A bulk of the citizenship exam is focused on determining the applicant's ability to understand English. In order to ascertain the ability of the applicant, a speaking test, reading test and writing test are administered. If you are not confident in your English skills, then you may want to put off taking the test until you are better prepared. An English class, tutor, or self-guided study can help you to become more proficient at English and put you in a better position to pass the citizenship exam.
The second part of the citizenship exam focuses on civics. Civics is the politics, policies and history of the American government. There are 100 possible civics questions that can be asked on the citizenship exam. Only 10 questions will be asked, and the applicant must answer at least six correctly in order to pass. If your knowledge of American Civics is not good, then it would be a good idea to study up beforehand on the possible questions that may be asked to avoid failing the test.
Before you can even sign up to take the test, you must meet certain residency requirements. According to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website, a successful applicant must have been a permanent resident in the United States for at least five years (three years for a spouse of a U.S. citizen). These applicants should be permanent residents with green cards. The applicant must also have lived in the state they are filing in for at least three months prior to taking the citizenship exam. If you do not meet these residency requirements, you should not take the citizenship exam.
Before you can take a citizenship exam, you must submit an N-400 form. This is a citizenship application. Applicants must meet residency and age requirements in order to file. In addition, it costs money to file. The cost to file an N-400 is about $700. If you do not have the money to file an N-400, then you may have to wait to take the citizenship test.