This morning we both sat our examination for Canadian Citizenship. We had been given about 6 weeks notice that it would happen today and so had the opportunity to study for it.
It was a multiple choice style exam covering Canadian history, politics, geography, economics and culture. Although David and I were given different exam papers we both agreed it seemed fairly straightforward, but only thanks to the studying, revision and test exams we had taken in the previous few weeks. I suspect that many born & bred Canadians might struggle on some of the information required : What year was the Constitutional Act that divided the Province of Canada into Upper Canada and Lower Canada ? Who was Sir Louis-Hippolyte La Fontaine ? What is the name of the The Sovereigns representative in the Territories ? and as we sit in our home-office looking out at a million trees in a Province with a billion trees, seemingly obvious questions such as Which Province produces the most pulp & paper are sometimes not what you expect……Quebec.
I’m sure we would also not fare well taking the British citizenship exam without prior studying and I think they are often focused on factors that play a very small part in most citizens day to day lives.
Now, if only the questions were – How much is a tall-extra shot-vanilla bean-latte at Starbucks ?, what are the five flavours in a 12-piece box of Timbits or How are the Canucks doing at defending a spot in the Playoffs ? Well….the exam would probably have a much higher pass rate !
Anyway, we sat the exam at the Citizenship & Immigration Centre which is downtown in the shadow of BC Place Stadium. I actually took this photo yesterday when I came down to find where we would need to go so that it would be easy for the actual exam. Today, it is snowing at home and raining downtown, a proper Vancouver winter day.
After the exam we had to wait and be interviewed briefly about ourselves, background, family, employment and have our travel statements verified by the stamps in our passports.
Now we sit and wait. Apparently it works on a ‘no news is good news’ basis. They will tell us if we failed. Assuming we have passed the exam then they will invite us to a swearing in ceremony in about 2-3 months.
After which, we become Canadian !
Incidently, if anybody wants to test their Canadian Citizenship Trivia they can try a test exam here.
6 comments:
I scored 80%! But I chose to do only 5 questions, so it was probably all luck.
My fingers are crossed for your real life exams!
Thanks ! It's went as well as we could have hoped. We will be sure to post on here as soon as we find out.
That's amazing you guys are becoming Canadians! Now we know why this country just keeps getting better. The facts you mentioned were a lot harder than the 5 questions I got on my practice test just now... (100%, eh) Jesse passed his test several years ago, but I think he needs a refresher already.
Thanks Doug & Jesse.
To be honest the actual exams are perhaps 70% straightforward stuff that with a little common sense and careful reading of the question wording, much of the time you would know. The other 30% can vary from more of the same to a few tough ones.
Several months ago we were sent a study guide which contains 'everything you need to know for your exam' and the questions on the blogpost were taken from it.
Also, it's easier being multiple choice of course because you do actually have the answer in front of you - you just have to figure it out.
Well we're feeling fairly confident ourselves and we're definitely looking forward to becoming citizens in this wonderful country.
Hi,
could you please post an 'average wait time' between your Citizenship Test and Oath ceremony?
i did my exam on 15-Feb-2011 and i'm still waiting.
Thanks,
Ib
I don't know what the average time is but we were 2 months from sitting the exam to taking the oath.
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