Official USCIS Study Materials: What Is Free in 2026

The official USCIS study materials contain everything you need to pass, free. That is the honest starting point, and it undercuts much of what gets sold to applicants.

What the free material does badly is teach. It is a set of reference documents rather than a course, and the gap between having the list and knowing the list is where everything else lives.

The core free set is the civics questions and answers, the two English vocabulary lists, and picture flash cards. For the 2025 test USCIS added a study guide and a textbook. All of it downloads at no cost, and much of it is translated into other languages.

What’s New in 2026

Two substantial new publications arrived with the 2025 test.

Anyone filing Form N-400 on or after 20 October 2025 takes the 2025 civics test, 20 questions from a bank of 128. The USCIS study page lists the material for both versions.

Alongside the question list, USCIS published One Nation, One People as a study guide and as a fuller textbook. Both are free and both are large downloads.

The English material did not change. Both vocabulary lists still carry a 07/14 revision date.

The Core Official USCIS Study Materials

Five things cover almost everything.

The civics questions and answers, published as a PDF and as a text-only version. The 2025 list holds 128 questions; the 2008 list holds 100. Take the one matching your filing date.

The 65/20 list, a subset of 20 starred questions for applicants aged 65 or older with 20 years of residence.

The reading vocabulary, a plain text file of 64 entries.

The writing vocabulary, a plain text file of 75 entries.

Picture flash cards for both the civics questions and the vocabulary, useful for study and awkward to search because they are images.

Our page putting both vocabulary lists on one printable page exists because USCIS publishes them separately with no overlap marked.

One Nation, One People

The newest material, and worth knowing what it is before downloading.

USCIS published two related documents for the 2025 test: a study guide and a fuller textbook. Both go beyond the bare question list into the history and government behind the answers.

They are large files. The textbook in particular runs to tens of megabytes, which matters if you are downloading on a phone with limited data.

They suit somebody who wants to understand the material rather than memorise it. For an applicant with four weeks and a job, the plain question list plus spoken practice is the faster route.

Nobody is required to read either. They are offered, not mandated.

The Pages That Change

Two live pages matter more than any PDF.

The Civics Test Updates page carries answers that move with elections: the President, the Vice President, the Speaker of the House, and your own state officials. Printed lists leave these blank on purpose. See civics answers that change.

The processing times page shows current waits by field office, which is the only meaningful answer to how long your case will take. See N-400 processing time.

Check both close to your interview rather than early, since both move.

Where the Free Material Stops

Three gaps, and they are the same three for everybody.

USCIS publishes words, not sentences. Both English tests use published vocabulary and unpublished sentences, so no official practice set exists for either. That is why practice sentences exist elsewhere, including our reading and writing sets.

The material gives lists, not method. Nothing tells you which questions to learn first, how to space study, or how to rehearse aloud.

And it gives documents, not sound. The reading test is scored aloud and the writing test is dictated. A PDF carries neither.

Those gaps are not oversights. USCIS is publishing a test specification rather than teaching a course.

Spotting Unofficial Material

Three checks, each taking seconds.

Look for a publication number. Official documents carry one, such as M-1778 or M-1122. Circulating files usually carry none.

Look for a revision date. The vocabulary lists say 07/14. A document with no date could be from any year.

Check the question count. A list of 100 is the 2008 test and a list of 128 is the 2025 test. A file promising the new 2026 questions is describing something that does not exist.

Unofficial material is not automatically bad. Practice sentences built honestly from the official vocabulary are useful. What matters is knowing which you are holding.

FAQ

Does USCIS charge for study materials?

No. The civics questions, both vocabulary lists, the flash cards and the 2025 study guide and textbook are all free to download. Printed copies can be bought from the government bookstore, but nothing requires you to.

Which question list should I study?

The one matching your filing date. Filed before 20 October 2025, study the 100 questions. Filed on or after, study the 128. Studying the wrong list is the most expensive mistake available.

Are the official materials available in other languages?

The civics questions and answers are published in many languages. The English vocabulary lists are necessarily in English, though anyone qualifying for a language exemption will not sit those tests.

Is the One Nation, One People textbook required reading?

No. It is offered as a resource for applicants who want the background behind the answers. The plain question list plus spoken practice covers the test itself in far less time.

Printed Copies and the Bookstore

You can buy official material, and you rarely need to.

The government bookstore sells printed versions of the flash cards, the pocket study guide and other publications. They are genuine and reasonably priced.

Everything they sell is also downloadable free. What you are paying for is the printing and the postage.

That said, printed flash cards are genuinely easier to use than a PDF, and some people learn far better from paper. If the cost is manageable, it is a fair purchase.

Your library is the middle option. Many hold the printed material and will order it in, which costs nothing.

Be wary of third-party sellers offering official USCIS materials at a markup. The originals are free, and the government bookstore sells printed versions directly at a fair price.

Anything promising exclusive or leaked material is selling you nothing. There is no restricted version of this test.

A Sensible Order to Use Them In

Downloading everything at once is how people end up reading nothing.

Start with the question list matching your filing date. That single document is the test, and everything else is supporting material.

Add the two vocabulary lists next if you are sitting the English tests. They are short, they fit on one page, and they have not changed since 2014.

Add the flash cards if paper helps you, which for many people it does.

Leave the study guide and the textbook until last, and only if you want the background. They are long, and nobody needs them to pass.

Check the two live pages, on changing answers and processing times, in the week before your interview rather than at the start.

That order puts the essential thing first and the optional things where they belong.

Verdict on Official USCIS Study Materials

Start with the free material, always. The official USCIS study materials contain the entire test, cost nothing, and are more current than any book you could buy.

Then be clear about what they do not do. The words arrive without the sentences. The list arrives without a method for learning it. And documents cannot rehearse a test that is spoken.

Download the list matching your filing date, check the two live pages before your interview, and spend your effort on practising aloud rather than on finding better material. Better material does not exist.