Life in the UK

From 25 March 2013, people seeking permanent residence in the UK or naturalisation as a British citizen have had to pass a new updated Life in the UK test.

The new test is based on a new revised handbook called Life in the UK: A Guide for New Residents (3rd edition). The new handbook has been updated to give people a more accurate image of life in the UK, with a greater focus on British culture and history.

The first chapter talks about the values and principles of the UK and how to become a permanent resident or citizen of the UK.

The second chapter, called What is the UK?, is a very short one describing the different countries that make up the UK.

The third chapter called A Long and Illustrious History is by far the longest chapter in this new handbook. The previous test did not cover very much of the UK history. But this new chapter covers the entire UK history from the Stone Age to the 2010 coalition government. It describes in details, for example, the Middle Ages, The Tudors and Stuarts period, and the First and Second World War. Most of the Kings and Queens of Britain are talked about, and special descriptions have been written about prominent British figures such as William Shakespeare, Winston Churchill or Margaret Thatcher. This chapter also describes the main wars that Britain has been involved in over the centuries, from the battles against the Vikings to the latest conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Here is the chapter content:

• Early Britain
• The Middle Ages
• The Tudors and Stuarts
• A global power
• The 20th century
• Britain since 1945

The fourth chapter, called A Modern, Thriving Society, describes the UK today with the following chapter content:

• The UK today
• Religion
• Customs and tradition
• Sport
• Arts and culture
• Leisure
• Places of interest

The last chapter, called The UK Government, the Law and Your Role, gives information on government, democracy, the legal system and how people can contribute to their community. In this chapter, a great emphasis is given on the responsibilities as well as privileges of living in the UK. The chapter content is as follow:

• The development of British democracy
• The British constitution
• The government
• The UK and international institutions
• Respecting the law
• Fundamental principles
• Your role in the community

The new handbook testable content (which is the whole book except the glossary) is about 11,500 words longer than the previous handbook testable content. In addition, this new handbook has now about 210 dates to remember (as opposed to only about 30 for the previous handbook). So the new handbook has much more information to learn.

Like the old Life in the UK test, the new test consists of 24 multiple-choice questions that you will have to answer in 45 minutes.