NIU students who are natural-born citizens obviously didn’t have to pass the citizenship test to earn membership to the United States.

And while many high school students, including those in Illinois, have to pass a Constitution test to graduate and American history is taught at NIU, students aren’t necessarily required to know the answers to the American civics questions asked on the exam.

Beginning Oct. 1, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services began giving a revised version of the test. Those who administer it choose 10 questions at random out of a possible 100, and would-be citizens must get at least six of 10 correct to pass.

The citizenship test was revised to create “a more standardized, fair and meaningful naturalization process,” according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Web site.

“The old test was more memorization,” said Law Professor Guadalupe Luna, who formerly practiced immigration law. “The new test – you have to be really agile. You really do have to understand concepts.”

NIU students born into citizenship will never have to take the test, but David Kyvig, research professor of history, said it is beneficial for them to at least be familiar with American civics.

“Students, just as other Americans, tend to benefit from understanding the extent and limits of legitimate government authority, thus what is reasonable to expect and what is legitimate to demand from government,” he said.

But what if NIU students were required to know what’s on the exam?

Corey Gloor, a senior business administration major, was asked if he’d be interested in finding out.

“Is this gonna be like Jaywalking?” he asked, referring to the popular “Tonight Show with Jay Leno” bit.

The first question: “What do we call the first 10 amendments to the Constitution?”

“Bill of Rights,” Gloor quickly responded.

When all was said and done, he correctly answered eight of 10.

Jen Vinsel, a junior elementary education major, said she wants to make sure her future students know the answers to these questions.

But can she pass the test? She was asked to name two national holidays.

“Um, Labor Day and Christmas,” Vinsel answered, correctly. Overall, she got a six out of 10.

“I know a lot of my friends – if they had to take the citizenship test, they wouldn’t be able to pass,” she said.

Ten random NIU students took the test. They got 74 percent of the questions right and nine of them passed.