New Citizenship Test Failure Rates Up in the Sky

The new citizenship Test has been implemented since October 14. This is a change that took almost half a year to hit the test centers and the citizenship application all over Canada. As you may well know the former test based on the much shorter and simpler guide had a 60% passing score which meant 12 questions out of the 20 the test holds. The new test is part of the renewal of the citizenship application, with it a new guide was introduced called Discover Canada. The new test has a 75% passing score and no mandatory questions as its former version.

With this the Canadian citizenship and immigration office was aiming to enhance the naturalization process with the result of a much prepared new citizen that hold the values and history of its new country. The shocking result was the rocket of failings the whole country got in the very first weeks of application of the new test. The rates well exceeded the 30% fail rate in major cities.

The Officials at the test centers are shocked with the results “The highest failing rate we ever had since the test was introduced” said one officer to our sources. The truth is that for the citizenship and immigration offices failures are more complicated that a passing score. The naturalization process stipulates that the citizenship test can be taken only once per application. There was the possibility of a retake when the new test was introduced back in October 14 but that was just an exceptional situation. When a test is failed the policy is to set up a live interview with the area citizenship Judge for him to decide the fate of the citizen wannabe.

The over load the citizenship Judges have these days can only be compared to a General Motors Tier 2 Call Center where the recalls and manufacturer failures are abundant. Each interview takes between 20 to 30 minutes, the judge needs to start questioning the applicant on the test failures and review the residency and paperwork files to take a decision. It is usually more of a merry reunion with the future citizen, now imagine the judge starts having 20 to 30 interviews a day…My conclusion is a very frustrated judge not keen to let many off the hook. So My advice to you all, STUDY HARD!

The new guide is more complex and complete than the older one. In fact since its implementation the residents continued studying from the old guide in an attempt of passing the old test, only logical. Now the situation has adjusted, the new guide and the new test. Is this a way to stop the massive Naturalization in Canada? The citizenship and immigration office process around 150,000 tests per year which equals more or lest the number of new citizens. Now with a 33-35% failing rate the offices will be caught up with paperwork and interviews, will this result in a delay of the application process? Will it take more than a year for a resident to become Canadian?

We are still watching the unfolding of events to be able to answer that question. As of now we know the citizenship Judges are not that happy with the new test. And the whole test experience has turned to be much more stressful. Our every day advice is: Practice Practice Practice!!!!

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