America’s path to citizenship has an updated exam

Civics teachers have long included questions from the U S citizenship test in classroom lessons to spur conversation among students Now the U S Citizenship and Immigration Services has updated the exam for those who hope to become American citizens expanding the manageable questions to and in particular cases asking for more detail on the test The updated test is being administered to applicants who filed for naturalization on or before Oct Related stories Legal setbacks mount for Trump s birthright order before likely Supreme Court review Federal appeals court rules Trump administration can t end birthright citizenship Trump allies undeterred by setbacks in courts and Congress push anew for citizenship proof to vote Applicants have to answer questions and in order to pass they must get of those questions correct In the past getting six correct answers out of was required On Thursday the Washington Post included questions from the updated exam so that readers could test their knowledge WTOP reached out to Maryland State Guidance Association president and Howard County lecturer of American authorities and law Paul Lemle to ask about the new version of the test So how did he do Out of questions I got Lemle disclosed rapidly adding It was luck in part Lemle admitted to guessing on two questions The one that questioned what James Madison was famous for the answer D President during the War of and the other on what year that women got the right to vote the answer B we re adding bonus points if you knew that was the th Amendment But Lemle explained he wouldn t focus on dates or places necessarily Who knows the year of a particular passage of a constitutional amendment Lemle argued You don t need to know whether Yorktown was an major Revolutionary War battle You do need to know and you should know what the compact is between you and your administration he added The real lesson of the Revolutionary War is what it was fought for freedom from a faraway oppressive regime and who got left out of that Parents often complain that civics isn t taught in schools anymore We still teach civics but we just call it American Administration ' Lemle declared Lemle disclosed a multitude of of the students he s taught are the sons and daughters of immigrants or are immigrants themselves Often our modern arrivals come without a real understanding of what a democracy is he reported Noting President Donald Trump s administration s challenge to birthright citizenship Lemle stated It surprised me that the clause in the Constitution that ensures citizenship for everyone born in the United States in his words made the cut as a test question Source