned them too" is probably a paragraph in that book. lol
@@oliviawolcott8351I mean ‘the English’ were ruled by the Scottish monarchy, who were responsible for those things, but of course everything that happened to Scotland was the fault of the English…
As a Londoner I would say the question about how many local authorities that the City of London has gave the wrong answer. Greater London has 33 local authorities, while the City of London doesn’t have any any local authorities, it is a semi autonomous city with its own government.
2:50 The question asked about the "city of London", not the "City of London". The capitalisation matters: "city of London" just means "the city called London", not the "City of London".
@@franksierow5792Fair point, but as most people don’t know when to use capital letters correctly, I don’t know it’s a giveaway anymore.
@markpayne2057 I agree with you. The question setter loses a mark for that one.
@@davidwhite1919 And for all the questionable English and spelling...
The problem, I think, is that the web site they were using is just some amateur site set up plastered with ads that's purely for making someone money - it's not an official site in any way. It's FULL of spelling mistakes and misleading questions like the "city of London" one.
She aced virtually all the obscure questions until she almost stumbled on the most obscure of the lot....who's Andy Murray? 😅
I APOLOGISE
@@doyouknowellieUnder your "I apologise" I clicked on "Translate to English" - and got "I apologize". Just sayin'...
@@sharonsage2347"I apologise" is correct. Bloody TH-cam!!! We created the language for God's sake!
@@sharonsage2347 That's ironic - it's spelled with an 's' in England.
@@bencodykirk Yes, of course... I just found it pretty funny that TH-cam's parameters would signal "apologise" as needing translation to English.
Eden Project is a great place in Cornwall (southwest)! I think it is mostly an educational and conservational attraction with a large rainforest and a Mediterranean area in large domes. It is amazing, also Tom Scott is great.
They also have gigs there in the summer at an outdoor stage.
I would recommend that anyone who goes to visit there stays in St Austell and goes on a separate day to visit the Lost Gardens Of Heligan. It's maybe not as educational as Eden, but it doesn't feel as artificial either. Eden is a place to see, but if you just want to spend a day in a beautiful place with good company, I'd vote for Heligan every time
I'm Scottish, and I always feel that questions pre the Acts of the Union are really bad for a life in the UK quiz. I mean, Henry VIII was an English King, and we weren't taught about him in school. I don't think many English school kids would have been taught about Mary Queen of Scots or Auld Alliance; but there are questions on Henry VIII, English history, but not pure Scottish history?
@@nico_pen Bloody Mary (Mary I of England b.1516 - d.1558) and Mary Queen of Scots (Mary I of Scotland b.1542 - d.1587) are two different people.
@@neeskeskneesk4004 and people know mary , mother of James of Scotland and England. Adiós
The Tudors were Welsh… but ok. 😉
And we were definitely taught about Mary Queen of Scots at school in England.
@@nico_penBloody Mary and Mary Queen of Scots are two different people, though they were cousins.
5-10 years ago I (American, never lived abroad but visit a lot) took online versions of both the UK and France tests and was thrilled that I aced them both. The UK test I took was weirder-there was a question about leaving your bins out too long, for instance.
I hope you gave the right answer. You leave your bins out at least two days before collection so the local foxes can raid them and strew the rubbish all across the road.
The bin thing is far more useful than most of these.
So what’s the answer about leaving the bins out? NSW in Oz
I'm a British citizen who grew up and lived there until I was in my mid-20s. I follow politics religiously and could pass the US citizenship test with my hands tied behind my back. I would have failed this test. Most of these questions are not remotely relevant to being a citizen. Most of the questions should be about understanding and taking part in British culture. I can think of so many good questions that would actually mean something. Heck, having a question ranking Indian curries by how hot they are would be far more useful and relevant than any of this.
If I were re-writing the test, I would have only kept maybe 5 of the questions in this video.
I think only 5 aren't really that important
It's not even necessarily the topics that are wrong: it's the questions! Who cares about Boudicca's statue? Ask questions about who she was! Ask about the significance of the magna carta, not what date it was signed.
