The 5 Values Questions: Why a 95% Score Can Still Fail the Australian Citizenship Test
The Australian Citizenship Test has a trap that catches people who are, on paper, more than ready. You can answer 19 of the 20 questions correctly, walk out feeling great, and still fail. Here is exactly why that happens, and how to make sure it doesn't happen to you.
Two gates, not one
Most people picture the Australian Citizenship Test as a single score: 20 questions, get 75% (15 right), pass. That part is true. What is easy to miss is the second gate.
Five of the 20 questions come from the Australian Values section, and to pass you must get all five of them right. Not four. Five.
So there are really two conditions, and you need both:
- Overall: at least 15 of 20 correct (75%)
- Values: all 5 of 5 correct (100%)
Here is the uncomfortable maths. Say you score 16 out of 20, a comfortable 80%. But one of your four misses was a Values question, so you got 4 out of 5 there. You fail the whole test, even though your overall score was well above the line.
That is the single most common surprise on this test, and it is completely avoidable once you know it is coming. It also explains a lot about the Australian Citizenship Test pass rate: the test is not genuinely hard, so most failures come from avoidable traps like this one rather than from the material itself.
Why the Values questions trip people up
The Values questions are not asking what you personally believe, or what is normal in your culture or country of origin. They ask what is written in the Australian Values Statement and Our Common Bond. The correct answer is the one that reflects those documents, even when another option feels perfectly reasonable to you.
Four wording traps cause almost all the avoidable Values mistakes:
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"Within the law." Freedoms in Australia (speech, religion, association) are real, but they operate within the framework of Australian law. An option that says a freedom is absolute or unlimited is wrong. The option that includes "within the law" is almost always the intended answer.
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Culture versus law. Some questions describe a practice that may be accepted elsewhere but is against the law in Australia. The values answer always sides with Australian law and the equal rights of others, never with "it depends on your background."
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Opinion versus the statement. "Which statement best demonstrates..." is asking for the official value, not the most agreeable-sounding sentence. Read every option and pick the one that matches the Values Statement, not the one you would say at a dinner table.
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"NOT" and "except." A careless reader who skims past a single "not" or "except" flips a correct answer into a wrong one. On the Values five, where you have zero margin for error, slowing down on these words is the highest-value habit you can build.
How to actually get 5 out of 5
Knowing the rule is not the same as being ready for it. Three things close the gap:
- Drill the Values questions on their own. Because they pass or fail as a block, they deserve dedicated practice, separate from the history and government questions. Treat them like a mini-test you must ace every single time.
- Read every option before you answer. The traps above live in the options you did not read. Make "read all the options, then choose" a rule, especially when you see not, except, always, or only.
- Practise under time, then review your misses. The goal is not to memorise five answers, but to recognise the pattern of the right answer, so any phrasing of a Values question feels easy.
Practise the Values section the way it is scored
The fastest way to kill the 4-out-of-5 failure is to rehearse the Values block until 5 out of 5 feels routine. Our practice runs include the mandatory Values questions with instant feedback and a plain-English explanation for every answer, so you learn the why, not just the what.
When you can hit 5 out of 5 on the Values questions three sessions in a row, you are ready to book.