I love tea and scones and lemon curd. What more do they need to know?
I’ll start by saying, yay, I passed my Life in the UK test last weekend! And then provide more information than most of you will ever want to know about the test.
So, this is a test you have to do if you want to get permanent residency - now called the less welcoming “indefinite leave to remain” - or citizenship in the UK. I think Australia has a similar policy and test now. The idea is people should know about your culture before they can stay (however indefinitely) and a multiple choice test is a dandy way to find out if they do.
So you hand over your 10 quid (save 25% at Amazon!) and get the official Life in the UK book. The Home Secretary explains in the introduction that the first edition of the book was a bestseller. Imagine that, a book you have to buy if you want to stay in the UK selling well! But apparently it’s of interest to everybody. Please let me know if you want to borrow my copy and I will add you to the waiting list.
To be fair, the authors have generally done a pretty good job at succinctly and neutrally presenting information on UK institutions and laws. I mean, it's not meant to be interesting. It starts with a short history that sort of feels like they had a list of key words they had to include (Stonehenge, tick! Boudicca, tick!) and the rest of it had a similar feel. (History - beyond women's rights and the European government stuff - isn’t testable, more’s the pity, I would quite like studying for a UK history test.)
There are definitely times when the neutrality felt weird. For example, major holiday and festivals that got a paragraph explanation included Halloween and Valentine's Day, whilst Easter was relegated to one line at the end of Mother’s Day - “The Sunday three weeks before Easter is a day when children send cards or buy gifts for their mothers [I think it's adults too, but moving on...]. Easter is also an important Christian festival". Um, yes, and even putting aside whole-point-of-the-religion aspects it's a festival of interest to even non-Christians as it comes with two public holidays attached!
Then there was the disconnect between the proper answer and the answer in the real world. Eg: “Know who can give you advice when pregnant”. Correct answer: health visitor or doctor. Real world answer: Anyone can and will give you unsolicited advice about your pregnancy and baby. “Know how to find your local doctor” Correct answer: NHS direct. Real world answer: ask a colleague or google. Indeed, I think google is probably the answer I would give to any of the questions about how to find nearly anything. Good thing it was multiple choice rather than open answer.
Some of it may be useful but perhaps not after a minimum of two years living here. Speed limits, for example, are handy earlier than two years into your stay*. If you really care that British voltage is 240 watts (I’m yet to be convinced one needs to know this) and your appliance is different, you probably would have found out when your American appliance was zapped during your initial weeks here.
Other stuff may be useful, but doesn’t really seem necessary unless one is in the situation. Presumably if I was pregnant, I would have months and months to find out I get 6 weeks to register the baby’s birth (and no, the book doesn’t tell us what happens if you don’t register - does the baby get booted out of the country? Is there a baby gaol somewhere?), and likewise, if I wanted to get divorced but my partner didn’t I would have plenty of time to find out that I had to wait five years after being separated for the divorce to occur.
The test would have been hardish without studying - it was easy after studying. Although we can’t say what the questions we were asked said, the practice tests all over the internet were very useful. If you want to see if you’re a good British citizen, you can take one yourself (examples are here, here and this one with dodgy English but some funny alternate options)!
I am actually writing a letter (once I have my residency under my belt) to suggest some changes, in particular the lack of information over accessing the countryside** and the environment in general. Basically I think there should be some joy and happiness about becoming a resident/citizen as well as preparation for being arrested or unemployed. However, I will not include all of the questions I keep thinking up like:
Q. How many bottles of wine, spirits and liquor are there in the Whitehall cellars?
a) none. They can’t buy alcohol with public funds
b) 3,950 bottles
c 39,500 bottles
The answer is c! So now you now where to head if the zombie apocalypse breaks out when you’re in London.
* They are particularly useful as the UK just has these random white circles with a black dash through them once you leave towns, so knowing the speed limit when you arrive can be hard. Especially if you have no internet connection and the people you are staying with don’t drive and counsel that you should probably just go 50 mph.
**eg there is one random sentence saying there are public footpaths in England. They should say “most land is privately owned in England and Wales but you can walk over lots and lots of it on things called public footpaths. You can find out about these footpaths on OS maps at your local library. And in Scotland you have the right to roam, with some restrictions”. This stuff is AMAZING for people from countries without this type of tradition!
