Updated 2026-09-09
It is decided by one thing: the date USCIS received your Form N-400. Not your interview date, not when you got your green card, and not which test you would prefer.
Filed on or after October 20, 2025 → the 2025 civics test. 128 possible questions. The officer asks up to 20 and stops when you have 12 right (or 9 wrong).
Filed before October 20, 2025 → the 2008 civics test. 100 possible questions. The officer asks up to 10 and stops when you have 6 right.
Look at your receipt notice, Form I-797C. The Received Date printed on it is the date that counts. If you filed online, the same date is on your USCIS account under the case.
Do not guess. Studying the wrong bank for weeks is the single most common way people waste their preparation time — the 2025 bank has 128 questions, the 2008 bank has 100, and they overlap but are not the same.
USCIS introduced the 2025 test for applications filed from October 20, 2025. Everyone who filed before that date keeps the test that was in force when they applied. So for a year or two, interviews will use both, and the web is full of pages that describe only one and call it "the" civics test.
You take the 2008 test. The filing date controls, no matter how long the wait. This is the case that confuses the most people, and it is also the one where a wrong assumption costs the most, because the 2025 bank has 28 questions the 2008 bank does not.
If you are 65 or older and have been a permanent resident for 20 years or more, you study only 20 marked questions from your bank, the officer asks 10, and you need 6. You may also take the civics test in your own language with an interpreter. Read about the 65/20 exemption.
This site asks you the filing-date question once, keeps the answer, and shows you only your bank — in practice tests, flashcards, and the study guide. Start practising. You can change the answer later without losing progress; the two banks are tracked separately.
Not affiliated with USCIS or any government agency. This is study guidance, not legal advice about your immigration case.