How to pass the German citizenship test: 10 tips that work

To pass the German citizenship test (Einbürgerungstest) you need at least 17 correct answers out of 33, and you have 60 minutes. Every question comes from the published official catalogue, so you can prepare for exactly what will come up. The ten tips below help you pass with a comfortable margin rather than scraping through. For the format and logistics, see how the citizenship test works.

The 10 tips at a glance

1. Learn all 310 questions that apply to you.
2. Understand the answers instead of memorising patterns.
3. Study by topic, not at random.
4. Review your mistakes at growing intervals.
5. Practise under real exam conditions.
6. Learn the German wording.
7. Watch out for trap answers.
8. Collect the easy points on your state questions.
9. Plan test day in advance.
10. Read every option before you answer.

Tips 1–4: learning the material

1. Learn all 310 questions that apply to you

The catalogue has 460 questions: 300 general questions and 10 for each of the 16 federal states. Only 310 are relevant to you – the 300 general ones plus the 10 for your state. Which state counts depends on where you live (your main residence), not where you sit the test. Make sure you use the current catalogue (dated 7 May 2025), which the BAMF publishes in its online test centre: on 1 July 2024, 17 general and 8 state questions were replaced, so older books and lists are partly out of date.

2. Understand the answers instead of memorising patterns

If you only remember “it's option 1” or “it's the long one”, the next similar question will catch you out. A real example from the catalogue: the question about the coat of arms of the Federal Republic (question 21) and the one about the coat of arms of the GDR (question 209) show the same four pictures – in one the answer is image 1, in the other image 4. For every question, ask yourself why the correct answer is correct. There's a second reason to do this: a note from the BAMF in the official catalogue says the wording of individual questions in the test may differ slightly from the catalogue. If you understand the answer, you'll still recognise it.

3. Study by topic

In the official catalogue the 300 general questions are simply numbered one after another. In the app they're sorted by topic – such as the Basic Law, elections, the state, the GDR and reunification, and work and social security. If you work through one topic at a time – say, all 44 questions on elections and political parties – the facts connect: first vote, second vote and the 5% threshold explain each other. In the app you can practise each topic on its own.

4. Review your mistakes at growing intervals

A question you got wrong once is easy to forget again. Review it after a day, then after a few days, then after a week. This is called spaced repetition. The app's review section does it for you: wrongly answered questions come back at growing intervals until they stick.

Tips 5–8: practising for the real thing

5. Practise under real exam conditions

On test day you get a question paper with 33 questions: 30 general and 3 about your state. Each question has four options and exactly one is correct. You have 60 minutes for the whole test – just under two minutes per question. Our tip: from your second week of studying, take a full practice exam regularly – no translation, no looking things up, with the clock running.

The pass mark of 17 is only just over half. Still, aim much higher, because on the day you'll have nerves and the odd question you can't recall. Here's how we'd read your practice scores:

6. Learn the German wording

The Einbürgerungstest is only held in German, and dictionaries or translation apps are not allowed. A translation helps you understand things at first, but in the test you need to recognise the German terms instantly, so switch to the German text early. Tricky words like Judikative, Freizügigkeit or Schöffe are explained in our citizenship test glossary. If English is your stronger language, read is the test available in English? for a step-by-step approach.

7. Watch out for trap answers

Many wrong options sound plausible because they come from the same topic. Three classic mix-ups from the catalogue:

• Bundestag or Bundesversammlung? “Wer wählt die deutsche Bundeskanzlerin/den deutschen Bundeskanzler?” – who elects the Federal Chancellor? (question 83). The answer is der Bundestag. “Die Bundesversammlung” (the Federal Convention) is listed as a wrong option: it elects the Federal President (question 86).
• Koalition or Fraktion? Parties working together to form a government are a Koalition (coalition, question 31). “Fraktion” is the wrong option here – it means a party's group of MPs in parliament.
• 4 or 5 years? The Bundestag is elected for 4 years (question 110). “5 Jahre” appears as an option, but that's the term of the European Parliament and most state parliaments.

8. Collect the easy points on your state questions

There are only 10 state questions and 3 of them appear in every test – reliable points for very little effort. They follow a similar pattern in every state, asking for example about the state coat of arms, its location on a map, the state capital, the colours of the state flag, the state parliament's term, the voting age (usually in local elections) and the title of the head of government. Careful with the city states: instead of the capital, you're asked which state is a city state. The head of government is called Regierende/r Bürgermeister/in in Berlin, Erste/r Bürgermeister/in in Hamburg and Präsident/in des Senats in Bremen. Each state has its own page with all 10 questions and answers, for example the Bavaria citizenship test. Coats of arms and maps are collected on our picture questions page.

Tips 9–10: getting the points on test day

9. Plan test day in advance

• Book early: in big cities test dates are often taken weeks or months ahead.
• Bring valid photo ID and a pen.
• Plan your journey with time to spare so you arrive calm.
• Don't learn anything new the evening before – just go through your list of mistakes.
• Don't expect an instant result: the BAMF (Federal Office for Migration and Refugees) marks the test centrally and sends your result by post – normally after six to eight weeks, currently often later. See when your citizenship test result arrives.

10. Read every option before you answer

Always read all four options, even if the first one sounds right. Pay special attention to nicht (not) and kein (no/none). In question 100, “Was gehört nicht zur gesetzlichen Sozialversicherung?” (what is not part of statutory social insurance?), you're looking for the one option that doesn't belong – here die Lebensversicherung (life insurance). If you're unsure, rule out the options that are definitely wrong first. It's best to answer all the questions you're sure of, then come back to the hard ones. Never leave a question blank: an empty answer certainly scores nothing. To change an answer, fill in the old box completely and put a new cross – that's how the instructions on the BAMF's sample test paper explain it.

If it doesn't work out the first time

You can retake the test as often as you like; each attempt costs €25. How to analyse your mistakes and close the gaps is covered in failed the citizenship test? What to do next. For how much time to set aside from the start, see our study plan for the citizenship test.