They should also be marked like school exams where you get more marks for accuracy and detail, but still some marks if you got some of the info.
@@hannahk1306 just to complicate we have a statue of Boudicca in Cardiff, but that would have been a wrong answer. Stupid questions .
@@siarlb8115 Yeah, exactly it's focussing on one very specific thing (that most people wouldn't even be aware of) and ignoring other relevant knowledge. It would have also have been reasonable to guess somewhere in East Anglia, particularly around St Albans, as that where her tribe lived.
I thought they were going to say curry was the national dish, not roast beef!
Welcome to England. It's a pleasure to have you both.🤗 I couldn't answer 2 of those questions (near the beginning). 🤔
Many of the comments have emphasised the somewhat obscure questions, but on the whole I think the LITUK test is a reasonably well-designed test. The average person could comfortably get around 50% without any revision and just appying general knowledge, one just needs to study the book to get that remaining bit needed to pass, but a person who has minimally assimilated would probably struggle with almost all of it
I feel like there's too many dates - those are just testing how good you are at retaining that kind of information. It wouldn't be as much of an issue if the options were more spread out - knowing roughly when certain things happened makes sense, but I don't see why you need to know the exact year for something that happened 400 years ago.
I think you overestimate the knowledge of a good many born and bred citizens.
When I was studying for mine, a lot of natives took an interest and they would consistently fail practice tests at a rate of 45-60%.
Londoners did better, presumably due to the prevalence of questions related to historical events around the long-time capital.
Bear in mind, this lot tended to be co-workers and the like, with about half of them being Red Brick educated PhD holders in STEM or medical fields, so you’d expect them to do better.
The counterpoint is that, anecdotally, from everyone I know who has taken it the actual question selection for a test is a lot more balanced than most online practice tests and particular the website used here. We all found the real test significantly easier than the practice ones. A common observation was that there were fewer of the more obscure historical and sports questions and more of the moderate day to day life and civics questions.
@@sugoruyoI have a degree in Mathematics, and I work in software development. I would also have failed.
I have almost no interest in history, especially London specific history.
My passion is technology.
Your level of education does not dictate whether you know obscure history facts.
Saying you expect people with PhDs to know this stuff just feels short sighted.
You can say it's a well designed test, but resembles a pub quiz rather than something that identifies if you are suitable for living in the UK, thats the fundamental problem. This needs to be about ethical values, rules of law, perhaps personal contributions to society, things like that. Knowing some date of an obscure battle is not indicative of anything to do with how well suited you are to live in the UK, it's a pub quiz made by the drunks and conmen that make up our government.
I haven't even finished the video yet but as an Irishman I certainly find it interesting that 3 of the first 4 questions are entirely about Ireland and the other one includes us too I guess?😂
I know that The Battle of the Boyne is important to Ulster unionists but it took place in the modern day republic, not even in the UK. None of my English friends (even those that are very well read) had ever even heard of it and I can't say that I blame them. But I suppose the test wants to include Ulster Scots identity and that would certainly be their favourite historical event.
King William iii participated hence its a part of British history and therefore why its a question.
Snap! I was thinking the same thing!
@@hesky10 King Bill 3, that's the Dutch guy right?
I can't believe your friends, even the well read one's, haven't heard of the battle of the Boyne, that's a pretty state of affairs.
The exam says The UK and Ireland???????
What's that about?
Why do they not say UK and Northern Ireland?
Saint Patrick's day is nothing to do with the UK.
As a British Citizen, I'm glad I don't have to do a British Citizen test or they might kick me out lol
The best part ...the song at the end 🤣🤣🤣 thx Evan 👌👌
I love your pronunciation of MacLeod 😂 it should sound like “Ma-cloud”!!! As a fellow Brit I didn’t know the answer to half of these questions!
