Examen civique 2026: format, official questions and pass mark
The examen civique is a 40-question multiple-choice test in French on the values, institutions, history and daily life of France. You need 32 correct answers out of 40, and since 1 January 2026 you need the pass certificate for a first carte de séjour pluriannuelle, a first carte de résident and naturalisation by decree. The facts are learnable in a few weeks. The part people underestimate is that every question is written in French.
Contents
Examen civique in one table
Everything below comes from the official texts: the arrêté du 10 octobre 2025 that defines the exam, the residence-permit articles of the immigration code (CESEDA), and the Ministry of the Interior's own pages. Links are in the sources section at the end.
| Questions | 40, multiple choice, 4 options, 1 correct answer |
| Language | French only |
| Time | 45 minutes maximum |
| Pass mark | 32/40 (80%) |
| Where | An approved exam centre, on a tablet or computer |
| Price | Set by each centre, €60–80 according to the Ministry of the Interior |
| Retakes | Unlimited, at any time |
| Validity of a pass | No expiry |
| Fraud | Exam voided and a 2-year ban |
The question count, the 80% threshold and the 45-minute limit are in articles 2 to 4 of the arrêté du 10 octobre 2025. Retakes and the certificate's validity are on the ministry's formation-civique site: it says you can sit the exam "à tout moment et autant de fois que nécessaire".
Who has to pass the examen civique
The exam is attached to three applications, each with its own French level:
| Application | French level | Civic exam |
|---|---|---|
| First carte de séjour pluriannuelle (multi-year card) | A2 | Yes |
| First carte de résident (10-year card) | B1 | Yes |
| Naturalisation by decree | B2, spoken and written | Yes |
The A2 rule for the multi-year card is CESEDA article R433-5, the B1 rule for the resident card is article R413-15, and the move from B1 to B2 for naturalisation comes from décret n° 2025-648.
A renewal of a card you already hold doesn't require the exam, according to the ministry's November 2025 information leaflet. Naturalisation by declaration (through marriage, for example) isn't covered either; the exam applies to naturalisation and reintegration by decree, as service-public.fr explains.
Who is exempt
- People over 65 applying for a residence card are exempt from both the language condition and the civic exam (R433-5 and R413-15). This exemption doesn't extend to naturalisation.
- Beneficiaries of international protection and nationals covered by "certain bilateral agreements" aren't concerned, according to the ministry. The national texts don't name the countries. A prefecture document from Seine-Maritime (February 2026) shows Algerian nationals as exempt for residence certificates under the 1968 agreement; we found no official national text that confirms this, and no official source at all on Moroccan or Tunisian nationals.
- EU, EEA and Swiss citizens don't need a residence card, so the residence-permit exam doesn't apply to them. If they apply for naturalisation, they sit the naturalisation version like everyone else.
- A disability or chronic illness can give you adapted conditions or an exemption, with a medical certificate.
What the examen civique questions cover
The arrêté fixes five themes and exactly how many questions each one contributes. The split is the same for all three versions of the exam.
| Theme | Questions on the exam | of which situational |
|---|---|---|
| Principes et valeurs de la République | 11 | 6 |
| Système institutionnel et politique | 6 | 0 |
| Droits et devoirs | 11 | 6 |
| Histoire, géographie et culture | 8 | 0 |
| Vivre dans la société française | 4 | 0 |
| Total | 40 | 12 |
So 28 questions test knowledge and 12 are mises en situation: a short everyday scene where you pick the behaviour that matches French law and values. The ministry publishes the knowledge questions. It doesn't publish the situational ones.
The ministry says plainly that you don't need to pay for practice questions. The official lists and topic sheets are free on formation-civique.interieur.gouv.fr, and that site should be your first stop for the facts.
