The Australian citizenship test values questions: the five you cannot get any of wrong
The Australian citizenship test has two pass marks, not one. You need 15 of 20 overall. You also need all 5 values questions right. The second rule is the one that fails people.
The rule
The test is 20 multiple-choice questions, drawn from the testable section of Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond, and you have 45 minutes. To pass, the Department of Home Affairs states you must:
- 01
Answer 20 multiple choice questions.
- 02
Answer 5 out of 5, 100%, of the Australian values questions correctly.
- 03
Achieve an overall mark of at least 15 out of 20, which is 75%.
Both of the last two must be true at once. This is what makes the test unusual: nearly every other multiple-choice exam lets a strong overall score absorb a few wrong answers anywhere. This one does not. The 5 values questions sit inside the 20, and they are ring-fenced.
What that does to the arithmetic
Because the pass mark is 15 of 20, you can afford 5 wrong answers in total. Where those 5 fall decides everything.
Get all 5 values questions right: you can miss up to 5 of the other 15 and still pass.
Get 4 of 5 values questions right: you fail. Even with every single one of the other 15 correct, which is 19 out of 20 and comfortably above the 75% pass mark, you fail.
So one wrong values answer is not worth one mark. It is worth the whole test. A candidate who scores 19 out of 20 can fail while a candidate who scores 15 out of 20 passes, purely on which questions they got wrong.
When it changed, and what happened
The values questions took effect on 15 November 2020. In 2019, the last full year before the change, 87.4% of tests were passed. In 2021, the first full year after it, 68.0% were. The pass-rate data behind that is worth reading alongside this, including why the 2020 figure cannot be used.
It is worth saying clearly what that fall does and does not mean. These are counts of test attempts, not people, and retakes are free and effectively unlimited. The change did not lock people out of citizenship. It made it much harder to pass first time.
What the values questions are drawn from
They come from the same place as the rest of the test: the testable section of Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond, published by Home Affairs and available in 40 community languages. The values material covers the principles the test describes as underpinning Australian society: freedom, respect, equality, the rule of law, and the responsibilities that come with citizenship.
The actual question pool is not published. Home Affairs does not release the questions, so nobody, including us, can tell you what the five values questions on your test will say. Anyone claiming to have the real list does not have it. What is published is the booklet they are drawn from, and that is what to study.
A note on where these rules live
There is no legislative instrument to look up. Section 23A of the Australian Citizenship Act 2007 requires the Minister to approve the test by written determination, and subsection 23A(7) states that such a determination is not a legislative instrument. It is therefore never registered or published on the Federal Register of Legislation, and no version of it appears there.
The practical consequence: the Home Affairs page is the authoritative public statement of the 20-question, 5-of-5, 75% rules, and there is no deeper legal text behind it to check them against. If you see a source citing a “Citizenship Test Determination” with a legislation.gov.au link, that document does not exist. We checked every registered instrument with “citizenship” in its title.
What this means for studying. Treat the values material as pass or fail rather than as five more questions. Everything else on the test is a scoring exercise with 5 marks of slack. The values questions have none. Practise the values questions until they are automatic, then spend the rest of your time on the 15 that let you make a mistake.
Sources
- Senate QoN OSE23-278: Citizenship Test, breakdown by year from 2013Tests administered and tests passed, by year, 2017 to 31 August 2023.
- Learn about the citizenship testTest structure: 20 questions, 5 of 5 values questions, 15 of 20 overall, 45 minutes.
- Australian Citizenship Act 2007, section 23AThe power to approve the test, and subsection 23A(7).
- Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond (testable section)The only material the test is drawn from.
Test structure verified July 2026 against the Home Affairs page, which states it was last updated 2 July 2026. Citizen Pass is an independent study tool and is not affiliated with any government agency. Always confirm the current rules with Home Affairs before you sit the test.