“Oh, you learned about Huguenots in school? 😮”
I think that a lot of non Italian people would be very surprised knowing how many things we had to learn at school…
We basically studied almost every historic event mentioned here, the problem is if we actually remember them 😅
I’m Italian as well, and I had the exact same reaction as Ellie’s thinking about the answer. It’s been kinda fun to watch that particular one. 😅
In England we should learn about them. Throughout history we have done very well for taking in persecuted minorities who were the upwardly-mobile business owners of their previous home countries, from the Huguenots and Jews to the people of Indian extraction thrown out of Uganda. Often in history people become jealous of business owners and start to persecute them, and they are a great asset to a country that will accept them.
Canadian here, we learned about that too! I knew all of the history answers because of Canadian public school. I'm always baffled that Americans don't learn proper world history, and that people in the countries those events occurred in are surprised when foreigners are taught about them.
As someone from NI I literally only heard if the huganoughts because if a children’s song about invasions and even the the context was wrong becatsd they were talking about the religious civil war involving them
Almost 50% of Scottish people in response to the citizenship test: “Don’t care, can we leave now?!??”. Seriously though, most of the questions seem to be about English history which not everyone in the UK did in school. We had our own history instead:-)
I've seen so many people say similar things and it seems like england thinks its more important than other people, atleast in terms of this test.
You appear to be underestimating your fellow Scots, I bet most people in Scotland could pass the test if they read the accompanying citizenship test book.
It’s mostly designed to test someone’s ability to read and understand the English language. The actual question are largely irrelevant.
@@ffotograffyddfunny that mate
Because the so called citizenship test had spelling errors in it
So aye that’s grand
That was so much fun well done for passing 👏 I have to say even as a Brit I would struggled with some of those questions 🙈 good luck when you do the real test
I think it would be more useful for fitizenship questions to be relevant for everyday life. Constitution and voting system, yes, some laws, yes, citizens rights and duties, yes. TV programs, sports personalities and numerous awards? WHO CARES? I have lived in England since -83 and my TV viewing for the whole period can be condensed to 2 years, when someone donated their ancient TV. I never owned one before or after it: I used to read books and now I get all my entertainment on Internet, old music CDs, and DVDs, audio books and crafting.
The Eden project is ace! You should totally explore the West Country more it’s a lot of fun and really relaxed compared to the south east.
08:53 if you really want to see how British kids learn about their history and kings….watch Horrible Histories and/or check out the books!
My British born wife (who previously worked for the British Civil Service) played along here. The two of you ended on the same score, but you were a lot more confident on a lot of them. She got wrong the one about the lotto (it used to be 15 years ago - when she was a teen). She knew the boroughs of London one, but only from specific St John Ambulance training. She reckons you did bloody well and is really sorry you have to go through this.
Honestly this reminds me more of a pub quiz, where half the Brits in the room don’t know the answers and are having a ‘stab in the dark’. I would have thought more relevant current questions would be more useful to learning to integrate or become a resident. About voting, political parties, road safety, travel, history that relates to now or has changed the country or why? History and geography are important but I maybe expected more relevant questions in 2023.
Regarding the EDEN PROJECT. It's in Cornwall, and is well worth a visit. It was actually on the shortlist of projects for the Millennium funding, but lost out to the rather stupid Millennium dome. Which is a real pity, because the original concept was for something on a much larger scale and would have be incredibly impressive. But without that level of funding, they scaled back their ambitions and made the current Eden Project, which is still impressive in its own right. And has been a hugely successful regional tourist attraction too.
I love Eden project, it's like a cheap trip to the tropics! And mediterranean too. Sure, there's plants, but it's more about the whole atmosphere of the place, all the art, paths through the scenery etc.
Q. Why is it necessary to know how many boroughs there are in London to pass a citizenship test?
A. It isn't necessary but the people who set the questions all live there and believe that the rest of Britain actually knows and cares.
Really handy for someone who wants to live in Norfolk or Yorkshire.
I grew up in Hampshire and moved to County Durham. The only thing I need to know about London is what line and station all the interesting tourist places are accessible by.
