5 tips on how to prepare for a German citizenship test

German citizenship tests are relatively straightforward, but with available test appointments so few and far between, it is worth preparing properly to avoid unnecessary hassle and delays to your citizenship application. If you’re planning to take the test, here are five important things to consider beforehand.

Preparing for your Einbürgerungstest

Unless you have completed a Leben in Deutschland test, completed a degree or vocational qualification in certain subjects from a German higher education institution or have studied at a German secondary school, you will need to pass a German naturalisation test as part of your application for citizenship.

The test is relatively straightforward. Candidates have one hour to answer 30 questions about Germany and three questions about the specific federal state in which they are taking the test. These are taken from a bank of 300 multiple-choice questions concerning the themes “living in a democracy”, “history and responsibility” and “people and society”.

To pass the test you need to answer at least 17 of these 33 multiple-choice questions correctly and if you do, the Federal Ministry for Migration and Refugees (BAMF) will consider you to have a foundational understanding of German law and society.

To make sure everything goes smoothly, here are five ways you can best prepare for completing and passing the test the first time around.

1. Find and book an appointment

This may seem like an obvious step, but since Germany relaxed its dual citizenship law and many more people are looking to take citizenship tests it has become harder to find a test appointment.

Head to the website of the closest Volkshochschule (VHS) to where you live to find an appointment. If there are no appointments available, it is possible to take a citizenship test in another Bezirk and even Bundesland from the one in which you live.

Once you find an appointment, you will be given a day and time - likely within the next days or weeks - when you must go to the VHS to officially book and pay for your test. This appointment is separate from the test. At the initial appointment, VHS employees will double-check your personal details, check your passport and take a card payment for the booking, which costs 25 euros.

You will then get a receipt which states that you have paid for the test, alongside information about when and where the test will take place, what you need to bring with you and what is forbidden in the test room.

2. Take stock of what you already know

Now that your test date is set you can start to revise. If you have lived in Germany for at least five years, it will have been hard to avoid learning the answers to many of the possible questions, for example, “Was war am 8. Mai 1945?” Or “Welche der folgenden Auflistungen enthält nur Bundesländer, die zum Gebiet der früheren DDR gehörten?”

For this reason, it is worth going through the question bank, which can be found on the BAMF website, and taking stock of how much you already know. This way you can narrow the bank down to the areas with which you are less familiar.

When you do this you will also notice that many of the questions are essentially the same, but phrased differently e.g. "Wie heißt die deutsche Verfassung?" and "Wie wird die Verfassung der Bundesrepublik Deutschland genannt?".

3. Fill your knowledge gaps

"Wie heißt die deutsche Verfassung?" is the kind of question that might trip you up, since more than one option listed in the multiple choice - Grundgesetz, Bundesverfassung, Gesetzbuch and Verfassungsvertrag - sounds viable and these facts might not be at the forefront of your brain.

Take note of what you need to brush up on and which questions are totally new to you and use this as a basis from which to revise. Once you have learnt the answers to these questions, bring the whole catalogue back in and see if any gaps in your knowledge remain.

For this, you can continue to use the online bank of questions available on the BAMF website, multiple Einbürgerungstest apps for mobile phones, or find a book in the bookshop or library from which you can revise offline. 

But take note, the question bank is updated, so make sure your edition is from 2024, or if it is from 2023, that you have also revised the 12 new questions about Israel and Judaism which were added to the bank in 2024. Now that you’re feeling prepared, ask a friend to test you!

4. Read the appointment information carefully and prepare your documents

A few days before you take your test, take another look at the receipt and appointment information you received when you booked your test. Double-check the time and location of the test - it might not be at the same VHS where you initially went to make the booking.

On the day, you are expected to turn up at least 30 minutes before the test so that your passport can be checked, you can sign a declaration that you are taking the test and you can be issued your test paper. You may also be required to show your Anmeldung certificate.

At the beginning of the examination, an invigilator will explain the method for selecting a multiple-choice answer and how to amend your choice if you change your mind. You are forbidden from taking written material into the examination and you must use a pen to take the test but it doesn’t matter if it is black or blue.

While you have an hour to take the test, most people are done within 15 minutes and you are permitted to leave whenever you feel ready. However, there is no need to rush, take your time to flick through the test to make sure you have not missed any pages. Missing a whole page could be the difference between passing and failing the test.

5. Allow time for receiving your results

Once you have handed in your test to the invigilator it will be sent to the BAMF in Nuremberg for marking. You can expect to wait between eight and 12 weeks to receive your results, which will arrive by post. 

When they arrive, you will receive a letter confirming that you took part in the test and on which day, alongside a certificate stating your name, birthplace, when you did the test, whether you passed and how many of the 33 questions you answered correctly.

You should scan, make a physical copy of these documents and put them away somewhere safe. When you submit your citizenship application you will need to upload a scan of the certificate and bring the original with you when you are asked to attend a citizenship meeting at the BAMF.

Viel Erfolg!

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