How to prepare for the English part of the US citizenship interview

For many Georgians in the USA, the naturalization interview is the moment English matters most. The good news is that the English test is predictable — and anything predictable can be practised.

What the English test includes

• Speaking — there's no separate speaking exam. The officer judges your English during the interview itself, mostly while going through the questions on your N-400 application.
• Reading — you read sentences out loud. USCIS publishes the vocabulary these sentences use.
• Writing — you write sentences that the officer reads to you. The writing vocabulary list is also public.

Alongside the English test there's a separate civics test about US history and government, asked out loud in English. Some older applicants who have lived in the US as permanent residents for many years can be exempt from the English requirement — check the current rules on uscis.gov.

The hardest part: understanding the N-400 questions

Most people worry about the civics questions, but the part that surprises them is the N-400 review. The officer may rephrase questions in everyday language, for example:

• “Have you ever been arrested or detained?”
• “Have you traveled outside the United States in the last five years?”
• “Do you owe any overdue federal taxes?”
• “What does ‘claim to be a U.S. citizen’ mean?”

You need to understand both the formal words on the form and the simpler way an officer might say them. If you don't understand, it's completely fine to say: “Could you please repeat the question?” or “Could you say that in a different way?”

A simple 6-week plan

• Weeks 1–2: read through your own N-400 and learn every word on it. Practise answering out loud in full sentences.
• Weeks 3–4: study the official civics questions, a few each day. Learn to understand them when spoken, not just read.
• Week 5: practise the reading and writing vocabulary lists from USCIS.
• Week 6: full mock interviews — ideally with someone who plays the officer and asks questions in an unexpected order.

In lessons, we run exactly these mock interviews, explain tricky legal words in Georgian, and practise until the real interview feels like something you've already done.