Dying at how you refer to the eden project as a bunch of plants 😂 both spot on and also extremely insulting to such a large scale conservation and research project, based in the largest replica of natural plant habitats in the world
Yay Ellie! And that was without studying. She's gonna do just fine. I scored a 20/24--mainly off on the dates within a few years but that's usually how I am with everything😅
Great content Evan I've always been a keen follower
I liked your food living content too, about the prices.
Would love to see other content such as prices in other countries if you do your travel again soon
I’m scripting up another one very similar to that this week!
@@evan Will look forward to seeing it, all your content is valuable and interesting
@@evan Thanks those videos are always very interesting for me having lived in England my whole life!
I‘m German and only spent 3 vacations in the UK, but still came out one answer more than passing…
The real test must necessarily be more focused on politics and legal issues, not just general history…I think that‘s be harder to learn.
Well if the test was about our politics,legal issues democracy etc then most of us native Brits would not have a clue. I know loads of people who choose not to even vote. Not from principles,just because "it's nothing to do with me".
Loved the George Formby impression at the end - worthy of a Distinction in the test.
😂 this is fun to watch
I would apparently fail a test for citizenship to my own country! Depressing - but some of these questions are just patently absurd and completely irrelevant. Battles from centuries ago and athletes are not a good indicator of someone being a good citizen. Do they believe and know about our democracy, what the head of state/monarch can and cannot do, our rights as citizens, do they know about our recent national and foreign policies/debates, and do they believe in the rule of law and everyone following the same rules. If so, they’ll likely be a good addition to the country. If they do or don’t watch tennis or football or like history and are into the war of the roses, Roman history, Saxons, it’s all irrelevant.
But we don't have any rights and the pretence we have ever had democracy is wearing thin too.
@@janebaker966 Eh? Don't be a dafty. Of course we have rights.
Yup you're completely correct, totally irrelevant yet totally unsurprising
@@janebaker966 What rubbish! Try living in a truly non-democratic country and you'd soon notice the difference.
@@Alan_Mac I mean, you don't have any enumerated rights such as like the bill of rights in the US, right? your rights depend a hell of a lot on what Parliament and technically the royal family allow you. like if there every was a king or queen who had the sheer balls to try it, they still have the power to dissolve Parliament and restore a direct monarchy. it would be stupid and unpopular, but they could.
They’s be better to teach about Council tax, PAYE, insurances, school structure, health service, pensions, legal institutions.
They don't teach any of that useful stuff in schools. Maybe they do now but I dont think so. They certainly do didnt 50+ years ago when I was at school.
@@janebaker966 Think Martin Lewis has produced some materials for schools in recent years, but you are right everyone should have these things explained.
Fab; thanks both!
Hilarious as I am born British and didn’t have a clue on some. Especially the poem about the Queens. Fantastic so funny
Really enjoyed this video but I've got to say I didn't know the first few and I'm british and go to a british secondary school. I would love to see more videos on comparisons between american and english schools!
I kinda assume they must tell you what to study ahead of the test, because there's stuff in here that I'd say a good 90% of Brits wouldn't know at all. The London authorities one in particular is going to be completely irrelevant to most people.
@@FTZPLTC Yes that would make sense, it just doesn't make sense to me why people wanting a British citizenship need to know things that the average Brit doesn't know.
As a born and bred brit, I got like 8 of those right.
It's a stupid "test". I got even fewer correct I think.
Brilliant stuff, pretty tough test - missed a couple and guessed a couple by chance. Ellie is very smart, love her english accent. How hard is it to get the English grammar right in a test about the UK . "Build" instead of billed.
The best is that Evan is still shocked that Continental Europe is learning about it's history in school.
I wonder if Ellie would have got the Boudica question right if they had given the alternate name of Boadicea - I'm now curious how in depth the teaching of the Roman conquests are in Italian schools! Do all the kids have to learn about people like Vercingetorix and Caratacus?
