Can you pass the German citizenship test?

July 8, 2008 · Filed Under Germany 

Spiegel.de asks, “Sind Sie reif, ein Deutscher zu sein?” (“Are you ready to be German?”). Starting in September, foreigners wishing to obtain German citizenship will have to answer at least 17 out of 33 questions correctly on the politics, history, geography, and law of Germany in order to qualify for citizenship.

I made it, scoring 25 out of 33, though I must admit I did a lot of (educated) guessing. Unfortunately for the non-German-speakers out there, the test is in German, but if you speak German, take it and let us know if you have what it takes to become a German citizen. (I’m especially interested to hear how my German readers do!)

If you’re new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Tags: , ,

Related posts

Comments

24 Responses to “Can you pass the German citizenship test?”

  1. BiB on July 8th, 2008 3:13 pm

    Yippee. I passed. I’m off down the Amt (just as soon as I find out which one).

    BiBs last blog post..You say tomato

  2. cliff1976 on July 8th, 2008 3:19 pm

    I passed!

    Got a couple wrong about flag colors and capitals of other Bundesländer.* I can live with that!

    *It’s called BRD (“Bayern und Rest Deutschlands”) for a reason.

  3. rita on July 8th, 2008 3:33 pm

    “Sie haben 31 von 33 Punkten.

    Sie haben es geschafft.”

    piece of cake. though i didn’t know how many countries there are in the EU right now and i could care less which flag is raised in NRW. :D
    ritas last blog post..stolpersteine: hagen

  4. andrea on July 8th, 2008 4:33 pm

    Hi, Mine said I had 29 from 33 correct however, when I wrote them on a piece of paper I only had 25 correct…In my defense, there were a couple of things I did not understand. Never the less, I am still NOT ready to be a citizen of Germany!! ha ha
    That was fun.

  5. Christina G on July 8th, 2008 4:58 pm

    @BiB: Let us know how it goes!

    @cliff: I got the capital of Hessen, Rainer likes to quiz me on that kind of stuff during long car trips, but I also missed the flag colors.

    @rita: Yeah, I missed both of those, but congrats, you’re ready to be German!

    @andrea: Hmmm, I didn’t keep track of the number on paper, maybe I only got 21 right! But I think a couple of those were because I didn’t fully understand the questions, and I was too lazy/thought it was cheating to use a dictionary.

  6. Tammy on July 8th, 2008 5:27 pm

    I am the loser who didn’t pass. I did get a 16 though, if I just remembered that the European parliament is in Strasburg! I didn’t cheat looking up words though, which put me at a disadvantage on a few questions. I could narrow it down to a 50/50 chance given the few words I could figure out in a couple of questions.

  7. CN Heidelberg on July 8th, 2008 8:13 pm

    23/33. My crappy German is holding me back…what’s new!?

    CN Heidelbergs last blog post..Germany: No Fortification with Vitamin D

  8. Danielle on July 8th, 2008 9:16 pm

    I gave up. I thought my German was good but today I got schooled by a 4 year old and couldn’t understand most of what was being said on this test! Maybe after being here a year? (is that too soon?)

    Danielles last blog post..Win your weight in Beer?

  9. bluefish on July 8th, 2008 9:50 pm

    Congratulations! How long does it take for one to become a German citizen?

    bluefishs last blog post..Jazz

  10. rositta on July 9th, 2008 2:16 am

    Yes, I got 28 out of 33. I haven’t lived in Germany since 1956 and have only visited 5 times so I’m pretty proud of myself here…ciao

    rosittas last blog post..Who Will It Be - Obama Or McCain?

  11. Sarah on July 9th, 2008 7:29 am

    Woo-hoo!! 25/33! Gimme the red passport already.

    That was fun, but it was a lot of educated guessing for me, too. I beefed several of the law things due to my vocabulary limitations.

  12. Matt on July 9th, 2008 9:41 am

    I’m German, and I must confess I only had 31 from 33 correct. It seems I got the same questions wrong as rita (#3).

  13. MC on July 9th, 2008 10:40 am

    So you asked for a german result : 27/33
    I’ve got the german & britsh citizenship, but I was born and raised in Germany

  14. Christina G on July 9th, 2008 3:05 pm

    @tammy: Well now you know where the European Parliament is!

    @CN Heidelberg: Hey, you passed, so your German can’t be THAT crappy ;-)

    @Danielle: Being able to give it a try after only a few weeks in Germany is awesome. I still hardly spoke any German after I’d been here a few weeks!

    @bluefish: Oh, I have no idea. I’m not really interested in becoming German. I guess that’s why I’m an “expat” instead of an “immigrant.”

    @rositta: Wow, congrats, that’s awesome!

    @sarah: Yeah, like what the heck is a Schöffin and I guessed religious freedom for Freizügigkeit!

    @matt & MC: Thanks for commenting! My husband got 32, he didn’t know the number of EU countries, but he was VERY disappointed in my performance (of which I was pretty proud). “How could you not know the colors of the NRW flag???” he asked incredulously. I’m going to point out that you guys (I’m assuming with MC) and Rita missed it too so it can’t be that bad that I did!

  15. Jul on July 9th, 2008 3:56 pm

    Woo hoo! I passed! Does this mean they’ll be sending me my German passport in the mail?

    Juls last blog post..More balcony garden talk

  16. indigo-alien on July 9th, 2008 4:27 pm

    WooHoo! 27/33!

    Does it count if I’m not German or American?

    indigo-aliens last blog post..The citizenship test

  17. indigo-alien on July 9th, 2008 7:47 pm

    FWIW, my German wife just went through the test and scored 29/33.

  18. Christina G on July 9th, 2008 8:09 pm

    @jul: I wouldn’t hold my breath ;-)

    @indigo-alien: Thanks for commenting. Everyone counts here ;-) I enjoyed your post about the test and the controversy surrounding it.

  19. MC on July 10th, 2008 1:53 pm

    @15.Christina: NO, not really. I’m from NRW, so I had to have the colours right. But I failed on the questions about the EU… and the first Bundeskanzler, too (shame on me)

  20. saari on July 11th, 2008 3:42 am

    33 out of 33. 100% yay!!! lol

  21. Jo on July 11th, 2008 6:10 am

    I was surprised I did as well as I did, 30 out of 33. I think the flag questions are kinda lame. Wouldn’t questions about the government be better for a citizenship test? This was also supposed to be simple, easy German, but it isn’t. I have lived here 21 years and think I am pretty darn good, and parts of it were tough. Who has ever heard of a schöppe?
    I think I will keep my American pass just the same.
    Jo

    Jos last blog post..Happy Anniversary to my Husband

  22. Claire on July 12th, 2008 10:22 am

    30 out of 33. I thought that was pretty good. I did better than my husband did on the U.S. one! LOL!

    Claires last blog post..A Hairy Situation

  23. Karin on July 14th, 2008 11:17 am

    Hey! I’m German-American (and live in Germany) and got 33/33! Wooohoo!

  24. p-boy on July 17th, 2008 9:46 am

    Karin@ marry me :-)

Leave a Reply