Australian citizenship test practice: a full mock test, marked like the real one

Step 1: are you eligible yet?

The test comes late in the process. Home Affairs invites you to it only after you have applied, so the first question is whether you can apply at all. For most permanent residents the answer depends on the general residence requirement, which has four conditions that must all be true on the day you apply: 4 years of lawful residence in Australia on any visa; the last 12 months of that time as a permanent resident; no more than 365 days outside Australia in the 4 years, of which no more than 90 in the last 12 months. Home Affairs counts the day you leave and the day you come back as days in Australia, so a weekend away from Friday to Sunday costs one day, not three.

Some people are treated differently. Holders of a Special Category Visa, the visa most New Zealand citizens hold, are deemed permanent residents from 1 July 2022 if they meet the conditions. Children under 16 included on a parent's form do not need to meet the residence rule. Members of the Australian Defence Force with 90 days of service, and people whose work needs regular travel, have their own provisions. Answer the four questions below for a first verdict, then use the residence calculator with your real trips for the exact first date.

Step 2: the application

Applicants aged 18 to 59 usually apply online in ImmiAccount; the paper form 1300t is needed in some cases, such as a full fee exemption or no passport. You prove your identity with 3 documents that together show your photo, signature, date of birth and current address, and for applicants aged 16 and over Home Affairs requests an Australian police check itself; you may also need an overseas penal clearance for any country where they spent 90 days or more if their time outside Australia since turning 18 adds up to 12 months or more. Children under 16 can be included on a parent's application at no extra fee. The documents page lists what Home Affairs asks for, and the online application page explains when paper is required.

What the application costs

A warning on fees: some Home Affairs web pages still print the older amount of $285 for general eligibility. The fee schedule is form 1298i, which the department updates when fees are indexed on 1 July, and this site follows it. The fee calculator adds up a whole family.

Step 3: the test itself

Once your application is being processed, Home Affairs sends an appointment for the test, often together with an interview. At the appointment an officer checks your identity documents against the originals, then you sit the test on a computer. The format has been stable since the last change in November 2020:

The test is in English only, and there is no separate English exam: passing the test is the language check. Candidates can listen to the questions through a headset. The booklet you learn from is available in 40 community languages, so you can study the facts in your own language and then practise the questions in English. Candidates who asked for help in their application and completed at least 400 hours of the Adult Migrant English Program, or who have an impairment needing extra time, may be offered the Assisted Test, with 90 minutes; the English page gives the details.

The values rule, and why it catches people out

Before 15 November 2020, 75% was enough whatever you missed. Today the 5 values questions are a gate of their own. They cover the ideas in Part 4 of the booklet: commitment to the rule of law, parliamentary democracy, freedom of speech, of association and of religion, equality of all people under the law, equality of opportunity and a fair go, mutual respect and tolerance, and the community values the booklet lists, from compassion for those in need to English as the national language and loyalty to Australia. One wrong answer there means a fail, even with 19 correct answers. Every mock test on this site includes exactly 5 values questions and shows the two verdicts separately, so you see which rule you missed. The values page has a dedicated drill.

What to study: the four testable parts of Our Common Bond

Home Affairs says all the information you need for the test is in the testable section of Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond. The rest of the booklet, including the chapter on the Australian story, is not tested but helps you understand it. Our 229 questions follow the same four parts; each card shows how many we have for that part.

Part 1 covers the people and the land: the first Australians, the arrival of the First Fleet in 1788, federation in 1901, the states and territories and their capitals, the national symbols, the flags and the national days. Part 2 covers what Australians believe about democracy: parliamentary democracy, the rule of law, living peacefully, respect for everyone, and the freedoms and responsibilities that go with citizenship. Part 3 covers how the country is governed: the Constitution, the three levels of government, the separation of powers, the roles of the King, the Governor-General and the Prime Minister, how laws are made and how the courts work. Part 4 covers Australian values, the source of the 5 compulsory questions.

A sensible plan is to read one part, then drill it with the question bank or the part pages until you score well, then move on. Once all four parts are done, sit full mock tests in the timed mode until you pass several in a row with no values mistake. The study plan turns the time you have into a daily schedule.

Step 4: how long the decision takes

Home Affairs publishes processing times for citizenship by conferral each month. They measure the time for applications decided recently, so they describe the past, not a promise for yours. In the table updated on 16 October 2026:

On 30 September 2026 the department had 53,298 conferral applications on hand and had received 23,581 during September 2026. Missing documents, identity checks and character checks slow an application down. Our processing page places your own dates against the official percentiles.

Step 5: the ceremony and the pledge

Approval does not make you a citizen. For most applicants aged 16 and over, citizenship starts at the moment you make the pledge of commitment at a ceremony, usually organised by your local council. The invitation arrives about 4 weeks ahead and you cannot choose the date. The pledge must be made within 12 months of approval, otherwise the approval can be cancelled. You choose between two versions of the pledge, with or without the words "under God", and you receive your citizenship certificate, the document you need for an Australian passport. Allow about 2 hours for the day. The ceremony page covers what to bring and wear.

Five mistakes that cost candidates a pass

• Studying from an old list. Material written before late 2020 lacks the values part and marks with the old rule. Check that any practice test includes 5 values questions.
• Learning answers, not facts. The questions in the real test are not published. If you memorise a list of answers, a reworded question will catch you; learn the fact behind each question instead.
• Skipping Part 3. Government and the law has the most detail: three levels of government, three arms of government, the roles of the Governor-General and the Prime Minister. It is where many wrong answers come from.
• Forgetting the documents on test day. You need original identity documents, not copies. Without them the appointment may not go ahead.
• Applying a few days too early. One extra day abroad in the wrong window means the residence requirement is not met. Count the days with the calculator before paying $595.

How this site writes its questions and checks its figures

Radif Partners writes every practice question from the facts in the testable section of Our Common Bond. The booklet is © Commonwealth of Australia and published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 licence, except the Commonwealth Coat of Arms; our questions are adapted from it with attribution, which appears at the foot of every page. No question claims to be from the real test, and each one names the part of the booklet to read to check it. Questions about people who hold an office today, which can change, are left out. Every rule, fee and processing time on the site is read from one data file checked against the Home Affairs website on 25 October 2026, and each figure on a page comes from that file, never typed by hand. The method page explains how a test is drawn and marked.

This site is not the Department of Home Affairs and has no link with it. It takes no applications, books no appointments and cannot see your file. For anything that affects your application, the Home Affairs test and interview page and your ImmiAccount are the only authorities.

Sources

The rules, fees and times quoted here were read on these government pages on25 October 2026.

• Home Affairs: learn about the citizenship interview and test (updated 19 September 2025)
• Home Affairs: prepare for the citizenship test (updated 23 February 2026)
• Home Affairs: Australian Citizenship, Our Common Bond
• Home Affairs: citizenship for permanent residents (updated 12 October 2026)
• Home Affairs: residence calculator
• Home Affairs form 1298i: Australian citizenship application fees (design date 07/26)
• Home Affairs: citizenship processing times (updated 16 October 2026)
• Home Affairs: citizenship ceremony

Every page of the site