Practice and questions
Life in the UK practice tests 1 to 16
Choose a test number. The questions behind each number stay the same, so a better score on a retake is real progress, not a lucky draw.
Your score · Practice test 1
0 / 24
0 / 24 answered
Choose an answer to begin
| Pass mark: 18 of 24 |
Practice questions written by Radif Partners from the facts of the official handbook. They are not the questions of the official test.
These are sixteen numbered practice tests, each made of 24 questions from all five chapters of the handbook and marked against the same line as the real test: 75%, which is 18 correct answers. What sets them apart from our random mock is that each number always holds the same questions. Practice test 5 today is practice test 5 next month, so a jump from 16 to 21 on it says that you learned something, not that the draw was kind. The questions come from our bank of 300, written by Radif Partners from facts the handbook states, and corrections are held until you mark the test, as at a centre. They are not timed by default; set a 45-minute alarm if you want the full conditions. Sixteen papers is enough to sit two a week for two months, with older ones retaken to check that facts learned early have not faded. The real test, booked on gov.uk for £50, uses questions that are not published.
Is my score a pass?
Result
Pass
| Pass mark | 18 of 24 (75%) |
| Your score | 79% |
| Margin | 1 answer above the mark |
Questions, dates and fees by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Fixed papers versus random draws
A random mock answers the question "would I pass a test I have never seen?". A fixed paper answers a different one: "have I improved since last time?". You need both, at different moments. Early in your revision, the numbered tests give you a stable yardstick; in the final week, fresh random mocks are a fairer forecast because you cannot have memorised them.
| Numbered tests (this page) | Random mock | |
|---|---|---|
| Questions | 24, the same every time for a given number | 24, new each draw |
| Best for | measuring progress | forecasting the real result |
| Clock | none by default | 45 minutes |
| Risk | you start remembering the answers | a lucky draw flatters you |
Keep a score log
Write down the test number, the date and the score each time, with the chapter that lost most points. A plain notebook is enough. After a few weeks it might look like this example (an illustration, not real data):
| Date | Test | Score | Weakest chapter |
|---|---|---|---|
| week 1 | Test 1 | 16 / 24 | history |
| week 1 | Test 2 | 17 / 24 | history |
| week 2 | Test 3 | 19 / 24 | government and law |
| week 3 | Test 1 (retake) | 21 / 24 | none clear |
The retake of test 1 is the line that matters: five points gained on the very same questions. If a retake shows no gain, the revision in between has not worked and you should change method, not just put in more hours.
A two-month schedule using all sixteen
Weeks one to four: tests 1 to 8, two a week, each followed by the chapter practice on whatever chapter lost the most points. Week five: retake tests 1 and 2. Weeks six to eight: tests 9 to 16, again two a week, with one old paper retaken each week. Then switch to random timed mocks for the last stretch before your booking. Compress it if your test date is sooner; the study plan calculator works out how many questions a day that implies.
Reading a single score
The checker under this section tells you whether a score passes and by how much. 18 out of 24 is a pass, 17 is a fail, and there is no rounding: the line is 75% or more. A paper passed with one point to spare is a warning, not a success, because a single unlucky question on the day would turn it into a fail. Aim for a cushion of two or three points across several papers before you book. The pass mark page goes further into why that margin matters.
What these papers are
Practice material written by Radif Partners, free and without sign-up. They follow the format gov.uk publishes for the test, but their questions are ours, based on the handbook's facts and not on any test centre paper. The gov.uk Life in the UK Test page is the only official source on the format and the booking service.