Life in the UK test · The book

The Life in the UK handbook: the one book every question comes from

Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents is the only thing you are tested on. It is published for the Home Office, it has five chapters and all five are on the test.

One book5 chaptersAll examinable
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The book, and why it matters so much

GOV.UK's instruction is short: you will only be tested on information from the official Guide for New Residents. That makes the handbook the whole syllabus. Nothing you read anywhere else can come up unless it is also in the book.

It comes as a book, as an eBook and in audio formats, sold through the official Life in the UK shop run by TSO, the Home Office's publisher. The same shop sells an official e-learning subscription with revision questions and mock tests, and GOV.UK also points to an official practice app.

The five chapters

In the handbook's own order and under its own titles. The Home Office publishes no split of the 24 questions across them, so no weighting is given here.

  1. The values and principles of the UKThe introduction, and it is examinable. Belong UK carries 45 practice questions for it.
  2. What is the UK?The four countries and how they fit together. 45 practice questions.
  3. A long and illustrious historyFrom early Britain to the present day. 178 practice questions.
  4. A modern, thriving societyPlaces, customs, sport, arts and everyday life. 101 practice questions.
  5. The UK government, the law and your roleParliament, the courts, rights and responsibilities. 95 practice questions.

Official material, and ours

The handbook, the e-learning and the practice app are official. The questions on this site and the 464 in the Belong UK app are not: they are written by Belong UK from the handbook, each one checked by someone other than its writer. Use them to practise, and read the handbook itself.

Questions about the handbook

What is the official Life in the UK handbook called?

Life in the United Kingdom: A Guide for New Residents. GOV.UK calls it the official Guide for New Residents and says the test only covers information from it.

Is the whole handbook on the test?

Yes. The handbook's first chapter says the questions in the real test will be based on the whole book, including that introductory chapter.

Where can I get the handbook?

From the official Life in the UK shop, as a book, an eBook or in audio formats. GOV.UK links to it from its page on preparing for the test.

There are 464 practice questions in the app.

464 questions, drilled chapter by chapter in the handbook’s own order, five a day with the ones you miss coming back, a mistakes deck, and a full mock that is the real thing: 24 questions in 45 minutes, pass or fail at 18.

Written by Belong UK from the official handbook, not by the Home Office, and checked by someone other than the person who wrote each one. The real sitting uses its own questions.

Download Belong UK on the App StoreComing to Google Play. Sign up for free

7 days free, then £29.99 a year.

More on the Life in the UK test

See all ILR and citizenship requirements