So, this is a test you have to do if you want to get permanent residency - now called the less welcoming “indefinite leave to remain” - or citizenship in the UK. I think Australia has a similar policy and test now. The idea is people should know about your culture before they can stay (however indefinitely) and a multiple choice test is a dandy way to find out if they do.
So you hand over your 10 quid (save 25% at Amazon!) and get the official Life in the UK book. The Home Secretary explains in the introduction that the first edition of the book was a bestseller. Imagine that, a book you have to buy if you want to stay in the UK selling well! But apparently it’s of interest to everybody. Please let me know if you want to borrow my copy and I will add you to the waiting list.
To be fair, the authors have generally done a pretty good job at succinctly and neutrally presenting information on UK institutions and laws. I mean, it's not meant to be interesting. It starts with a short history that sort of feels like they had a list of key words they had to include (Stonehenge, tick! Boudicca, tick!) and the rest of it had a similar feel. (History - beyond women's rights and the European government stuff - isn’t testable, more’s the pity, I would quite like studying for a UK history test.)
There are definitely times when the neutrality felt weird. For example, major holiday and festivals that got a paragraph explanation included Halloween and Valentine's Day, whilst Easter was relegated to one line at the end of Mother’s Day - “The Sunday three weeks before Easter is a day when children send cards or buy gifts for their mothers [I think it's adults too, but moving on...]. Easter is also an important Christian festival". Um, yes, and even putting aside whole-point-of-the-religion aspects it's a festival of interest to even non-Christians as it comes with two public holidays attached!
Then there was the disconnect between the proper answer and the answer in the real world. Eg: “Know who can give you advice when pregnant”. Correct answer: health visitor or doctor. Real world answer: Anyone can and will give you unsolicited advice about your pregnancy and baby. “Know how to find your local doctor” Correct answer: NHS direct. Real world answer: ask a colleague or google. Indeed, I think google is probably the answer I would give to any of the questions about how to find nearly anything. Good thing it was multiple choice rather than open answer.
Some of it may be useful but perhaps not after a minimum of two years living here. Speed limits, for example, are handy earlier than two years into your stay*. If you really care that British voltage is 240 watts (I’m yet to be convinced one needs to know this) and your appliance is different, you probably would have found out when your American appliance was zapped during your initial weeks here.
Other stuff may be useful, but doesn’t really seem necessary unless one is in the situation. Presumably if I was pregnant, I would have months and months to find out I get 6 weeks to register the baby’s birth (and no, the book doesn’t tell us what happens if you don’t register - does the baby get booted out of the country? Is there a baby gaol somewhere?), and likewise, if I wanted to get divorced but my partner didn’t I would have plenty of time to find out that I had to wait five years after being separated for the divorce to occur.
The test would have been hardish without studying - it was easy after studying. Although we can’t say what the questions we were asked said, the practice tests all over the internet were very useful. If you want to see if you’re a good British citizen, you can take one yourself (examples are here, here and this one with dodgy English but some funny alternate options)!
I am actually writing a letter (once I have my residency under my belt) to suggest some changes, in particular the lack of information over accessing the countryside** and the environment in general. Basically I think there should be some joy and happiness about becoming a resident/citizen as well as preparation for being arrested or unemployed. However, I will not include all of the questions I keep thinking up like:
Q. How many bottles of wine, spirits and liquor are there in the Whitehall cellars?
a) none. They can’t buy alcohol with public funds
b) 3,950 bottles
c 39,500 bottles
The answer is c! So now you now where to head if the zombie apocalypse breaks out when you’re in London.
* They are particularly useful as the UK just has these random white circles with a black dash through them once you leave towns, so knowing the speed limit when you arrive can be hard. Especially if you have no internet connection and the people you are staying with don’t drive and counsel that you should probably just go 50 mph.
**eg there is one random sentence saying there are public footpaths in England. They should say “most land is privately owned in England and Wales but you can walk over lots and lots of it on things called public footpaths. You can find out about these footpaths on OS maps at your local library. And in Scotland you have the right to roam, with some restrictions”. This stuff is AMAZING for people from countries without this type of tradition!