From 1 January 2026, passing the civic exam is required for covered applications for French naturalisation or reintegration. The exam has 40 French-language multiple-choice questions, up to 45 minutes, and requires 32 correct answers.
What is tested?
The syllabus covers republican values, institutions, rights and duties, history/geography/culture and life in French society. The Ministry publishes an official knowledge-question list for the nationality route.
Knowledge and situational questions
The naturalisation material refers to both types. Citizenship Test Hub intentionally does not present the 28+12 residence split as a dedicated naturalisation rule unless the relevant official naturalisation material states it.
Use the official knowledge list
Read the official prompts and make sure you can explain the underlying answer. Memorising a sentence without understanding the concept is less useful if the real multiple-choice wording changes.
Use the Livret du citoyen
The Ministry’s 2026 Citizenship Booklet covers knowledge and values expected of candidates and is a useful companion to the question list.
Language requirements are separate
The civic exam is not the same thing as proving the required level of French for a naturalisation application. Check the current naturalisation procedure for the evidence that applies to you.
Study sequence
- Read the current rules.
- Review the official knowledge questions.
- Study the five themes.
- Use practice mode with explanations.
- Practise original scenarios without treating them as leaked official questions.
- Take timed 40-question mocks.
Start by confirming that you are studying the naturalisation route
France now uses the civic exam across more than one immigration or nationality procedure, so the first preparation step is route identification. The naturalisation/reintegration route has its own official knowledge-question material. Do not assume that a CSP or resident-card list is interchangeable with the material published for naturalisation.
What the official naturalisation information confirms
The exam is a French-language multiple-choice test with 40 questions, a maximum time of 45 minutes and a passing score of 32/40. The naturalisation material describes both knowledge questions and situational questions. Citizenship Test Hub does not publish an invented numerical split between those two types when the naturalisation source does not itself state one.
How to turn the official list into learning
Use each official knowledge prompt as a topic to understand, not simply a sentence to memorise. For example, if a prompt concerns an institution, learn its role, how it relates to other institutions and the basic vocabulary used to describe it in French. Then use original practice questions to test whether you still recognise the concept when the wording changes.
Language preparation matters too
The official test is in French. English explanations can make a difficult rule easier to understand, but your final practice should include French questions, answer choices and civic vocabulary. If you know the concept but repeatedly misread the French wording, treat that as a separate study problem and build a short vocabulary list from your mistakes.
What passing the test does not decide
A passing civic-exam result does not by itself decide a naturalisation application. The nationality procedure contains other legal and documentary requirements. Use the Ministry of the Interior and Service-Public for personal eligibility and application rules; use Citizenship Test Hub for independent exam preparation.
Frequently asked questions
Is there an official knowledge-question list for naturalisation?
Does passing the civic exam replace the French-language requirement?
Are Citizenship Test Hub scenarios official exam questions?
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