Preparing for the Oath – Online Naturalization Study Guide

A foreign national, who is a permanent resident in the United States, is allowed to become a US citizen through the naturalization process. The permanent resident has to submit an application for naturalization and in due course take up the citizenship test and interview. There are two components in the naturalization test. An individuals who seeks to become a naturalized US citizen must pass the civics test which is one of the parts of the process. To help the immigrant to prepare for the civics test, the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and the US Citizenship and Immigration Services together launched “Preparing for the Oath”.

This tool is an online study guide which will help the immigrants to prepare for the civics component of the naturalization test. During the naturalization interview, the applicant will be asked 10 civics questions related to the American history and laws. Six questions must be answered correctly to complete the civics test. The USCIS has a list of 100 civics questions, from which ten questions are asked during the test. Answers to the questions must be said aloud.

Preparing for the Oath: US History and Civics for Citizenship, which is a web-based learning tool will help the immigrants to prepare for the civics test. This is an interactive resource with videos and multimedia activities. It also shows the artifacts from the exhibitions of the Smithsonian Institution. This resource is organized into different topics which are related to the American history, government and law. It comes along with short videos and self-tests based on the civics questions.

This tool teaches the immigrants in a meaningful way, the founding principles of American democracy. It also gives them a clear picture about the citizenship rights and responsibilities. This tool is created in such a way that the applicants can prepare for the test by themselves, as it is a self-study tool.
During the past four years, the USCIS and the Smithsonian institution have been working together, in order to provide the immigrants and the public with a better understanding of history of the United States and about the US Naturalization process.