What is on the examen civique: 40 questions, five thématiques, 32 to pass

The paper, as the ministry and the arrêté describe it

Every line here comes from the Ministère de l'Intérieur's own examen civique page, from service-public.gouv.fr's fiche F39426 or from the arrêté of 10 October 2025. None of it is inferred.

• 40 questions, all multiple choice, all written in French. Service-public.gouv.fr calls it un questionnaire à choix multiples, rédigé en langue française, de 40 questions.
• 45 minutes at most. The arrêté says the duration ne peut excéder 45 minutes, unless a medical adjustment has been granted.
• You pass at 32 correct. The ministry states it as 32 bonnes réponses minimum, soit 80 % de bonnes réponses.
• On a screen, at an approved centre. The arrêté says the épreuve est réalisée sur support numérique.
• 28 of the 40 are questions de connaissance and 12 are mises en situation. Those two counts are the ministry's own.
• The paper carries the mention naturalisation. The arrêté also creates a mention carte de séjour pluriannuelle and a mention carte de résident, with the same 40 questions and the same 80 per cent, but adapted in difficulty.
• The questions come from a référentiel de connaissances annexed to the arrêté, and the ministry's site publishes fiches for every part of it, free.

The five thématiques, and how many questions each one brings

The titles are the ones the ministry uses on formation-civique.interieur.gouv.fr and in annexe I of the arrêté, in the arrêté's own order. The counts are the ones article 3 of the arrêté sets for the paper.

• 1. Principes et valeurs de la RépubliquePrinciples and values of the Republic11 questions on the paper. The devise and the symbols of the Republic, and laïcité: its history, freedom of conscience and the neutrality of the State.
• 2. Système institutionnel et politiqueThe institutional and political system6 questions on the paper. Democracy and the vote; how the Republic is organised, from communes to the State; the European Union and its institutions.
• 3. Droits et devoirsRights and duties11 questions on the paper. Fundamental rights, individual, social and economic, and the obligations of everyone who lives in France.
• 4. Histoire, géographie et cultureHistory, geography and culture8 questions on the paper. The main periods and figures; the territory, its rivers, mountains and overseas départements and régions; the heritage: monuments, artists and traditions.
• 5. Vivre dans la société françaiseLiving in French society4 questions on the paper. Settling and residing, access to healthcare, working, parental authority and the school system.

Twenty-eight you can read in advance, twelve you cannot

This is the fact that shapes how you prepare, and it is worth being exact about it.

Article 3 of the arrêté says the questions de connaissances sont rendues publiques sur le site internet du ministère chargé des naturalisations. The ministry does that: the Direction générale des étrangers en France publishes a PDF titled liste officielle des questions de connaissance for the mention naturalisation, dated 12 January 2026, and formation-civique.interieur.gouv.fr publishes the equivalent lists for the two residence permit mentions.

The 28 knowledge questions on your paper are drawn from that published list. The 12 mises en situation are not published anywhere. They put you in a concrete situation, at work, at school, with a neighbour or at the préfecture, and ask what the rule or the right answer is. The ministry's fiches are the material they are written from, so a candidate who has read the fiches has seen the rules, just not the scenarios.

Put the two together and the arithmetic is kind. If you know the published list, 28 of the 40 are in hand and you need 32. That leaves four of the twelve situational questions to get right, and every one of them is on material the fiches cover.

One threshold, not five

There is one number: 32 of 40. No thématique has to be passed on its own. The arrêté sets no minimum on any section, and every question is worth the same. You could get every question in thématique 5 wrong, four of them, and every question in thématique 2 wrong, six more, and still not have used up your eight.

Thirty-two out of forty is 80 per cent, which is a high bar by European standards. Spain asks for 60, Italy has no test of this kind at all. It is not a paper designed to be sat cold. It is designed to be passed by someone who has read the material the ministry publishes, and the ministry says so on its own site: la préparation à l'examen civique peut se faire de manière totalement gratuite.

More on the examen civique

• Examen civiqueSample questions and what the exam is
• The official materialThe ministry publishes three things and charges for none of them: the fiches that cover the whole référentiel, the list of knowledge questions the paper draws from and the livret du citoyen, rewritten in July 2026.
• Booking, fee and centresTwo organisations are approved to run the exam, you book on demand rather than waiting for a session date, you can sit as many times as it takes and the attestation de réussite never expires.
• Who is exemptTwo conditions and two short lists, and neither is about age or nationality.
• After the examA pass gives you an attestation de réussite that never expires.
• Practice paperNot a random selection.

See all French nationality requirements

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