If you are reading this, then perhaps you are having to do the Life in the UK test and stressing about it. Don’t worry, friend! It took me a total of 1 month between studying seriously and actually taking the test, but it’s because I don’t want to be stressed and I have the time – some of my friends have reported passing the exam after 2 weeks of serious studying.
Free Study Materials!
The good news is, since you are likely to be living in the UK anyway, your local library may be able to help you pass this exam for FREE! As you know, the official exam material books and mock tests are not free, but a lot of local library provides the materials for free. My local library provides me with a free subscription to Go Citizen (https://www.gocitizen.co.uk/) where they have all the reading materials, practice exams and mock exams. It was very thorough and provided pretty much the complete materials. Hence, if you are looking to do Life in the UK exam anytime soon, I highly recommend becoming a member of your local library, check their website (under the online resources typically) and check what materials they have for Life in the UK test. Alternatively, I’m sure your local librarian will be able to point you towards the right direction!
How to Study
Some of my friends never read the study materials and instead went straight to the practice tests. I, however, found it helpful to first read all the materials once through and then do the practice questions instead. Go Citizen has 1806 questions and useful features to track how much time you have studied and what’s your average score. So, do whatever works for you! I tried just going through the practice questions before reading the materials but it was too hard and I didn’t feel it was super productive so I decided to first read the materials. That’s what works for me – do what works for you!
From the history, I used the app for the first time on the 6th November – so roughly adding the time from the beginning, I spent the time about 9.5 hours total studying and doing the practice questions. I have a full time job, plus other things, so perhaps that’s why it took me a month (my test was on 4th December)
Materials and Questions
if you use the Go Citizen app, you’ll see that the study materials are divided into 6 chapters. I found the most difficult part to be the history and the names of “famous” people. Put on the quotation marks because I really did not know a lot of these people before! In the beginning it was really difficult but I found that after a while, my brain retains the materials and I found the question to not be too hard anymore even though there are quite a few questions that stumps me still.
Day of Exam
I was fed up with studying by then but I didn’t feel I can answer all the questions 100%. Turned out, the actual exam is so much easier than the practice tests! The practice tests, in my experience, asks the hardest questions like having to remember exact year or random names. The exam itself tends to be quite intuitive and not as hard.
The day itself is quite straightforward, I’ll break it step by step!
- I went to the designated exam centre at the dedicated time.
- The staff checked my ID and asked me to show them to switch off my phone on the spot.
- I was given some information about the tests itself and wait in line.
- When called, the staff asked some basic questions about my identity (date of birth, names, nationality, etc), checked my ID and took my picture.
- I was instructed to put my stuff in locker (as it will say on the email confirmation – don’t bring too much unnecessary items)
- The staff performed a safety check on me (with the scanner) and then I was told to go inside the exam room.
- They set me up and I did the test.
- Done!
The test didn’t take me more than 10 minutes I think, since I’ve had many hours studying and practicing. The moment I walked out the building and switched on my phone, an email came to say I passed the test! It’s great to know immediately the result of the exam.
Hopefully that helps to calm your fears, if any. I think anyone who prepare for the exam, can speak English and have some basic computer navigation skills (like clicking, typing, which nowadays virtually everyone) will be able to pass. Good luck!