I feel like questions for life in UK should be something like "what side of the road do british people drive on?" "what are your rights as a citizen of the UK?" things like that.

What is worrying is, as a natural born citizen of the UK, I did not know the answer to a lot of these questions and I expect that is fairly common to!

These are weird questions to ask for citizenship.

I'm a Brit who became an Australian citizen and took the Aussie citizenship test. I'd have failed this British test, the questions are more like pub trivia questions. The Australian test was mainly questions about Australian government structure and the duties and rights expected of citizens with only a very few history questions included, and those were about major Aussie events such as the date of Federation, ANZAC Day or the date of the First Fleet landing etc

A lot of Life In The UK questions have little to do with modern day-to-day "life in the UK" and I feel like a lot of native Brits would fail the test if they didn't read the official test book first. In other words, the test is merely "how good are you at reading English and memorising obscure facts?". I reckon that the test should be regularly taken by a test group of native Brits each year who have *not* read the test book and if the majority of them get a question wrong, then it should be dropped from the test (in priority order of most wrong to least wrong). That "test test" should also include some brand new questions that, if the majority get right, could be used to replace the ones that were dropped. This way, the stupidly obscure (and therefore useless) questions that most Brits can't answer will be weeded out.

ive lived in england my whole life and i dont even think i could guess any of these questions

I'm British, and there were a few questions there I hadn't a clue about., in fact I think I failed. True, it's been a few decades since I left school, so I could be forgiven for not remembering the exact date the Magna Carta was signed, but why would anybody outside of London know or care how many boroughs there are, and I've never heard of the Mercury Music Prize either. Best of luck Ellie!

Guess I better pack my bags and leave 😢 - Oh wait I was born here 🤔 - Bloody stupid questions.

WTH. These questions are ridiculous. Just the London authorities question. Why would anyone NOT living in London need to know that.

Lived here 66 years (all my life), educated to a reasonably high level, but I failed. That said, I'm scottish and I found a lot of these questions England centric.

You should give the citizenship test to a native born British citizen.

The most bizarre question I came up against was: How many ski centres are there in Scotland? (There are 5 by the way...bet you feel like more of a British citizen for knowing that!). The life in the UK test needs rebranding to "how much of this book can you regurgitate?"

These questions are so London centric. They were probably written by a Londoner. Having lived in Britain for 64 years I am having difficulty on the history questions. Love the tatoos.

The book has an absurdly pro-English bias. It describes the colonisation of Ireland as "Ireland gradually came under the influence of England". People complain about Americans and their bias, but the Life in the UK book could give a Texan politician a run for his money in how it portrays England as super great at all times and almost entirely omits any bad details of history.

The scary thing is that I have never been outside of the UK and I have failed some of the mock citizenship tests online.

Today I learned there are 33 London Boroughs. Tomorrow I will forget there are 33 London boroughs because that is not useful information to anyone outside of London.

I don't know about the national dish, but I think right now the UK's favourite dish is the Chicken Tikka Masala. Oh, McLeod is pronounced "Mc-loud" 😊

As a Londoner I would say the question about how many local authorities that the City of London has gave the wrong answer. Greater London has 33 local authorities, while the City of London doesn’t have any any local authorities, it is a semi autonomous city with its own government.

Britain has four national dishes: Chicken Tikka Masala in England; Haggis in Scotland; Welsh Cawl in Wales; and Irish Stew in Ireland. But there's also many other traditional meals from the UK that get mentioned among the topic of Britain's national dish, such as the Full Breakfast, Shepherd's Pie and Sunday Roast.

I'm a British citizen who grew up and lived there until I was in my mid-20s. I follow politics religiously and could pass the US citizenship test with my hands tied behind my back. I would have failed this test. Most of these questions are not remotely relevant to being a citizen. Most of the questions should be about understanding and taking part in British culture. I can think of so many good questions that would actually mean something. Heck, having a question ranking Indian curries by how hot they are would be far more useful and relevant than any of this. If I were re-writing the test, I would have only kept maybe 5 of the questions in this video.

That was fun. And what a good accent Ellie has. I've known Italians who've been here 50 years who still retain a much stronger Italian accent.