No, of course not. I think that English people are more interested in the Roman empire than Italians...I wonder why 🤔🏟️
@@laurapavone3513 There would also be the fact that for us "The Romans in Britain" is traditionally the start of any kind of British history. (before the Romans came, there were not people who knew how to write in the British Isles - so that is literally the definition of the start of history). If you are Italian, Roman history goes back longer, there were people who could write before the Romans, and there is no reasons why one part of the Roman Empire should be any more interesting than another to an Italian.
@@paulhammond6978 To be honest, I found that reply snide and ignorant - if you know anything about the spread of Christianity, you know that the Roman Empire played a huge role in it, but it also created conditions for the rapid spread of plagues such as the Antonine plague. Roman history is essentially the foundation of European history, so the reply is amazingly insular, It's not like a few major world languages have their roots in Latin or anything... Or that the alphabet was adopted by much of Europe...
I asked the question because Ellie seemed to respond to the name Hadrian like it was familiar to her. It's only fairly recently that we've begun to use the name Boudica ourselves, the Latin version Boadicea was the one more generally mentioned which makes sense given what you mention about the lack of a written history (or possibly poor preservation of any written material which is an issue for many ancient cultures). If Italian schools do teach some of the conquests, I'm curious what versions of the names they use
Or even the alternative name. I don't think using real cute American words is a great help. Unless you want to work for the BBC, of course!
@@neilbiggs1353 "Boudicea" results from a spelling mistake people insisted on putting into Tacitus though. IIRC, "Boudicca" was what Tacitus actually wrote, but somewhere along the line someone misread the second "c" for an "e". It is the name that was generally used when I was a kid though. (And also Mrs Overall's middle name according to Victoria Wood)
I'm British and only got 12! It is absolutely wild to me that people moving here have to learn stuff that those of us born here aren't even taught!
But these are facts they'll need nearly every day of their lives! Forget things like "what is the mains voltage used in UK homes" or "which side of the road do cars drive on". What you _really_ need to know is the date when the Magna Carta was signed or Queen Vic sat on the throne.
This was fun. I'm Italian, I've never been to the UK but I scored the same (with some minor differences).
The thing I noticed was the “we” throughout. You are now one of us !
I would fail this test, and I'm a middle aged brit.
MAC-LEE-ODD 😂😂
I cringed 😂 Mc-LOUD
Mac Cloud is how we say it in England...or at least I do.
I can recommend visiting the Eden Project if you ever come that way. For those who don’t know:They are huge bubble-shaped greenhouses build into a disused quarry. However, I enjoyed my visit to the Lost Gardens of Heligan even more.
With regards to the test: trying to remember these dates were the hardest part for me and I have probably forgotten most of them again by now (3 years later). Thankfully I didn‘t get too many of these questions in my actual test.
I would probably fail the equivalent test of my birth country.
Brilliant..! Especially the last song... lol... Hope you can do something on immigration of an overseas fiancée. 😊
As a lifelong brit I couldn’t have gotten any of the date questions right except through pure chance. I also didn’t know what the Mercury prize was for
Your Italian friend has English as a first language……… along with Italian. I suspect, fully bi-lingual. . I live some of my life in Italy and have never heard an Italian speak English with such a good accent.. Maybe she is better informed than many?
She is young, quite read and has been living in the UK for 11 years. I wonder how your Italian sounds 😘
@@laurapavone3513 My Italian is nowhere near fluent….I envy her linguistic ability. Hardly anyone speaks English in our neck of the woods, which is fine by me. I get by okay in Italian but will never be fluent…far too late in life. One of our (Italian) neighbours is an English teacher but I’d grade her fluency only as intermediate.
The look of fear on his face when she said she didn’t know who Andy Murray is 😂
When I did the test in 2013 12 of us took the test and only 2 of us passed. Luckily I was one of them. I read the book twice, I took copious notes and I found old tests online and did them repeatedly for the 2 days before the test. Before I got my citizenship I had to do an oral English language test. I prepared a 10 minute talk about the history of cakes and baking, but the invigilator wasn't interested, he had a chat with me about everyday things and after 5 minutes said, ok, that's you! You've passed.
