Possibly a stupid question, but do our civics answers have to match the official answers exactly?

[Cielle.Cielle 4]

Hi all, hoping to hear from people who have completed the N400 interview. My husband and I are studying for my test next week and we're having a debate as to whether I need to be answering EXACTLY as written on the flash cards - I mean, this is a government department after all!

 

For example, with the question:

 

There are four amendments to the Constitution about who can vote. Describe one of them.
▪ Citizens eighteen (18) and older (can vote).
▪ You don’t have to pay (a poll tax) to vote.
▪ Any citizen can vote. (Women and men can vote.)
▪ A male citizen of any race (can vote).

 

If I answer "that any citizen, male or female, or any race can vote" would this be marked as "wrong"? Because I am not repeating their approved answers exactly?

 

Or:

What was one important thing that Abraham Lincoln did? 

▪ freed the slaves (Emancipation Proclamation)
▪ saved (or preserved) the Union
▪ led the United States during the Civil War

 

I answered "issued the Emancipation Proclamation to change the legal status of some slaves" which again is correct but not exactly as they have written on the list of questions. 

 

Apologies if this is a stupid question, but this has been such a journey I would hate to mess up at the last step on a mere technicality!

[databit 328]

Answer exactly and precisely. Why?

 

>If I answer "that any citizen, male or female, or any race can vote" would this be marked as "wrong"? 

 

Wrong answer... A 12-year old can be a citizen, but can't vote

 

>I answered "issued the Emancipation Proclamation to change the legal status of some slaves" 

 

Wrong answer...all slaves were freed, not some slaves

[tsabbas 47]

I think it's best to remember the exact answer if possible as just changing one word could potentially change the meaning even if it's not intended. 

 

29 minutes ago, databit said:

 

Wrong answer...all slaves were freed, not some slaves

Actually, the OP is right, the Emancipation Proclamation did not free all slaves. It only promised freedom to those in the 10 states still in rebellion during the Civil War in 1863. It wasn't until the 13th Amendment in 1865 that all slaves were freed. 

Edited October 20, 2018 by tsabbas

[Alabamak1 688]

i took the naturalization test few years back, and i would suggest to answer exactly as it is written in the manual. I had a Korean born IO, unfortunately, but she spoke very bad English. I had problems understanding her questions and she was like a hawk on the answer. Tried to correct my grammar!! Being myself not a native English speaker and with my improper grammar with some college education.....you don't want to make up answers and try to fail. Of course this is my opinion and not all IO where/are that strict. My 2 cents. 

[lierre 224]

First of all, relax. You’ve got this 😉

 

As long as you’ve read all the 100 questions, you can do it. I did my N-400 interview just a few months ago and it was so much easier than I thought.

 

You don’t have to answer it exactly as it was written in the sample test, but as long as the concept is there, you will be fine.

[CarlHamilton 252]

Say it exactly as written.  As you've seen above, variations can introduce ambiguity.

[ch3john 308]

On 10/20/2018 at 12:32 AM, ivyyy said:

First of all, relax. You’ve got this 😉

 

As long as you’ve read all the 100 questions, you can do it. I did my N-400 interview just a few months ago and it was so much easier than I thought.

 

You don’t have to answer it exactly as it was written in the sample test, but as long as the concept is there, you will be fine.

What are these 100 questions you speak of?

[lierre 224]

2 hours ago, ch3john said:

What are these 100 questions you speak of?

 

https://www.uscis.gov/citizenship/teachers/educational-products/100-civics-questions-and-answers-mp3-audio-english-version