I have been born and raised in Scotland my entire 50 years and I only got 9 right and some of those were guessed so well done Ellie x I clearly am not a British citizen based on this 🙄 Also, can I just add, we NEVER got taught the rhyme to learn the wives of Henry the eighth either 🤷‍♀️

As a brit, I got like 4 right 😂 thank god I’m a citizen eh! Well done Ellie & good luck ❤

There should be a practical exam where they take you to a pub and are given a round to order. If you don't order the Guinness first on the list, you fail. If you don't rip the bag of crisps fully open for everyone at the table to share, you fail. If you don't cheer when somebody smashes a glass behind the bar, you fail.

I'm Scottish and every time I've seen somebody taking this test , I've failed it. The anglocentric questions always beat me in the Northern Colony.

I'm Scottish, and I always feel that questions pre the Acts of the Union are really bad for a life in the UK quiz. I mean, Henry VIII was an English King, and we weren't taught about him in school. I don't think many English school kids would have been taught about Mary Queen of Scots or Auld Alliance; but there are questions on Henry VIII, English history, but not pure Scottish history?

Did anyone notice that on the question about British TV shows, it called it the ‘Bing Bang Theory’?

I was born in the UK - in Windsor, no less - and have lived here for all 63 years of my life, I consider myself fairly well educated, and have a PhD in English history. I failed this. Where do I have to go get my passport shredded before being deported to the middle of the ocean?

Many of the comments have emphasised the somewhat obscure questions, but on the whole I think the LITUK test is a reasonably well-designed test. The average person could comfortably get around 50% without any revision and just appying general knowledge, one just needs to study the book to get that remaining bit needed to pass, but a person who has minimally assimilated would probably struggle with almost all of it

She aced virtually all the obscure questions until she almost stumbled on the most obscure of the lot....who's Andy Murray? 😅

I love your pronunciation of MacLeod 😂 it should sound like “Ma-cloud”!!! As a fellow Brit I didn’t know the answer to half of these questions!

I haven't even finished the video yet but as an Irishman I certainly find it interesting that 3 of the first 4 questions are entirely about Ireland and the other one includes us too I guess?😂 I know that The Battle of the Boyne is important to Ulster unionists but it took place in the modern day republic, not even in the UK. None of my English friends (even those that are very well read) had ever even heard of it and I can't say that I blame them. But I suppose the test wants to include Ulster Scots identity and that would certainly be their favourite historical event.

Eden Project is a great place in Cornwall (southwest)! I think it is mostly an educational and conservational attraction with a large rainforest and a Mediterranean area in large domes. It is amazing, also Tom Scott is great.

5-10 years ago I (American, never lived abroad but visit a lot) took online versions of both the UK and France tests and was thrilled that I aced them both. The UK test I took was weirder-there was a question about leaving your bins out too long, for instance.

I think it would be more useful for fitizenship questions to be relevant for everyday life. Constitution and voting system, yes, some laws, yes, citizens rights and duties, yes. TV programs, sports personalities and numerous awards? WHO CARES? I have lived in England since -83 and my TV viewing for the whole period can be condensed to 2 years, when someone donated their ancient TV. I never owned one before or after it: I used to read books and now I get all my entertainment on Internet, old music CDs, and DVDs, audio books and crafting.

I would apparently fail a test for citizenship to my own country! Depressing - but some of these questions are just patently absurd and completely irrelevant. Battles from centuries ago and athletes are not a good indicator of someone being a good citizen. Do they believe and know about our democracy, what the head of state/monarch can and cannot do, our rights as citizens, do they know about our recent national and foreign policies/debates, and do they believe in the rule of law and everyone following the same rules. If so, they’ll likely be a good addition to the country. If they do or don’t watch tennis or football or like history and are into the war of the roses, Roman history, Saxons, it’s all irrelevant.

08:53 if you really want to see how British kids learn about their history and kings….watch Horrible Histories and/or check out the books!

Q. Why is it necessary to know how many boroughs there are in London to pass a citizenship test? A. It isn't necessary but the people who set the questions all live there and believe that the rest of Britain actually knows and cares. Really handy for someone who wants to live in Norfolk or Yorkshire.

