Based on my unscientific guess that most native-born American citizens would not be able to answer all the questions on the U.S. Citizenship test, I always considered it to be difficult. I was surprised to read that the test is being overhauled. Then someone I know told me her parents passed by rote memorization. I thought, well, that’s how I passed a lot of exams in school, right? Wasn’t I really learning too by memorizing facts? Well, I suppose I wasn’t memorizing the exact 100 potential questions and answers, as it is with the citizenship test. Putting aside the questions of whether English, history, and civics are important requirements for a new U.S. citizen to have, the announced goals for the new test sound reasonable. The aim is to reduce dependency on memorization and actually demonstrate a deeper level of understanding and literacy. Inconsistency between examiners, however, may still exist with the new methods.