How to learn for the citizenship test: the method behind Swiss Passport
Most people prepare by reading the questions again and again. It feels productive, but it is one of the least effective ways to learn. Swiss Passport uses techniques that memory research has tested for decades.
Answer instead of rereading
Every time you pull an answer out of your memory, you strengthen it. In a well-known study, students who practised recalling a text remembered more of it a week later than students who read it again, even though rereading did better right after studying (Roediger & Karpicke 2006).
That is why Swiss Passport shows a short explanation and then asks right away. You answer every question yourself before you see the solution.
Repeat just before you forget
What you learn fades quickly if you do not use it again. Repetitions spread over days and weeks keep knowledge much longer than the same amount of practice in one go. The longer you need to remember something, the longer the gaps can be (Cepeda et al. 2006).
Swiss Passport brings every topic back after 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days. If you answer correctly, the next gap gets longer. If you make a mistake, the topic moves back one step and comes back the next day. So you practise what you forget and skip what you know.
- Spread out: after 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days
- All in one evening (6 times)
Schematic, not measured data: how forgetting and reviewing typically unfold. Both lines stand for the same number of repetitions.
As a table
| Day | Spread out | One evening |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | very good | good |
| 7 | very good | almost forgotten |
| 14 | very good | almost forgotten |
| 30 | very good | almost forgotten |
| 60 | very good | almost forgotten |
Learn from every answer
After each answer you see why it is right, and if you chose a wrong one, why that tempting option is wrong. This matters especially for multiple-choice questions: without feedback, learners sometimes later take a wrong option for true; with feedback, this effect gets smaller (Butler & Roediger 2008).
A question you get wrong comes back at the end of the lesson until you answer it correctly.
Try it: pick the answer that seems right to you.
Switzerland is neutral. What does that mean?
Die Schweiz ist neutral. Was heisst das?
Mix topics before the test
In the real test the questions come in no particular order. Reviews mix topics from different lessons, and every mock exam asks 50 random questions from all 350, without help, like the canton's practice test. Mixed practice feels harder, but in studies it led to better results on later tests than practising one topic at a time (Rohrer & Taylor 2007).
Your readiness score shows the share of questions whose topic you have already answered correctly on several days.
- Democracy and federalism
- Democracy and federalism
- Democracy and federalism
- Democracy and federalism
- History
- History
- History
- History
- Geography
- Geography
- Geography
- Geography
- Democracy and federalism
- History
- Geography
12 questions from 3 topics.
Understand in your language, recognise the German
You learn in the language you understand best, so you understand the content instead of memorising words. Every question also shows the German wording used in the real test, so you recognise it there.
What is a cross-border commuter (Grenzgänger)?
Was ist eine Grenzgängerin oder ein Grenzgänger?
- A a person who works in Switzerland and lives abroadeine Person, die in der Schweiz arbeitet und im Ausland wohnt
- B a person who does not live and work in the same cantoneine Person, die nicht im gleichen Kanton wohnt und arbeitet
- C Swiss goods that are exported abroadSchweizer Handelsware, die ins Ausland exportiert wird
- D Swiss goods that are imported into Switzerland from abroadSchweizer Handelsware, die vom Ausland in die Schweiz importiert wird
Why this matters for your test
There are 350 official questions, and your municipality tells you when you take the test. Cramming the evening before may help the next day, but what you cram fades quickly.
A large review of learning techniques rates practice testing and spaced practice as the two most useful, and rereading and highlighting as of low use (Dunlosky et al. 2013).
In short: a little every day beats a lot at once. Do one short lesson a day, and the due reviews first.
Sources
- Roediger, H. L., & Karpicke, J. D. (2006). Test-enhanced learning: Taking memory tests improves long-term retention. Psychological Science, 17(3), 249–255. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9280.2006.01693.x
- Cepeda, N. J., Pashler, H., Vul, E., Wixted, J. T., & Rohrer, D. (2006). Distributed practice in verbal recall tasks: A review and quantitative synthesis. Psychological Bulletin, 132(3), 354–380. doi:10.1037/0033-2909.132.3.354
- Butler, A. C., & Roediger, H. L. (2008). Feedback enhances the positive effects and reduces the negative effects of multiple-choice testing. Memory & Cognition, 36(3), 604–616. doi:10.3758/MC.36.3.604
- Rohrer, D., & Taylor, K. (2007). The shuffling of mathematics problems improves learning. Instructional Science, 35(6), 481–498. doi:10.1007/s11251-007-9015-8
- Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58. doi:10.1177/1529100612453266