They’s be better to teach about Council tax, PAYE, insurances, school structure, health service, pensions, legal institutions.

My British born wife (who previously worked for the British Civil Service) played along here. The two of you ended on the same score, but you were a lot more confident on a lot of them. She got wrong the one about the lotto (it used to be 15 years ago - when she was a teen). She knew the boroughs of London one, but only from specific St John Ambulance training. She reckons you did bloody well and is really sorry you have to go through this.

Really enjoyed this video but I've got to say I didn't know the first few and I'm british and go to a british secondary school. I would love to see more videos on comparisons between american and english schools!

I‘m German and only spent 3 vacations in the UK, but still came out one answer more than passing… The real test must necessarily be more focused on politics and legal issues, not just general history…I think that‘s be harder to learn.

The best part ...the song at the end 🤣🤣🤣 thx Evan 👌👌

The Eden project is ace! You should totally explore the West Country more it’s a lot of fun and really relaxed compared to the south east.

Almost 50% of Scottish people in response to the citizenship test: “Don’t care, can we leave now?!??”. Seriously though, most of the questions seem to be about English history which not everyone in the UK did in school. We had our own history instead:-)

“Oh, you learned about Huguenots in school? 😮” I think that a lot of non Italian people would be very surprised knowing how many things we had to learn at school… We basically studied almost every historic event mentioned here, the problem is if we actually remember them 😅 I’m Italian as well, and I had the exact same reaction as Ellie’s thinking about the answer. It’s been kinda fun to watch that particular one. 😅

Honestly this reminds me more of a pub quiz, where half the Brits in the room don’t know the answers and are having a ‘stab in the dark’. I would have thought more relevant current questions would be more useful to learning to integrate or become a resident. About voting, political parties, road safety, travel, history that relates to now or has changed the country or why? History and geography are important but I maybe expected more relevant questions in 2023.

Regarding the EDEN PROJECT. It's in Cornwall, and is well worth a visit. It was actually on the shortlist of projects for the Millennium funding, but lost out to the rather stupid Millennium dome. Which is a real pity, because the original concept was for something on a much larger scale and would have be incredibly impressive. But without that level of funding, they scaled back their ambitions and made the current Eden Project, which is still impressive in its own right. And has been a hugely successful regional tourist attraction too.

As a British Citizen, I'm glad I don't have to do a British Citizen test or they might kick me out lol

I'm assuming they give you some guidance on how to study for this, right? Cuz that London question is bizarre - as if anyone outside London knows the answer to that question, let alone outside England.

I was born in Wales, have lived in the UK for almost all of my life, and I only just passed with 18.

All you have to do is Google the practice tests take all of them until you pass each with no mistakes. After that there will only be a couple questions on the test that weren’t covered. I finished and double checked my test in like five minutes.

This test is absolute bunkum. I am 66 years old, have lived in England all my life, and have no idea of the answer to many of these questions, nor of their relevance to being a citizen.

I'm British and only got 12! It is absolutely wild to me that people moving here have to learn stuff that those of us born here aren't even taught!

Welcome to England. It's a pleasure to have you both.🤗 I couldn't answer 2 of those questions (near the beginning). 🤔

Who writes these questions? Not good examples of the English language. Also the London question is confusing as it could have related to the City of London - it did not say Greater London. Also why does citizen need to know who Andy Murray is?

Great content Evan I've always been a keen follower I liked your food living content too, about the prices. Would love to see other content such as prices in other countries if you do your travel again soon

As a lifelong brit I couldn’t have gotten any of the date questions right except through pure chance. I also didn’t know what the Mercury prize was for

The best is that Evan is still shocked that Continental Europe is learning about it's history in school.

The thing I noticed was the “we” throughout. You are now one of us !

As a born and bred brit, I got like 8 of those right.

I would fail this test, and I'm a middle aged brit.

First questions on Ireland which is fine but we never got taught any of that uk history in school. If this is in the test surely some of it should be in school too.

