The Good Test

Citizen test 'stunning' success
January 29, 2008 12:45am

FEARS the citizenship test is unfair to migrants have been proved unfounded by a review showing a stunning 93 per cent pass rate.

Indians and Filipinos are doing far better on the exam than Brits and New Zealanders.

But a high number of newcomers from war-torn states, most of them refugees, are struggling to get through the quiz, according to an analysis released last night.

The study indicates that migrants keen to get citizenship are swotting up on their new country and taking the test seriously. Immigration Minister Chris Evans said the Government wanted to ensure the test was not a barrier to migrants in need of support. But he said: "The test can play a valuable role in helping new citizens understand the rights and responsibilities of citizenship." It was introduced by the former government to "assist" people who want to become Australians understand

"Australian values, traditions, history and national symbols".

The test, which started on October 1, has to be taken by migrants aged 18-60, before they apply for citizenship. The Department of Immigration review from October to the end of December found 92.9 per cent passed on their first or subsequent attempts. Candidates are allowed as many attempts as they want.

But there were some surprises: The lowest failure rate was 0.9 per cent for the 338 South African applicants, followed by just 1.1 per cent for the 634 from India, and 1.9 per cent for the 254 from the Philippines.

The 1103 British migrants had a 2.26 per cent failure rate, and the 282 New Zealanders, 2.8 per cent. Skilled migrants, who made up 44 per cent of the 9043 people from 172 countries who sat the test, had the best pass rate of 97 per cent, and family reunion migrants, 21.6 per cent of participants had a 90 per cent success rate.

However, for migrants here on humanitarian grounds the success rate fell to 80 per cent.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23123028-421,00.html