Free Australian Citizenship Test practice that explains every answer

The test at a glance

The Australian citizenship test, in one minute

The Australian citizenship test is 20 multiple-choice questions drawn from the testable section of Our Common Bond, the booklet the Department of Home Affairs publishes free of charge. You get 45 minutes, and the test itself costs nothing — it is included in the citizenship application fee you have already paid.

There are two bars, and you must clear both. You need 15 of the 20 questions right, and you must answer all five Australian values questions correctly. Nineteen out of twenty is still a fail if one of the five values questions was the one you missed. That single rule is the reason most people who fail, fail.

You sit the test in person at a Department of Home Affairs office or a participating service centre, on a computer, one question at a time. Applicants aged 18 to 59 sit it; people under 18 or 60 and over are generally exempt. If you do not pass, you are given another appointment — the test is designed to be re-sat, not to end your application.

Who sits the test

The two bars you must clear

Why the values questions catch people out

Most people who prepare for this test prepare for the history and the civics — the flags, the parliament, the states. Those sections are factual, and facts are easy to revise. The Australian values section is different: the questions are written as situations rather than facts, and the right answer is the one that reflects what Australian law and custom actually expect of a citizen.

Because all five must be right, the values section carries more weight per question than anything else in the test. One careless answer there costs you the whole sitting, no matter how well you did on the other fifteen. That is why every practice test on this site puts the values questions in front of you the same way the real test does, and why the free topic drill for Part 4 exists at all.

Read the four values in the booklet in your own language if that is easier — Our Common Bond is published in 40 community languages — then practise them in English, because the test itself is in English.

The five values questions

Practise by the booklet's four parts

Our Common Bond is organised into four testable parts, and so is the practice here. Working through one part at a time is the method that suits most people better than sitting full tests from the start: you find the sections you are weak on quickly, and you fix them before they cost you a mark on the day.

Start with one part

What is in each of the four parts

Part 1 — Australia and its people. Who the first Australians are, how the country was settled and federated, the states and territories, the flags, the national symbols and anthem, and the days that matter to Australians. The largest body of plain fact in the test, and the easiest marks on the paper.

Part 2 — Australia's democratic beliefs, rights and liberties. Freedom of speech, of association, of religion; equality under the law; equality of men and women; peaceful disagreement. Short, and often underestimated — the wording of these questions is closer to Part 4 than to Part 1.

Part 3 — Government and the law in Australia. How Australia is governed, the three levels of government, the role of the monarch and the Governor-General, how laws are made and enforced, political parties, and voting. The section people find driest and lose marks on through skimming.

Part 4 — Australian values. The values every applicant signs up to, written as situations rather than facts. Five questions on the day, and you must get all five right. Practise this part until it is boring.

How to use this site — all of it is free

There is no account on this site, no card, and no trial that expires. You can sit every practice test as many times as you like, and the answer and the reason for it are shown to you each time — not held back.

What this site is not: it is not the Department of Home Affairs, and nothing here is legal or immigration advice. We publish practice built on the government's own material so that it is free to everyone. Always check the current booklet and the official pages before your appointment, because fees and procedures change.

A method that works

1. 1

   Drill the part you are least sure about

   Start with one topic at a time rather than a full test. You find your weak sections in minutes, and you fix them before they cost you a mark on the day.

2. 2

   Sit a practice test

   Once a part feels solid, see how the questions feel mixed together — the real test does not group them by chapter, and recognising a values question on sight is half the work.

3. 3

   Take a timed mock a few days before

   Sit one full timed test so the clock is not a surprise. If you are scoring 18 or more consistently and never dropping a values question, you are ready.

Our Common Bond is free, and it is the only source that matters

Everything on the real test comes from the testable section of Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond. The Department of Home Affairs publishes it at no cost as a PDF, as an audio version, and in 40 community languages. You do not need to buy a study guide from anybody, including us — and we do not sell one.

The current testable edition was produced in October 2024. If a site offers you a '2026 edition' of the booklet, treat that as a sign the site is not keeping up with the official material: no such edition exists at the time of writing.

The booklet behind every question

What it costs

Official sources