Loving that both of you keep saying "we" as in "We had 4 million in 1600". The natural way in which you include yourselves is for me a better indicator of commitment to being a citizen than knowing about the Mercury prize or even what the population was 20 years ago.

As a born British person. I did not know many of these. The test is a bit silly.

What stupid questions. I only knew 6 and would have to guess the rest, particularly the history ones. Lived in the UK all my life for over 50 years.

I was born in Gateshead (next door to Newcastle upon Tyne) and now live on the side of a Cumbrian mountain (just below Scotland). I have ZERO idea about London or it's boroughs. I probably know more about Spain.

Not a citizen but I went through school here , a british girl in my history class didn't know what a "navy" was . I've never felt more entitled to a citizenship .

Your Italian friend has English as a first language……… along with Italian. I suspect, fully bi-lingual. . I live some of my life in Italy and have never heard an Italian speak English with such a good accent.. Maybe she is better informed than many?

I wonder if Ellie would have got the Boudica question right if they had given the alternate name of Boadicea - I'm now curious how in depth the teaching of the Roman conquests are in Italian schools! Do all the kids have to learn about people like Vercingetorix and Caratacus?

When I did the test in 2013 12 of us took the test and only 2 of us passed. Luckily I was one of them. I read the book twice, I took copious notes and I found old tests online and did them repeatedly for the 2 days before the test. Before I got my citizenship I had to do an oral English language test. I prepared a 10 minute talk about the history of cakes and baking, but the invigilator wasn't interested, he had a chat with me about everyday things and after 5 minutes said, ok, that's you! You've passed.

Hilarious as I am born British and didn’t have a clue on some. Especially the poem about the Queens. Fantastic so funny

Congrats Ellie! I'm glad you passed it here, and wish you well in studying the book. I pray you pass the test with flying colours! I pray that you and Evan and Evan's GF/Fiancee?( I forget) have your wildest dreams met! My dreams were took away from me by my parents, the government, FDA and more. This test I'll probably never have to take because the government stole my inheritance from my dad, because my mother (who died 1st) was on disability for a while due to Alzheimer's and needing extremely expensive care in a nursing home whereby, gov't sponsored medical was not enough and she needed more help and also for other reasons - brain damage that I've not overcame yet, but still working on it. I was going to see about starting a Cruising channel and go on my 1 trip to England (with the intent to only cruise, holiday, leave the UK and stay a USA citizen) and try to get cruising as a money maker because I failed at everything in life. The temp agencies said they had no more work for me! I have brain damage is why. I figured, if I made enough money, maybe I could move to England, maybe spend 7 years there, and then go home to pass on, as I'll probably by that time, be sick enough. I also figured if successful enough, maybe I could some how start my other dream company (idea's person here, with others doing the work so it works and not fails) and create job in the Uk, as well as around the world. But, that needed a little start capitol of some sort. KZfaq influencer via cruising, pop an idea out there (the business), see what people thought about it and then Snap! Success and my mother screams because I finally was successful! And then this! Sorry, but I am not a happy person right now. I am high stressed, van does not work, door has water damage (front door of home), garage floods and gofundme acounts don't work because of no one cares. God, Satan and the world does not care. I gave up on caring! I don't even have the rights to my food allergies (FDA). I gave up. I wont' do anything stupid, but I'm down to counting the 25 years, until probably die from shaken baby syndrome (health issues, etc. because of the SBS). Notice that SBS ends in a b and in a s. Thats how I feel right now.

It’s so stupid, my wife is American and moving here, she won’t have to do this for a while but I’m British and can’t pass this 🤣🤣

Sorry to pick you up on this, but the Magna Carta was England's written constitution, not the UKs. Henry VIII was an English king, not British, and not all of us were taught about him in school. The Union between England and Scotland is only just over 300 years old, and the existence of the UK (of GB & NI) is even younger than that.

Ellie is bloody delightdful and we would be pleased to have her (he says as an expat Kiwi with British citizenship :D ).