We did terribly but we already have British and French nationalities. 😅+1
I'm assuming they give you some guidance on how to study for this, right? Cuz that London question is bizarre - as if anyone outside London knows the answer to that question, let alone outside England.
yeah it’s all from a book that shares the same name
@@kieraisverybored Ah, good. Although it does make it kind of a weird test in a different way.
I hate the whole idea of "integration" and I really don't think anyone should have to know more about Britain than the average citizen to get citizenship. But I guess this at least shows willing.
Citizenship tests always include several questions that are not general knowledge among the native population. Aspiring citizens have to study from a prescribed text, which includes the answers.
Its all about learning the "facts" from the book. Some of the questions are patently incorrect, let alone being demonstrably like a very poor pub quiz.... mercury music prize, really??
@@FTZPLTC yeah i completely agree either way it’s pretty irrelevant and stupid imo
Love how Evan watches jay foreman and Tom Scott
The Henry VIII question gave me flashbacks to May this year when I taught my year 1 class that rhyme 😅
Congrats Ellie! I'm glad you passed it here, and wish you well in studying the book. I pray you pass the test with flying colours! I pray that you and Evan and Evan's GF/Fiancee?( I forget) have your wildest dreams met!
My dreams were took away from me by my parents, the government, FDA and more. This test I'll probably never have to take because the government stole my inheritance from my dad, because my mother (who died 1st) was on disability for a while due to Alzheimer's and needing extremely expensive care in a nursing home whereby, gov't sponsored medical was not enough and she needed more help and also for other reasons - brain damage that I've not overcame yet, but still working on it. I was going to see about starting a Cruising channel and go on my 1 trip to England (with the intent to only cruise, holiday, leave the UK and stay a USA citizen) and try to get cruising as a money maker because I failed at everything in life. The temp agencies said they had no more work for me! I have brain damage is why. I figured, if I made enough money, maybe I could move to England, maybe spend 7 years there, and then go home to pass on, as I'll probably by that time, be sick enough. I also figured if successful enough, maybe I could some how start my other dream company (idea's person here, with others doing the work so it works and not fails) and create job in the Uk, as well as around the world. But, that needed a little start capitol of some sort. TH-cam influencer via cruising, pop an idea out there (the business), see what people thought about it and then Snap! Success and my mother screams because I finally was successful! And then this! Sorry, but I am not a happy person right now. I am high stressed, van does not work, door has water damage (front door of home), garage floods and gofundme acounts don't work because of no one cares. God, Satan and the world does not care. I gave up on caring! I don't even have the rights to my food allergies (FDA). I gave up. I wont' do anything stupid, but I'm down to counting the 25 years, until probably die from shaken baby syndrome (health issues, etc. because of the SBS). Notice that SBS ends in a b and in a s. Thats how I feel right now.
Wow, talk about TMI.
As a I would absolutely fail this😩 even though i’ve lived in Wales my entire life
Update: 4/24
Ellie is bloody delightdful and we would be pleased to have her (he says as an expat Kiwi with British citizenship :D ).
All you have to do is Google the practice tests take all of them until you pass each with no mistakes. After that there will only be a couple questions on the test that weren’t covered. I finished and double checked my test in like five minutes.
I was born in the UK - in Windsor, no less - and have lived here for all 63 years of my life, I consider myself fairly well educated, and have a PhD in English history.
I failed this.
Where do I have to go get my passport shredded before being deported to the middle of the ocean?
This test is absolute bunkum. I am 66 years old, have lived in England all my life, and have no idea of the answer to many of these questions, nor of their relevance to being a citizen.
Absolutely agree.
As someone else said, surely it should be more relevant as someone said what side of the road do you drive on in U.K?
Name 3 cities in the UK
Stuff like that and maybe laws etc
@@suebolton5 Coronation Street fgs.
