BS: UK Citizen Test

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 05:50 AM

Well when I mentioned the top-earning superstars I wasn't defending their salaries, which are ultimately paid by the fans, to whom the policy of supply and demand is applied. What I was saying is that it's unfair to tar the whole of the footballing world with the same brush. The top earners that hit The headlines are in a very tiny minority. And I wIll continue this discussion only on condition that there is to be no criticism whatsoever of Liverpool FC.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Raggytash
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 04:59 AM

Hi Steve, I cannot agree with the vast amounts that some footballers are paid. There are some who earn more in ONE month than I earned in my ENTIRE career.

I realise most have a relatively short career and that most are not receiving vast sums but some of the salaries are frankly ridiculous.

Thread drift I know ............... so back to the UK Citizen Test.

I've taken 14 so far. I've scored 100% on just two and actually failed one.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 04:34 AM

The most fascinating event in the long process of my husband finally receiving his passport was that he had to have an interview in Norwich at the tiny 'backstreet' passport office where they do this. They apparently asked him about his house in our village; what colour was the garage door, did it have a garden etc. The next day, there sat the chap he'd been interviewed by, sitting in his car facing our bungalow.
My husband walked down to the village shop to get my paper, and the man watched him, then drove off. A few days after this the famous UK passport arrived by courier.
I suppose this is to prevent fraud, and in a way it's reassuring. But I felt we were in a James Bond film!

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 04:27 AM

Well, I've been 'integrated into the community' since birth, and I'm afraid that in spite of a University education and being a teacher all my working days, I found I couldn't answer many of the test questions.

It would be interesting to do an experiment and get large numbers of born-and-bred Brits of all ages and walks of life to have a go at 'Life In The UK' to see how they'd fare.

The only way to pass is to do as my husband did and study the 1000 questions and their answers, and learn by rote. You could do this if you'd never set foot in the UK.

You have to get a minimum of 18 correct out of 24, and the questions are randomly selected by the computer from the 1000 on the database.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: BobL
Date: 22 Dec 16 - 03:49 AM

Surely the point is not whether you're a fan of a particular sport, but that if you're sufficiently integrated into the community, you will have picked up a lot of this sort of stuff in passing. Not all of it, but you don't have to get every question right.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 08:34 PM

Pure prejudice. The top-earning superstars of footie are in a tiny minority. Most jobbing footballers earn quite good dough in the four top divisions, but rarely enough to live on below that level. You may not like footie but it gives a vast amount of pleasure to a vast number of people, mainly working class. I happen to be an aficionado and I can tell you that the skill level in the top clubs is sublime. Too bad if you don't like it. Just remember when you're slagging off footballers that they are are guaranteed a very short career only, devastatingly shorter still if they get badly injured.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 07:04 PM

Hahaha Pete! My opinion entirely!

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Pete from seven stars link
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 06:25 PM

Reckon I would fail too , especially football questions . I know little more about professional football than its 22 men kicking a ball around and getting paid too much money for it !

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: The Sandman
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 01:03 PM

Havent the civil service got anything better to do what waste of taxpayers money

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 11:22 AM

There are a few questions like that Manitas, but I always had the suspicion that the whole test was devised to have prospective immigrants falling at the first fence so to speak. I saw a Ghanaian couple at the Test Centre whose first language was English, and they were both very upset as they had both failed. (They tell you then and there if you've passed or not.)
It seemed as if the Home Office wanted to make it as difficult as possible, thereby limiting the numbers of new British Citizens.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Manitas_at_home
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 09:46 AM

Not a lot of these questions are helpful in living in the UK. While a basic overview of how the government is made up, and the different levels it operates at would be very useful the numbers themselves are not. Does the test cover such things as how refuse services operate, public transport, ownership and registration of vehicles and general day to day life?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 09:12 AM

And here is the trick football question, from the Home Office Official Study Guide:-

The UK football team is very important to British people. True or false?

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 08:59 AM

I agree, Nigel. After many years of teaching children to read by phonetic methods, I was encouraged to include 'look-and-say' in my strategies, which helped with English words that weren't decipherable phonetically. Its detractors justifiably called it 'barking at words'. However, barking is better than remaining silent and stumped!