MAC-LEE-ODD 😂😂

We did terribly but we already have British and French nationalities. 😅+1

Dying at how you refer to the eden project as a bunch of plants 😂 both spot on and also extremely insulting to such a large scale conservation and research project, based in the largest replica of natural plant habitats in the world

As a Brit, born in UK and lived here my whole life; this test makes me really angry. They are offensively irrelevant to being a good citizen. Only questions about laws, civil rights, and modern cultural expectations should be in the test. Question 12 was the only relevant question. Question like these should be in it. "What is the age of consent?" "Which of the following substances are legal?" "Which of the following is not a political party in the UK?" "Which of these would constitute an offensive weapon?" "Which of these animals is it illegal to own as a pet?" "Under which of these options is nudity legal in the UK?" "What is the minimum drinking age?" "Which of the following is not traditionally a policy of the Labour party?" All of the above determine if you are able to live in UK without breaking the law and understanding your rights. Knowing who Andy Murray is, is literally worthless! If I as a Brit can legitimately answer, "Who the fuck cares?!" to half these questions, they don't matter! These stupid questions make me livid. I knew less than half and even the ones I did know were pointless irrelevant pap.

As a I would absolutely fail this😩 even though i’ve lived in Wales my entire life

Blimey! That's such a silly test. You probably have to go back to the Saxons to find any ancestor of mine born outside the UK, I'm 62 and I got 7 questions wrong (and had to guess a couple that I got right). Less British than Ellie. So I guess I'm going to have to take the next boat off the islands. At first, the grammatical infelicities in some of the questions (it should be "What is something called?" not "How is something called?" for example) seemed to detract from the point of the test, but - no - it's just indicative of the whole "Britishness" (actually "Little England-ness") of the whole project: we don't like foreigners OR intellectuals. Anyone who proudly says "I'm bad at maths" gets lauded; anyone who can construct a grammatically-correct sentence or knows anything other than what happened in the soap last night is viewed, at best, with suspicion. The rhyme about Henry VIII's wives was new to me (and who remembers their names and which order they came, in any case?), but my O Level history only started at 1688 with the accession of James VI of Scotland (aka James I of England). If I remember rightly, which is unlikely. Anyway, good luck to Ellie with her real test - here's hoping she smashes it: she'll be an asset to this country, though goodness knows why she wants to be here. Edit: detracted→detract because I'd flipped the sentence and missed that. Practically illiterate: I'd be forced to leave if I weren't¹ already here. ¹ note correct use of conditional: another reason to throw me out.

11:55 As someone born and raised in the NE of Scotland, Hogmanay is New Year's Eve, New Year is New Year. Nobody's going first footing on Hogmanay.

It's been a while since school but I don't remember learning about half of the stuff on this test. I definitely know we never covered anything to do with Irish history. If it's important enough to be on the citizenship test then maybe the government should consider, you know, actually teaching it's citizens about it.

