65/20 Citizenship Test: the 20 Starred Questions, 10 Asked, 6 to Pass, in Your Language

What 65/20 means, in one paragraph

If you were 65 or older and had been a lawful permanent resident for 20 or more years when you filed your N-400, you take a shorter civics test. Per USCIS form M-1778 (09/25), "you may study just the 20 questions that have been marked with an asterisk", "the USCIS officer will ask you to answer 10 out of the 20 civics test questions with an asterisk", and "you must answer at least 6 out of 10 questions (or 60%) correctly to pass". The same form says "you may also take the civics test in the language of your choice". The Policy Manual (Volume 12, Part E, Chapter 2, current as of 2 October 2026) describes the same "specially designated list of 20 questions" and adds that the test may be taken "in his or her language of choice with the use of an interpreter". The 20 questions, with the USCIS answers, are below in English and then glossed in Spanish, Hindi, Gujarati, Tagalog, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Arabic. One point to note: the Policy Manual's table of exceptions marks the English requirement "Exempt" for 65/20 applicants, and at 65 with 20 years you also meet the 50/20 rule, so you do not take the English test either.

Do you qualify? 50/20, 55/15 and 65/20 compared

USCIS has three age-and-residence rules and people mix them up. The first two are exemptions from the English test. The third is a shorter civics test. The wording below is from the USCIS exceptions and accommodations page.

Count the years from the date on your green card ("Resident Since"), and count your age on the day USCIS received the N-400. A person aged 64 and 11 months at filing with 25 years of residence qualifies for 50/20 (no English test, full civics test in their language) but not for 65/20. A person aged 70 with 18 years qualifies for 55/15 but not for 65/20, so they study the full bank in their own language. The full set of exemptions, including the Form N-648 medical route, is on our exemptions page.

The 20 starred questions with USCIS answers

Question numbers and wording are from M-1778. The right column lists every answer USCIS accepts; you need only the number the question asks for (one, except question 126, which asks for three). Words in brackets are optional. For the four questions whose answer is a person in office (30, 38, 39 and 61), M-1778 says to answer with "the name of the official serving at the time of your naturalization interview"; we show what the USCIS Check for Test Updates page listed when we read it, with the date, and your interpreter should check it again in the week of the interview. The other 108 questions are on our full 128-question page.

The 20 questions in your language

These glosses were written by TalkDrill to help you recognise each question and remember one accepted answer. They are not USCIS translations; we did not find an official translation of the 2025 bank on uscis.gov when we checked on 21 October 2026. The Study for the Test page does offer the 2008 65/20 list in Arabic, Chinese, Korean, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese, which helps only if you filed before 20 October 2025. At the interview you will hear the question in English or through your interpreter, and your interpreter renders your answer. Names of people and places are kept in English because that is how the interpreter will say them.

Spanish (español)

Hindi and Gujarati (हिन्दी, ગુજરાતી)

Punjabi-speaking families: we have not written a Gurmukhi column yet. Use the Hindi or English column to learn the questions and ask your interpreter to render each one in Punjabi; the proper nouns are the same in every language.

Tagalog and Vietnamese (Tagalog, Tiếng Việt)

Mandarin and Arabic (中文, العربية)

Cantonese speakers: the written Chinese column reads the same; say it in Cantonese.

Taking the test in your language: the interpreter

Two official sentences settle most questions. The USCIS exceptions page: "You will be permitted to take the civics test in your native language" and "If you take the test in your native language, you must bring an interpreter with you to your interview." The Policy Manual: the applicant "may take the civics test in his or her language of choice with the use of an interpreter." So the language is your choice, USCIS does not supply the interpreter, and the officer still asks the official questions and listens for the official answers through that interpreter.

What that looks like in the room (written by TalkDrill)

• Choose an interpreter who can say the English answers cleanly. "Supreme Court", "Jefferson", "Continental Army" and "Emancipation Proclamation" have to arrive in English in the form on the list. Practise the 20 with your interpreter so each of you is used to the other's pace; at the interview the interpreter translates word for word and may not answer for you.
• Answer in short nouns, not stories. The Policy Manual allows "an alternative phrasing of the correct answer", but every extra clause is a chance for the meaning to drift in translation.
• The names that change are still your job. Questions 30, 38, 39 and 61 need the person in office on the day. Ask a family member to open the USCIS update page the night before and write the four names on a card in your script.
• Bring the card, not the answers. Study notes are for the waiting room; the test itself is from memory, answered aloud.
• The rules USCIS states about the interpreter: the exceptions page says "Your interpreter must be fluent in both English and your native language." The N-400 instructions say that if you qualify for an exception to the English part of the test and need an interpreter, "you must bring an interpreter to the interview". The Policy Manual, Volume 12, Part B, Chapter 3 adds that you bring the interpreter "at their own expense"; that the interpreter must translate "word for word" without giving "the interpreter's own opinion, commentary, or answer"; that the interpreter completes an interpreter's oath and privacy release and submits a copy of government-issued identification at the interview; and that "a disinterested party should be used as an interpreter". If the officer is fluent in your language, the officer may conduct the examination in it.

