The new citizenship test: the 2025 civics test

Who takes the new citizenship test?

Anyone who filed Form N-400 on or after October 20, 2025. Look at the date on your N-400 receipt notice: the interview date doesn’t matter. USCIS sets the civics version by your filing date, so a retest on the same application should use the same version; check your retest notice.

If you qualify for the 65/20 rule, you still get the version that matches your filing date, with its own 20 starred questions.

What changed from the 2008 test

USCIS says the 2025 test is based on its 2020 test, with changes to how it’s given, and points to Executive Order 14161 as the reason for the change. The Policy Manual says that apart from the number of questions and when testing stops, the 2025 test stays the same.

What’s on the list of 128

Those ranges are our count from the numbering in USCIS’s PDF, M-1778, dated September 2025.

• American government, questions 1 to 72: principles of American government, the system of government, and rights and responsibilities.
• American history, questions 73 to 118: the colonial period and independence, the 1800s, and recent American history.
• Symbols and holidays, questions 119 to 128.

Citizenship test updates: answers that change

USCIS’s test updates page lists seven questions on the 2025 list whose answers depend on who holds office or where you live: 23 (your senators), 29 (your representative), 30 (Speaker of the House), 38 (President), 39 (Vice President), 57 (Chief Justice) and 61 (your governor). Question 62 asks for your state capital.

You answer with whoever is serving on the day of your interview. USCIS posts the current answers on its test updates page, last updated September 18, 2025 as of October 2026.