Women in the UK were given the right to divorce their husbands from 1857, members of the House of Lords aren’t allowed to stand for parliament unless they resign first, and the patron saint of Wales is David.
Today I’m sitting my ‘Life in the UK’ test - basically to prove that I’m ‘English’ enough to be allowed to stay when my visa expires in October. By the way, I did get stopped last night at passport control: “Ma’am. you are aware that your visa will expire in less than two months?” “Gulp, yes, I have my test tomorrow, I promise!” The passport guy actually probed a bit further, in a nice way though. I guess they get the ‘I’m doing it tomorrow’ answer a lot.
Having done a few practice tests online (*most* of which I passed) I have decided to devote a little time in the next few hours to studying (ugh!). I truly would like to avoid the possibility of failure, and the £34 repeat test fee, not to mention the scary horror of wondering whether I will get through all this in time to have my new visa stamped and in my hands by the time I need to leave for SOAR.
In the meantime, thank you for your patience - I know I have a bit to catch up on. Appearing here in the next few days (assuming I pass) will be: a parade of birthday goodies; a couple of blog awards I’ve achieved and need to pass on; photos and commentary from our weekend in Stockholm; recent spinning; and a more detailed post on what I learned at the flax mill we visited on Monday.
Until then, wish me luck - and send good test vibes!
ETA: I passed! Woo :-D Thank you all for the vibes/karma/prayers etc! I don’t know until my letter comes how many I got wrong, but one question was a blatant guess and there were about three I was unsure of. Other than that though - pretty easy. Big sigh of relief.
Btw, if you’re curious about the sorts of questions I got asked - you can take a practice test online here. I’d love to know what real Brits score!
Oh, and for people who are even more curious/bored/masochistic I found a similar test for Australian citizenship here. I scored 9/20 :-P
Entries (RSS)
August 27th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll pass with flying colours…
Steve has to sit his at some point soon, so that he can get a British passport…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:44 am
Good luck! I’m sure you’ll do brilliantly. I bet I would fail…
August 27th, 2008 at 10:59 am
Good luck!! I did the test last year — you’ll be fine.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:02 am
But who do you support at cricket?
*big wink*
Ah, citizenship tests - making the ‘newbies’ more knowledgeable than the rest of us everyday :D
Good luck!
August 27th, 2008 at 11:46 am
Good Luck but you won’t need it.
I finished it in 5 mins and passed.
I’m now just waiting for the new Australian passport to arrive so I can go and pay the Home Office lots of £’s for the new visa.
August 27th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
Good luck! will you be a Pom then? :-)
August 27th, 2008 at 12:12 pm
Good luck, I know you will do well and pass with flying colours. xxxx
August 27th, 2008 at 12:22 pm
Sending good vibes! Toi toi toi and I’m digitally spitting over your left shoulder (for luck, obviously)
August 27th, 2008 at 12:27 pm
Good luck with the test!
August 27th, 2008 at 2:03 pm
You’ll be more British than hte Brits! It’s going to be fine. :) I just am confused as to why you have to sit a test to prove that you Aussies are allowed in Britain. Don’t the Brits feel any responsibility towards all those convicts they sent to Oz? Is the punishment of banishment applied for all future generations? :) (only kind of kidding..) I am going to face this same kind of thing in Canada, and I’m not ready yet for any tests, so I wish you well!
August 27th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Good luck! Not that you’ll need it, but I’m sending you all the brainy vibes I can spare!
August 27th, 2008 at 3:21 pm
Good luck! And thanks for the reminder - my driver’s license expires next week and I need to get it updated so I won’t have any problems flying to PA!
August 27th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
Well done!!
I didn’t know the answers to the first two items in your post! Did you ever see the Gerard Depardieu film Green Card where he is trying to pass the US test? a great film.
August 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Well done on the test! In the next couple of weeks I have to hand over my Australian driver’s licence for a UK one… I feel like I’m betraying my homeland!
August 27th, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I’m a brit and only got 60%, some of the questions I had no idea of at all. Well done!
August 27th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Obviously I make a better Pom than the Australian that I am. I scored 18/24 for the UK test but only 10/10 for the Australian. Most of those people mention I’ve never heard of before. Not to mention the fact I’ve had little to do with Australian History since primary school.
August 27th, 2008 at 11:15 pm
I failed :-( 45% I’m afraid to take the Brit one - “they” may not let me live anywhere!
August 28th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Well done! I tried the British one and got 80% in just under 4 mins. There are some bizarre questions in there! I can see the point of knowing that you need to dial 999 in an emergency, but some of the other stuff I completely fail to see how it would affect your life living in the UK.
August 28th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Well I just tried it online and only got 80%, one of the answers I could only do because you’ve already mentioned it in your post. I better get packing my bags quick.
August 31st, 2008 at 9:14 pm
Sigh… I will probably have to take this test at some point as well.
The Limey says no native Brit would do very well on that test, and they should just ask you to drink lots of lager and then have a fight!