Do you still take the English test?

Read the three rules again. The English exemption at 50/20 requires "age 50 or older at the time of filing" and "20 years" as a permanent resident. Anyone who meets 65/20 (65 or older, 20 or more years, at filing) therefore meets 50/20 as well. The Policy Manual says so directly: its table of exceptions (Volume 12, Part E, Chapter 2) marks the English requirement "Exempt" for an applicant who is "age 65 or older and resided in the United States as an LPR for at least 20 years at time of filing", and marks civics "Still required but officers administer specially designated test forms". So a 65/20 applicant does not take the English speaking, reading and writing tests and takes the 10-of-20 civics test in the language of their choice. Check your own two dates against the rule before the interview.

What 65/20 does not do: it does not remove the interview. The officer still goes through the N-400 with you, through your interpreter, and still asks the eligibility questions ("Have you ever..."). The exceptions page also says that even applicants who qualify for the 50/20 or 55/15 English exceptions "must still take the civics test". Nobody is excused from civics by age alone; the only route around the civics test is a medical disability certified on Form N-648 (edition 09/25/24, no filing fee), covered on our exemptions page.

Filed before 20 October 2025: the 2008 starred list

Per the USCIS Check for Test Updates page, an N-400 filed before 20 October 2025 is tested on the 2008 civics test, and that test has its own 20 starred questions. USCIS publishes them as a text file, "Civics Questions for the 65/20 Exemption", which says these applicants "qualify to take the civics test in the language of their choice" and "are only required to study 20 of the 100 civics test questions". The 2008 test asks up to 10 questions and 6 correct answers pass (interview and test page), and the Study for the Test page confirms that USCIS "will continue to administer a test with 10 questions from a specially selected bank of 20 test questions from either the 2008 or 2025 Naturalization Civics Test". The 20 questions and answers below are from that file, with their numbers in the 100-question list. Our 2008 or 2025 page explains how to confirm which version is yours.

Only five ideas appear on both starred lists (the economic system, the President's name, Washington, Lincoln and Martin Luther King, Jr.), so do not study the wrong list. The 2008 list leans on dates and routines (November, April 15, July 4, eighteen); the 2025 list leans on the Constitution and history.

How to practise at 65 and beyond

Everything here is TalkDrill's method for older learners and their families; USCIS prescribes the questions, not the study. The goal is small: 20 questions, 6 of 10 right, in a language you already speak.

1. Five a day, aloud, in your language. Day one, questions 2, 7, 12, 20 and 30. Day two, the next five. Day five, all 20. Repeat the cycle for three weeks. Twenty minutes a day is enough.
2. Make the cards in your own script. Copy the question gloss on one side and one accepted answer on the other, in the script you read best. Keep proper names in English letters so they stay recognisable when the interpreter says them.
3. Have a grandchild or neighbour play the officer, asking ten at random and counting to six. Do this twice a week. Ask them to use the English question first and then the gloss, so the English sound of each question becomes familiar even though you answer in your language.
4. Do a run-through with your interpreter so the pace feels familiar, including the four names that change, read fresh from the USCIS update page. The answers must come from you; the Policy Manual says the interpreter may not add an answer of their own.
5. Learn the English of the interview itself. "Raise your right hand", "Do you swear to tell the truth?", "Have you ever...", "Sign here" come before and after the civics questions; through an interpreter they are still easier when they are not a surprise. Our N-400 interview questions page lists them, and families who want a run-through can use the AI mock interview in English while the applicant listens.
6. The night before: green card, state ID, the interview notice, your interpreter with a copy of their government-issued ID, and the card with your senators, representative, governor and state capital. Our what to bring page has the list as the USCIS notice states it.

Language-specific help is on our pages for Spanish speakers, Hindi, Gujarati and Punjabi speakers and Tagalog, Vietnamese, Mandarin and Arabic speakers. Official text: M-1778, the 128 questions (PDF), the Policy Manual chapter and the 2008 65/20 question file. Back to the US citizenship English test hub.