I sometimes try to imagine attempting the Life In UK Test in Malinke by merely memorising letter patterns in one thousand examples. Don't reckon I'd have got very far.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 08:28 AM

Senoufou:
His recognising answers by their shape in not that surprising.
World Scrabble champions now can come from countries where English isn't used, and the players don't know what the words mean, just that a particular grouping of letters is a valid word.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 07:36 AM

Ha! I've just found one of his (many) study books for the test. The questions are really hard. Here are some examples:-

How often do most children in the UK receive their pocket money?

How many Assembly Members are there in the National Assembly for Wales?

What percentage of children live in lone-parent families?

At what age do children in England go to secondary school? (Silly question then, as there were Middle Schools in Norfolk for up to 12 yr olds, and in Suffolk it was 13.)

Pressure groups are not allowed to influence government policy. True or false. (How does one define 'influence'?)

It is illegal to be drunk in public. True or false? (define 'drunk'!)

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: G-Force
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 07:14 AM

Perhaps they should include questions like:
"What does 'Hearts of Oak' refer to? - Wooden ships / Early aircraft / Longbows / Memorial trees"
"Women are not allowed to perform Morris Dancing in public - True / False?"
"What is Real Ale?" (suggestions invited).

Or 'What is Folk?'.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 07:13 AM

Dave, I think the question referred to the European Cup (not sure). Anyway, my husband knows all there is to know about football, so he got that one quite easily! Bearing in mind his English was very limited, and he was merely learning the 'look' of the right answers by the shape of the words, it's a miracle he got through. And it rather negates the Governments attempts to educate prospective immigrants, and to prove they understand the English language, as it shouldn't be possible to crib one's way round the test as he did!

I'd have been deported immediately, as the questions were very difficult. I clapped like anything at my husband's Citizenship Ceremony many months later.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 05:53 AM

BobL
Perhaps we shouldn't criticise typos.
The official march of the Royal Navy is "Heart of oak" same as the standard lyrics. There's no 's' in the title.

Cheers
Nigel

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: BobL
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 04:50 AM

I had a look at a practise set, they seem reasonable (in spite of the odd typo - Dawning Street???). Especially with a pass mark of 66%.

Perhaps they should include questions like:
"What does 'Hearts of Oak' refer to? - Wooden ships / Early aircraft / Longbows / Memorial trees"
"Women are not allowed to perform Morris Dancing in public - True / False?"
"What is Real Ale?" (suggestions invited).

Perhaps they already do.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 04:43 AM

There is a Great Britain Olympic football team, Eliza. I certainly would not know percentages of immigrants but, like most multiple choice questions, some can usually be eliminated and that often leaves you with a 50/50 chance on a guess. I have used that system quite often in some exams with great success :-D

Cheers

DtG

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 04:20 AM

I seem to remember it was multiple choice back then. You had four answers from which to choose. Many were 'trick questions', such as one about the 'Great Britain' football team. And some awful ones about the percentages of various nationalities of immigrants in the nineteenth century. How many born-and-bred Britons would know that? I certainly didn't!

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 21 Dec 16 - 04:06 AM

Qu 6. Bank Holidays have no national or religious significance
True or False.

Nasty question. Is there a difference between 'Bank Holidays' and 'Public Holidays'?
If not then some have religious significance (Christmas, Boxing Day, Good Friday, Easter Monday) and some do not, (May Day, Late spring Bank Holiday, August bank holiday).

Not really a question with a binary answer.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Senoufou
Date: 20 Dec 16 - 10:48 AM

My husband took this test years ago, and bought a study book and computer disc with all 1000 questions in it (They select 24 at random from the 1000). I was stumped by many of them. He persevered, learning them by rote, and passed on his second attempt. It's been changed recently to a much harder set.

Subject: RE: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 20 Dec 16 - 10:36 AM

I am frightened to look. If I fail will I get sent back to Poland?

:D tG

Subject: BS: UK Citizen Test
From: Raggytash
Date: 20 Dec 16 - 10:12 AM

Idling away a few minutes I thought I would take a UK Citizen Test and one question was:

Qu 6. Bank Holidays have no national or religious significance

True or False.

Interesting I thought.