British born and bred: 1. When is St Patrick's Day? Literally no idea, skip. 2. When did the "Battle of the Boyne" happen? No idea, skip. 3. What is the Mercury Music Prize awarded for? Best music producer, I guess? (wrong) 4. What was the main crop in Ireland in the 19th century? Potato? (correct) 5. Which British TV shows are popular in the UK now? Coronation Street (correct) It's literally the _only_ British TV show on the list... why even phrase the question with a plural? It's also mildly cringeworthy that the British TV show is called _Coronation_ Street. Might as well be called Tea and Crumpets Street. 6. How many 'local authorities' does the city of London have? I guessed 33 (correct) It's one of those questions that implies a low number but is actually huge. 7. What were the Canterbury Tales about? I dunno, Canterbury tales about the King? (wrong) 8. When did Queen Victoria become queen? Uuuuh, 1845? (wrong) 9. Who led a team to clone a mammal for the first time? Gotta be the Sir. (correct) That's how you know it's British. 10. Where can you find Boudicca, the Queen of the Iceni statue? Suffolk? (wrong) 11. When did Britain become separated from the continent? 4,000 years? (wrong) 12. How old do you have to be to buy a lottery ticket or a scratch card? (Thank goodness we have this instead of what age you have to be to vote). 18. (correct) 13. Who is known as William the Conqueror? Normandy? (correct) I don't think France was a thing back in 1066. 14. When was the Magna Carta established? It was _first_ established in 12xx something, so 1215? (correct) Side note, iirc the Magna Carta had to be re-approved by every subsequent Monarch, and I think there were several centuries where it was practically ignored. I think it was only around the 15xx or 16xx where it really started to come back again. 15. What is the 'Divine Right of Kings'? Godgiven right to be King. (correct) 16. Who built Hadrian's Wall to keep out the Picts? No idea. I feel like the Hadrian answers are bait, so I'll go with King Alfred. (wrong) Okay, nevermind, didn't realise it was a Rome thing. 17. Which of Henry VIII's wives were executed? It's one of the answers with Anne Boleyn... and I think the Catherine was of Aragon? (wrong) 18. What was build [sic] as part of the UK's celebration of the new millennium? It has to be The Eden Project, though I don't know what that is. (wrong) Wait, really? I would've sworn the London Eye existed before then... 19. What was the population of the UK in 1998? It's 68 million now. And this was before Schengen. I'm thinking 57? (correct) 50 seems too round a number. 20. What were the refugees that came from France called? I dunno, knowing our national sibling rivalry, probably Roundheads? (wrong) 21. Which play was written by Shakespeare? Hamlet. (correct) Easy. 22. When is Bonfire Night celebrated? Bonfire Night is just another name for Guy Fawkes Night, so 5th November. (correct) 23. How [sic] is the New Year often called in Scotland? I dunno, Hogmanay? (correct) 24. Who is Andy Murray? I dunno, isn't he a tennis player or something? (correct) Result: 13/24. Fail. Have to say I agree with some other commenters that these questions are largely meaningless to people's everyday lives. Do you think Andy Murray wants his citizenship and career to be the hinge upon which people gain naturalised citizenship? And I'm honestly appalled that there's a question about the age of gambling but not of voting. This genuinely feels like a game of trivia rather than a citizenship test. Its primary goal should be testing people on the rights they and everyone else have, how their adoptive government works, etc. The idea that someone is a worthy citizen because they knew the population of the UK in 1998 is so utterly baffling to me.

Honestly I'm English and got less than half

As a Scot, I was adult in my 30s before I heard of the poem about the English King Henry's wives. It was not taught in Scotland when I was in school. Any younger Scot out there might be able to confirm if its something now taught in Scottish schools, though I'm doubtful it is.

Born and bred here ..... “when did England separate from the continent?” ...... a long time ago! What the F*** has this questionnaire to do with being a valuable member of British citizenship and adding to its culture .... it’s mainly history (some extremely obscure unless you’re a history buff) Absolutely hilarious! Well Done Oh! and the song goes “WHEN mighty roast beef WAS the Englishman’s food ....”

I bet most naturally-born British citizens would fail the test as well.

Scottish kids don’t have to learn that rhyme mate. Be surprised if they do in Northern Ireland either.

I passed my test in late 2022 and what I learned is, these samples of tests you find online are way way waaaaay more difficult than the real thing. If you have a look at the official test samples you will notice the difference. I just read the manual two times, practised a couple of weeks and I got full marks because it wasn’t difficult at all.

she has a lovely British/Italian mixed accent.

As someone who's lived in Scotland my whole life I knew 2 of these answers and maybe could have guessed 3 or 4 more. This test seems very pointless

Loved the George Formby impression at the end - worthy of a Distinction in the test.

British born and bred here 🙋‍♀️ I got 15/24 right 😂 And I absolutely failed on the Henry VIII question 🤣🤣🤣

This was fun. I'm Italian, I've never been to the UK but I scored the same (with some minor differences).

(Me again!😊) Just FYI: Remember, remember the fifth of November, Gunpowder, Treason, and Plot. I see no reason why gunpowder treason should ever be forgot!

The best answer for me was your friend sussing out the person who cloned the first Mammal must have been a Sir. I certainly didn't think that logical.

That was so much fun well done for passing 👏 I have to say even as a Brit I would struggled with some of those questions 🙈 good luck when you do the real test

10:00 These population questions seem very pointed. Why else would they include those other than to make immigrants feel guilty and weird.