It's rather sad that your general knowledge is that poor - it was basically a pub quiz. Although you make a good point regarding its relevance, or lack of, to citizenship.
@@jinxvrs Nothing wrong with my general knowledge, sunshine. But is success in a pub quiz really a basis for citizenship?
@@davidpreston9909 Did you read my second sentence?
(Me again!😊) Just FYI: Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!
This is more like a pub quiz!
Blimey! That's such a silly test.
You probably have to go back to the Saxons to find any ancestor of mine born outside the UK, I'm 62 and I got 7 questions wrong (and had to guess a couple that I got right). Less British than Ellie. So I guess I'm going to have to take the next boat off the islands.
At first, the grammatical infelicities in some of the questions (it should be "What is something called?" not "How is something called?" for example) seemed to detract from the point of the test, but - no - it's just indicative of the whole "Britishness" (actually "Little England-ness") of the whole project: we don't like foreigners OR intellectuals. Anyone who proudly says "I'm bad at maths" gets lauded; anyone who can construct a grammatically-correct sentence or knows anything other than what happened in the soap last night is viewed, at best, with suspicion.
The rhyme about Henry VIII's wives was new to me (and who remembers their names and which order they came, in any case?), but my O Level history only started at 1688 with the accession of James VI of Scotland (aka James I of England). If I remember rightly, which is unlikely.
Anyway, good luck to Ellie with her real test - here's hoping she smashes it: she'll be an asset to this country, though goodness knows why she wants to be here.
Edit: detracted→detract because I'd flipped the sentence and missed that. Practically illiterate: I'd be forced to leave if I weren't¹ already here.
¹ note correct use of conditional: another reason to throw me out.
As a born British person. I did not know many of these. The test is a bit silly.
Not a citizen but I went through school here , a british girl in my history class didn't know what a "navy" was . I've never felt more entitled to a citizenship .
I had to look it up to remind myself, but yes!! I love buttercups!! They are my favorite flowers!! Those and daisies!! I knew one of those two were “ daffodils”!!
I bet most naturally-born British citizens would fail the test as well.
Im born and bred in scotland . Id no idea about most of this and no idea why anyone needs to to be a citizen
What stupid questions. I only knew 6 and would have to guess the rest, particularly the history ones. Lived in the UK all my life for over 50 years.
Brava Ellie!🪂
💪🏻💪🏻
in the best way Evan makes things I'm not interested in sound so interesting! also I don't know an awful lot of these as a British person who cares about this stuff
It’s so stupid, my wife is American and moving here, she won’t have to do this for a while but I’m British and can’t pass this 🤣🤣
British born and bred:
1. When is St Patrick's Day? Literally no idea, skip.
2. When did the "Battle of the Boyne" happen? No idea, skip.
3. What is the Mercury Music Prize awarded for? Best music producer, I guess? (wrong)
4. What was the main crop in Ireland in the 19th century? Potato? (correct)
5. Which British TV shows are popular in the UK now? Coronation Street (correct) It's literally the _only_ British TV show on the list... why even phrase the question with a plural? It's also mildly cringeworthy that the British TV show is called _Coronation_ Street. Might as well be called Tea and Crumpets Street.
6. How many 'local authorities' does the city of London have? I guessed 33 (correct) It's one of those questions that implies a low number but is actually huge.
7. What were the Canterbury Tales about? I dunno, Canterbury tales about the King? (wrong)
8. When did Queen Victoria become queen? Uuuuh, 1845? (wrong)
9. Who led a team to clone a mammal for the first time? Gotta be the Sir. (correct) That's how you know it's British.
10. Where can you find Boudicca, the Queen of the Iceni statue? Suffolk? (wrong)
11. When did Britain become separated from the continent? 4,000 years? (wrong)
12. How old do you have to be to buy a lottery ticket or a scratch card? (Thank goodness we have this instead of what age you have to be to vote). 18. (correct)
13. Who is known as William the Conqueror? Normandy? (correct) I don't think France was a thing back in 1066.
14. When was the Magna Carta established? It was _first_ established in 12xx something, so 1215? (correct) Side note, iirc the Magna Carta had to be re-approved by every subsequent Monarch, and I think there were several centuries where it was practically ignored. I think it was only around the 15xx or 16xx where it really started to come back again.
