The new citizenship test: could you pass?: the test for becoming an American is about to get a lot harder.

• Author: Preston, Julia
• Position: NATIONAL

While the debate over illegal immigration grows louder, more than 700,000 people quietly take the necessary steps to become American citizens every year.

It's never been easy: Would be citizens must pass a test of English proficiency and a civics exam. Now, the test has undergone its first revision since 1986 and will be more difficult. In contrast to the previous test, which some immigrants were able to pass without studying, the new one is intended to force even highly educated applicants to do some reviewing. It focuses less on "civics trivia" and more on the actual workings of American democracy.

In a one-on-one oral exam, an immigration official asks the applicant 10 questions of varying degrees of difficulty selected from a list of 100. To pass, the applicant must answer 6 of those 10 questions correctly.

Some immigrant advocates have denounced the new test, which will debut on October 1, as being too difficult for hard-working immigrants with little time to study. But several historians say the test appears to be fair.

Try answering these questions from the new test--and see if you have what it takes to earn American citizenship.

AMERICAN GOVERNMENT

1. THE IDEA OF SELF-GOVERNMENT IS IN THE FIRST THREE WORDS OF THE CONSTITUTION. WHAT ARE THESE WORDS?

2. WHAT DO WE CALL THE FIRST 10 AMENDMENTS TO THE CONSTITUTION?

3. WHAT IS ONE RIGHT OR FREEDOM FROM THE FIRST AMENDMENT?

4. WHAT IS THE ECONOMIC SYSTEM IN THE UNITED STATES?

5. NAME ONE BRANCH OR PART OF THE GOVERNMENT.

6. WHAT STOPS ONE BRANCH OF GOVERNMENT FROM BECOMING TOO POWERFUL?

7. WE ELECT A U.S. SENATOR FOR HOW MANY YEARS?

8. NAME ONE OF YOUR STATE'S U.S. SENATORS.

9. WHAT IS THE NAME OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.?

10. HOW MANY JUSTICES ARE ON THE U.S. SUPREME COURT?

    AMERICAN HISTORY

11. WHAT IS ONE REASON COLONISTS CAME TO AMERICA?

12. WHO LIVED IN AMERICA BEFORE THE EUROPEANS ARRIVED?

13. WHY DID THE COLONISTS FIGHT THE BRITISH?

14. THERE WERE 13 ORIGINAL STATES. NAME THREE.

15. THE FEDERALIST PAPERS SUPPORTED THE PASSAGE OF THE U.S. CONSTITUTION. NAME ONE OF THE WRITERS.

16. WHAT TERRITORY DID THE U.S. BUY FROM FRANCE IN 18037

17. NAME ONE WAR FOUGHT BY THE U.S. IN THE 1800s.

18. WHAT DID THE EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION DO?

19. WHO WAS PRESIDENT DURING WORLD WAR I?

20. DURING THE COLD WAR, WHAT WAS THE MAIN CONCERN OF THE U.S.?

    CIVICS

21. NAME ONE OF THE TWO LONGEST RIVERS IN THE U.S.

22. WHAT OCEAN IS ON THE WEST COAST OF THE U.S.?

23. NAME ONE U.S. TERRITORY.

24. NAME ONE STATE THAT BORDERS CANADA.

25. NAME ONE...