What we found in the official question list
We downloaded the official list of knowledge questions for the multi-year card on 8 November 2026 and counted it. It holds 191 questions, without answers. Set against the exam's 28 knowledge slots, the list is uneven in a way worth knowing before you plan your revision:
| Theme | Published questions | Knowledge slots on the exam |
|---|---|---|
| Principes et valeurs de la République | 37 | 5 |
| Système institutionnel et politique | 46 | 6 |
| Droits et devoirs | 30 | 5 |
| Histoire, géographie et culture | 47 | 8 |
| Vivre dans la société française | 31 | 4 |
Two things stand out. History, geography and culture is the biggest pool and the biggest share of the exam, so it deserves the most time. And the 12 situational questions, almost a third of the test, come from two themes and aren't in any list: you can't memorise them, you can only understand them when you read them.
The questions themselves are short. The median one is 7 words long and the longest is 19, for example "Que doit faire un employeur pour fixer un salaire ?" or "Qui élit les députés ?". That's why the exam is less about knowing hard facts than about reading everyday French quickly and without a dictionary, 40 times in 45 minutes.
Why your French decides the result
The exam doesn't test your French separately; the language test (TCF, TEF or a recognised diploma) does that. In practice, though, the two are linked. If you're applying for the multi-year card, you're at A2, and A2 is the level where you understand short, simple texts on familiar topics. A question about the separation of church and state, a juge or the autorité parentale is short but not familiar, and the situational questions describe a scene before they ask anything.
From our own work building French courses for people settling in France, the words that slow learners down aren't the history dates. They're the administrative and civic words that the questions take for granted: préfecture, mairie, titre de séjour, médecin traitant, scolarité obligatoire, contrat de travail. The theme "Vivre dans la société française" is built from exactly that vocabulary: moving in, health, work and school.
So a sensible plan has two tracks:
- The facts, from the official lists and topic sheets on formation-civique. Read each question aloud and answer it without looking.
- The French behind the facts. Learn the institutions and everyday situations as whole sentences, the way you'll meet them in the questions, so you read them at a glance instead of translating word by word.
The second track is also the one that carries you through the A2 or B1 test you need for the same application.
How Taalhammer fits in, honestly
We're not an exam centre and we don't sell practice exams. If you want official-style questions, the ministry's lists are free and good.
What we do have is French for life in France, in whole sentences with audio and spaced repetition. Our course runs from absolute beginner to C2, and we've added topic collections for the situations the civic exam's last theme is built on: first steps and paperwork, the préfecture and your residence card, the doctor and the pharmacy, your child at the crèche and school, letters from the CAF and the tax office, and talking about yourself at A1–A2 level. They're available with English, Polish, Russian and Ukrainian as the language you learn from.
Examen civique FAQ
How many questions do I need to get right?
32 out of 40, which is 80%.
Is the examen civique in English?
No. The arrêté says the questionnaire is written in French, and there's no other language version.
Can I fail and try again?
Yes, as many times as you need. A pass has no expiry date, and a pass at resident-card level also counts for a multi-year card application.
Where do I register?
Directly with an approved exam centre, not through OFII or the formation-civique site. The two approved organisations are CCI Paris Île-de-France and France Éducation International, and the ministry counted 444 centres covering every département in May 2026.
How many people pass?
The Ministry of the Interior reported 71,125 candidates and an average pass rate of 81% by 26 May 2026, in an answer to a parliamentary question published in August 2026.
Is the examen civique the French citizenship test?
It's one of them. People searching for a "French citizenship test" usually mean this exam, but naturalisation also needs B2 French proven by a separate language test or diploma, and the same civic exam is required for the two residence cards as well.
Do I still need a language test if I pass the examen civique?
Yes. The civic exam and the French level are two separate conditions, and you need both.
Sources
- Arrêté du 10 octobre 2025 on the programme, tests and organisation of the examen civique (Légifrance)
- CESEDA article R433-5 (multi-year card, A2) and article R413-15 (resident card, B1)
- Décret n° 2025-648 du 15 juillet 2025 (naturalisation, B2 and civic exam)
- Service-public.fr: multi-year card, naturalisation, civic exam for naturalisation
- Ministry of the Interior, formation-civique: general information and the official question list for the multi-year card
- Ministry of the Interior, answer to written question n° 11488 (price, number of centres, candidates and pass rate), published 11 August 2026