15. What is the 'Divine Right of Kings'? Godgiven right to be King. (correct)
16. Who built Hadrian's Wall to keep out the Picts? No idea. I feel like the Hadrian answers are bait, so I'll go with King Alfred. (wrong) Okay, nevermind, didn't realise it was a Rome thing.
17. Which of Henry VIII's wives were executed? It's one of the answers with Anne Boleyn... and I think the Catherine was of Aragon? (wrong)
18. What was build [sic] as part of the UK's celebration of the new millennium? It has to be The Eden Project, though I don't know what that is. (wrong) Wait, really? I would've sworn the London Eye existed before then...
19. What was the population of the UK in 1998? It's 68 million now. And this was before Schengen. I'm thinking 57? (correct) 50 seems too round a number.
20. What were the refugees that came from France called? I dunno, knowing our national sibling rivalry, probably Roundheads? (wrong)
21. Which play was written by Shakespeare? Hamlet. (correct) Easy.
22. When is Bonfire Night celebrated? Bonfire Night is just another name for Guy Fawkes Night, so 5th November. (correct)
23. How [sic] is the New Year often called in Scotland? I dunno, Hogmanay? (correct)
24. Who is Andy Murray? I dunno, isn't he a tennis player or something? (correct)
Result: 13/24. Fail.
Have to say I agree with some other commenters that these questions are largely meaningless to people's everyday lives. Do you think Andy Murray wants his citizenship and career to be the hinge upon which people gain naturalised citizenship? And I'm honestly appalled that there's a question about the age of gambling but not of voting. This genuinely feels like a game of trivia rather than a citizenship test. Its primary goal should be testing people on the rights they and everyone else have, how their adoptive government works, etc. The idea that someone is a worthy citizen because they knew the population of the UK in 1998 is so utterly baffling to me.
You should have known the Hadrian thing though? Never did the Romans at school?
@@nicolad8822 Maybe? I honestly couldn't say. The most I remember of my secondary school history lessons is that moats are a thing and that we watched most of Roots. I know that the wall in Game of Thrones is based on Hadrian's Wall. When I saw the answers, I did want to pick Emperor Hadrian at first, but I sort of psyched myself out of that answer by thinking it was a trick question. And to think I was so close to getting 14/24 :P
Haha as others have said.. U.K. native and didn’t know many answers to these questions, not sure I would have passed, so well done haha 😅🙈
I was born in Wales, have lived in the UK for almost all of my life, and I only just passed with 18.
Honestly I'm English and got less than half
Scottish kids don’t have to learn that rhyme mate. Be surprised if they do in Northern Ireland either.
Really? My primary school was in Dundee, and I learned the rhyme in school.
First time I heard it. N.Ireland.I do know the 5 November one as it was on an advert for, I think, standard fireworks.
Please do remember the 5th of November.
Which rhyme are we talking about - we got the 5th November one, but not the English king one?
@@eloquentlyemma talking about the English king one.
I was born in Gateshead (next door to Newcastle upon Tyne) and now live on the side of a Cumbrian mountain (just below Scotland). I have ZERO idea about London or it's boroughs. I probably know more about Spain.
I didn't know most of these even as someone who really likes history and learning facts about things 😆 I don't retain numbers very well at all. I have a series of published books that take place in the Victorian era, but if you asked me the date Queen Victoria was crowned I'd have to either look it up or spend like an hour trying to work it out from everything else I know about her 😅
I also would probably fail a few of the things people have suggested as better alternatives, like I don't know much about pubs or politics etc. I would still say I'm (hopefully) a good citizen! I don't know that a paper test could ever capture that very well.