UK CompanionPass mark & pass rate
The Life in the UK test pass mark is 75%
You need to answer at least 18 of the 24 questions correctly. Six wrong answers still passes. Seven does not.
75%
Pass mark
18 of 24 correct
24
Questions
multiple choice
45 min
Time limit
at the test centre
6
Wrong answers allowed
seven fails you
What 75% actually means on the day
The threshold is a flat 75%. There is no partial credit, no scaling against how hard your particular set of questions turned out to be, and no adjustment for the questions that ask you to select more than one answer — those are marked right or wrong as a whole.
With 24 questions, that arithmetic is unusually unforgiving at the margin. 18 correct is 75% exactly and passes. 17 correct is 70.8% and fails. There is no rounding in your favour, so the practical rule is simple: you can afford six wrong answers and no more.
You find out whether you passed before you leave the test centre, but you are not given a score and not told which questions you missed. Someone who scraped through on 18 and someone who answered all 24correctly get the same result screen. That is worth knowing when you decide whether you are ready to book — you will never learn how close you came.
Pass mark and pass rate are different things
People search for both, and the two get mixed up constantly.
Pass mark
The score you personally need: 75%, or 18 of 24. Fixed, published, and the same for everyone.
Pass rate
The share of people who pass — a statistic about everyone else. It moves over time, and it has no bearing on what you need to score.
The official pass rate figures
The Home Office published Life in the UK test results as transparency data, then stopped. The last release covers up to the third quarter of 2013–14 and was last updated in January 2015. These are the most recent official numbers that exist.
| Period | Tests taken | Passed | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010–11 | 192,476 | 140,508 | 73% |
| 2011–12 | 167,168 | 133,761 | 80% |
| 2012–13 | 159,084 | 136,815 | 86% |
| Q1 2013–14 | 26,366 | 19,434 | 74% |
| Q2 2013–14 | 38,034 | 28,264 | 74% |
| Q3 2013–14 | 38,209 | 26,242 | 69% |
The pattern in that table is worth understanding, because it explains most of the confusion online. Pass rates climbed steadily to 86% in 2012–13, then fell sharply — to 74%, then 69%. That drop follows the third edition of the official handbook taking effect in March 2013, which replaced a good deal of practical everyday content with British history. The test genuinely got harder, and the numbers moved accordingly.
So a figure taken from 2012–13 and one taken from 2013–14 disagree by seventeen percentage points, and both are technically accurate. Sites quoting a confident pass rate for a recent year are extrapolating, recycling one of these older numbers, or working from figures released piecemeal through freedom of information requests. None of it is current official data, because there is no current official data.
The Home Office also noted at the time that these figures came from reports supplied by the test provider and were not subject to its own detailed checking.
Does it differ for ILR and citizenship?
| Applying for | Tests taken | Passed | Pass rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Settlement (ILR) | 97,367 | 84,945 | 87% |
| Citizenship | 60,159 | 50,590 | 84% |
The requirement is identical — same handbook, same 24 questions, same 75%. Settlement applicants historically passed at a slightly higher rate than citizenship applicants, but that reflects who was sitting it, not a different standard. If you take the test for ILR you do not need to sit it again when you later apply for citizenship.
Aim well above the line, not at it
The useful takeaway from all of this is not the pass rate. It is that the margin is six questions, a failed attempt costs £50, and you must wait seven days before trying again.
If you are scoring exactly 18 out of 24 in practice, you are not ready — a single unlucky question on a topic you skimmed puts you under. Consistently scoring 21 or 22 gives you room for one bad question and a nervous morning. Try a free practice round and see where you land against the 75% line.
Frequently asked questions
What is the pass mark for the Life in the UK test?+
75%. You must answer at least 18 of the 24 questions correctly. There is no partial credit and no scaling — 18 correct passes, 17 correct fails.
How many questions can I get wrong?+
Six. Seven wrong answers puts you at 17 out of 24, which is 70.8% and below the threshold.
What is the pass rate for the Life in the UK test?+
The Home Office stopped publishing this after 2014. In its last published quarter — Q3 of 2013–14 — 26,242 of 38,209 tests were passed, a rate of 69%. Any figure you see quoted for a recent year is an estimate, not official data.
Is the pass mark different for ILR and citizenship?+
No. It is the same test, the same handbook and the same 75% threshold whichever you are applying for. Historically people testing for settlement passed at a slightly higher rate than those testing for citizenship, but the standard required is identical.
Do I find out my score straight away?+
You are told whether you passed before you leave the test centre. You are not given a numerical score or told which questions you got wrong, so there is no way to see how close you came.
What happens if I fail?+
You can retake it as many times as you need. Each attempt costs £50 and you must wait at least seven days between sittings. There is no limit on the number of attempts.
Is the pass mark ever lowered?+
No. 75% has been the threshold throughout, and it does not move with how difficult a particular set of questions turns out to be. Your result depends only on how many you answer correctly.
How many practice questions should I get right before booking?+
Aim to score comfortably above the line rather than at it — consistently hitting 21 or 22 out of 24 in practice gives you room for a bad question on the day. Scoring exactly 18 in practice means a single unlucky question fails you.
See where you land against the 75% line
A free 24-question round on the web, scored against the real pass mark. No signup.