Top 5 Tips to Prepare For Your Canadian Citizenship Test

Citizenship Test TipsDon’t wait until the last minute to prepare. That’s because while some learners tend to get away with last-minute cramming, it’s widely accepted that for most of us, this is not the best way to approach an exam. If you have an incoming Canadian citizenship test, you need to get your mind and body ready for the test day. Preparing early gives you enough room to understand what is expected, thus increasing your likelihood of acing the citizenship test the first time.

That said, let’s get down to essential tips to help prepare for the Canadian Citizenship test:

 

Read and understand the Official Hand Book

The official government study guide is called ‘Discover Canada: The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship.’ You can be tested on any section of this study guide, and it’s thus important that you memorize it all. It contains details of everything you need to know in preparation for the Canadian citizenship test including;

 

  • The history of Canada
  • Politics and Culture
  • Rights and duties of Canadian citizens
  • Type of Government
  • Economic Background
  • Symbols
  • And more

The guide is available in various formats to make it easy for you to access it and improve the retention of the information you’ve read. Depending on your learning abilities and convenience, you can choose to read the material online/download it in pdf or eBook or listen to the MP3 version.

 

 

Practice Tests

The best way to memorize the Canadian citizenship test guide is by reading chapter by chapter. What’s even more effective is taking practice tests for every chapter you read. That way, you’ll be able to identify your strengths and weaknesses for each chapter and spare more time to sharpen your knowledge on the challenging areas. After going through all the 10 chapters of the citizenship test study guide, you’ll be ready to take simulation tests (contain 20 multiple-choice quizzes to answer in thirty minutes). Typically, taking practice tests more often gives you better chances of acing the exam the first time. In an experiment involving students who were given a prose passage to read, it was found that using repeated testing after reading produced substantially greater retention of information than simply studying material cover to cover.

Besides, just like in the official citizenship test, practice tests contain questions with four multiple choices, which are closely related and might be confusing even after reading thoroughly. You’ll only be able to distinguish the right answer among four similar ones if you trained for it- using Canadian citizenship practice tests, of course.

 

Avoid Overestimating Your Abilities

One of the main reasons people fail the Canadian citizenship test is assuming it’s just about general knowledge and simple things everyone should know. Well, depending on the time you’ve lived in Canada, your type of job, and your level of education, you may find some questions way too obvious or too easy. But it’s better to eat your humble pie, give it your best, and do your homework than be sorry!

 

Register For a Class

It’ll be helpful to take a study course if you have time. Doing this gives you the opportunity to ask questions and speak to a tutor or form a discussion group with classmates. This makes the information in the guide easier to comprehend and remember. Immigrant Centre provides free language tests for benchmark 4 and higher citizenship course levels. The classes are held for two 2 hours (once a week) for six weeks.

 

Organize Your Revision Time

Proper time management is vital when preparing for exams! Therefore, decide how much time you have to revise each section of the Canada official study guide working backward from the date of the exam. Then, have a timetable to plan which days you are going to revise what chapter. This will give you room to cover all the material adequately without feeling overwhelmed.

 

The takeaway

There are numerous reasons why you might want to put more effort into the Canadian citizenship test than you would ordinary exams. Being granted Canadian citizenship is the key indicator of successful integration. It allows immigrants to improve employment opportunities, vote, enter politics and participate in the management of the various levels of government in Canada.

 

But you don’t have to do you alone. Give us a call or visit our website to discuss how we can help you!