ESL/Civics - The Bill of Rights

Teach-to-the-Test Tips

The Immigration and Naturalization Service makes available online 100 sample questions from the INS citizenship test. (You can see the whole sample test here.)

The following is a list of the questions that specifically pertain to the Bill of Rights, with their answers. While "teaching to the test" has always been a disturbing reality, you can see from the following sample questions that Bill of Rights-related questions are very straightforward and basic.

Sharing these simple questions and their answers with your students can take some of the unknown quality out of this particular set of information and you can concentrate on a more thorough understanding of personal freedoms in America in their current context.

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SAMPLE QUESTIONS	ANSWERS
How many changes or amendments are there to the Constitution?	26
What is the Bill of Rights?	The first 10 Amendments of the Constitution
Where does Freedom of Speech come from?	The Bill of Rights
Name 3 rights or freedoms guaranteed by the Bill of Rights.	(a) Freedom of speech, press, religion, peaceable assembly and requesting change of government (b) The right to bear arms (the right to have weapons or own a gun, though subject to certain regulations) (c) The government may not quarter, or house, soldiers in citizen's homes during peacetime without their consent (d) The government may not search or take a person's property without a warrant (e) A person may not be tried twice for the same crime and does not have to testify against him/herself (f) A person charged with a crime still has some rights, such as the right to a fair trial and to have a lawyer (g) The right to trial by jury, in most cases (h) Protection of people against excessive or unreasonable fines or cruel and unusual punishment (i) The people have rights other than those mentioned in the Constitution (j) Any power not given to the federal government by the Constitution is a power of either the states or the people
What are the first 10 Amendments to the Constitution called?	The Bill of Rights
Whose rights are guaranteed by the Constitution and the Bill of Rights?	Everyone (citizens and non-citizens living in the U.S.)
What is the most important right granted to U.S. citizens?	The right to vote
Name one right guaranteed by the First Amendment.	Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion, Peaceable Assembly, and Requesting Change of the Government

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