I took the Life in the UK Test to see if I could pass it

I did not know what I was getting myself into, and I’ll be honest, it felt like I was back in school.

You need 75% to pass, meaning I could get no more than six wrong… so how did I do?

The Life in the UK Test can be booked on the Gov.uk website(Image: Newsquest)

What is the Life in the UK Test?

Before we begin, it is important to explain what this test is for those who don’t know.

The Life in the UK test is an exam required for British citizenship or indefinite leave to remain (ILR) applications.

You do not need to take the test if you:

are under 18, or are 65 or over

have passed it before

have a long-term physical or mental condition

It contains 24 multiple-choice questions covering UK history, government, geography, culture, and customs.

As stated previously, you must answer at least 18 questions correctly (75%) within 45 minutes to pass.

Irish people living in the UK will be able to apply for British citizenship under a new easier, cheaper route.

Applicants will be subject to a more streamlined application process and won’t be required to demonstrate knowledge of English language or sit the Life in the UK test.

— Home Office (@ukhomeoffice) July 4, 2025

For those taking the test, you would hope that they would do some revision beforehand, as each test costs £50.

Me? I went in with nothing but what I already knew (which I hoped was enough, having lived here all my life).

I took the Life in the UK Test to see if I could pass it

Just 24 questions, and I cannot get at least 18 correct, can’t be too difficult, right?

Now obviously, I could not take a real one, but thankfully, as is often the case with tests, mock exams are available.

For this experiment, I used the Britizen website, which has 45 different Life in the UK mock tests.

The test does give you 45 minutes, but I tried to do it at a reasonable speed, not that it mattered for some of the questions.

Some of the questions on the Life in the UK mock test(Image: Newsquest)

My UK hat was on, mock test one was loaded up, and we were ready.

The first question was as follows:

What is known as Lent?

The 40 days before Easter

The 40 days after Christmas

The 40 days before Christmas

The 40 days after Easter

Nice and straightforward, the 40 days before Easter, we’re off to a strong start and feeling confident.

Question two asked me which country’s flag is not part of the Union Flag, of which the answer was Wales, and question three, what is the judiciary responsible for, I also got correct, picking ‘interpreting the law’.

Unique British Christmas Traditions

Then question four came up…

When did the Habeas Corpus Act become law?

Now I did study history at GCSE and A Level, and studied Media Law at university.

I had a generic idea of what Habeas Corpus meant. For those who don’t know, Habeas corpus is Latin for ‘you must present the person in court’, which meant that every prisoner had the right to a court hearing.

But picking out when it became law? That was a different case. With revision, I probably could have remembered, but I chose incorrectly.

Other questions I got correct that were easy enough included picking out that it was the O2 arena that was the venue based in Greenwich and that the UK left the EU in 2020.

One of the questions was which venue was based in Greenwich, which I knew was the famous O2 Arena(Image: Newsquest)

But knowing when the First British Prime Minister (Sir Robert Walpole) was in power and picking out which two people could nominate life peers proved more difficult.