Your own government

A few exam questions have no fixed answer, because the answer depends on where you live. One asks you to name one of your state's United States senators. One asks you to name your United States representative. One asks for the governor of your state. One asks for the capital of your state. Check all four shortly before your interview, because the first three change.

The official websites are the safest place to look. You can find your senators by state at senate.gov, and your representative by ZIP code at house.gov. Your own state government's website names the governor and the state capital. USCIS also posts changes for the offices it asks about at uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates.

If you live in one of the fifty states, you have two United States senators, because every state elects two, and each of them represents everyone in the state. Naming either one of them is a correct answer. You are not asked for their political party or for how long they have served.

If you live in one of the fifty states, you have one United States representative, the person elected in your congressional district. Neighbors a few miles away may have a different representative, because district lines run inside a state and do not always follow city or county borders. If you have moved recently, check the representative for your new address.

The governor is the head of your state government. The governor is elected by the voters of the state and leads the executive side of state government, much as the President does for the country. Washington, D.C., has no governor; it has a mayor, and residents of D.C. should answer that D.C. does not have a governor.

The capital of your state is the city where the state government meets. It is often not the largest city in the state. Residents of Washington, D.C., should answer that D.C. is not a state and has no capital, and residents of a territory should give the capital of that territory.

One more point applies if you live in Washington, D.C., or in a United States territory. Those places have no United States senators, and their member in the House is a delegate or resident commissioner who cannot vote when the full House passes a bill. Saying that you have no senators, or that your territory has no voting representative, is the correct answer.

A political party is an organized group of people who share ideas about how the country should be run and who work to get their candidates elected. The Constitution does not mention political parties at all. They grew up on their own in the country's first years, and they have shaped elections ever since.

The two major political parties in the United States are the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. That short answer, Democratic and Republican, is all the exam asks for. The Republican Party is also known by the nickname GOP.

Almost every member of Congress belongs to one of these two parties, and so does the President. In Congress, the party with more members usually chooses the leaders, such as the Speaker of the House, and controls the committees that decide which bills move forward.

Other parties exist as well, such as the Libertarian Party and the Green Party, and some candidates run as independents with no party at all. They appear on ballots and sometimes win state or local offices, but they rarely win federal ones.

The party of the President changes when the White House changes hands, so this is another question whose answer is not fixed. Look up the current answer at uscis.gov/citizenship/testupdates before your interview.

You never have to join a party in order to vote. In many states you may register with a party if you want to vote in that party's primary election. A primary election is the vote that chooses the candidate the party will put forward. Joining a party, helping with a campaign, or giving money to one are ways of taking part in political life, but they are choices, not duties.