Australian Values Questions: How to Get All 5 Right
2 September 2026 · 4 min read
Citizenship Test Australia editorial team
We maintain a 499-question practice bank built from the official Our Common Bond booklet, and check every article against current Department of Home Affairs guidance. Last reviewed 2 September 2026.
Every Australian citizenship test includes 5 questions about Australian values, and you must answer all 5 correctly to pass. Get one wrong and you fail that sitting, even with a perfect score on the other 15. The questions come from Part 4 of the official booklet, Australian Citizenship: Our Common Bond, and in our experience they are the part of the test people underestimate most.
They are also the most predictable part. Part 4 is a few pages long, the themes repeat, and the same small set of ideas sits behind every question. You can walk in knowing, with real confidence, that your five values answers are safe. That is worth more than any other hour of study you will do.
5
values questions in every test
5 / 5
correct answers required to pass
~65%
pass rate per sitting since the rule was added
Why one wrong values answer means a fail
The test is 20 multiple-choice questions in 45 minutes. Passing takes two things at once: at least 15 correct overall, and all 5 values questions correct. There is no partial credit. Nineteen out of twenty is a fail if the one you missed was a values question. Fifteen out of twenty is a pass if all five values answers are right.
The rule arrived in November 2020, and the numbers show how much it changed the test. Before it, roughly 80 to 87 per cent of people passed each sitting. Since then the rate has hovered near 65 per cent. One sitting in three now ends in a fail, and the values rule drives most of that.
A fail is not a disaster. Re-sits are free, and your permanent residency is not affected. But nobody wants to go through test day twice, and this is the one part of the test you can prepare for almost completely.
What Part 4 of Our Common Bond covers
Every values question traces back to one of a handful of themes:
| Theme | What the booklet says |
|---|---|
| Freedom of speech and expression | People can express their views, within the law, even when others disagree |
| Freedom of religion | People may follow any religion or none, and religious laws have no legal status |
| Equality of all people | Everyone deserves respect regardless of race, religion or background |
| Equality of men and women | Men and women have equal rights in work, marriage and education |
| Democracy and the rule of law | Laws are made by elected parliaments and apply to everyone equally |
| English as the national language | Learning English matters for belonging and taking part |
| Mutual respect and tolerance | Disagreements are settled by discussion and lawful means, never violence |
One phrase deserves special attention: "within the law". It appears again and again in Part 4, and it is the key to the trickiest questions. Freedoms in Australia are always described as existing within the law. If an answer describes an unlimited freedom, or a freedom used to harm someone, it is wrong.
How the questions are worded
History questions ask for facts. Values questions describe a situation and ask what is acceptable. Three patterns come up constantly.
The "within the law" trap
"In Australia, are people free to express their views?" The correct answer is not a plain "yes". It is "yes, within the law". Freedom of expression never extends to inciting violence. When one option carries that qualifier, pick it.
Culture versus law
"If a religious or cultural practice conflicts with Australian law, which takes priority?" Australian law, every time. The booklet is blunt about this: religious laws have no legal status here, and tradition does not excuse breaking the law. Any question that sets custom against the law is testing this one point.
The violence question
Some version of this appears in almost every candidate's test, so try it yourself. This is a real question from our practice bank:
Try it yourself
Is it acceptable to promote violence against another person or group of people in Australia?
Notice the shape of the wrong answers. Each one offers a condition under which violence or intimidation might be fine. There is no such condition. The answer consistent with freedom, respect, equality and the rule of law is always the correct one.
A plan that gets you to 5 out of 5
- Read Part 4 twice. It is short. Read it once for meaning, then again marking every sentence that contains "within the law".
- Drill the values chapter on its own. Our free Australian values chapter test uses only Part 4 questions, so weak spots show up fast. You want repeated perfect scores, not one lucky run.
- Sit full mock tests under the real rules. Every free mock test here scores the way the real exam does: 20 questions, 15 to pass, automatic fail if any values question is wrong. Practising without that rule builds confidence you have not earned.
- Review mistakes until you can explain them. A memorised answer breaks when the wording changes. An understood one does not. Practice by topic gives instant feedback and an explanation for every question, which is the fastest way to build that understanding.
Study one chapter at a time
Free 10-question tests for each testable chapter of Our Common Bond.
On test day, slow down whenever a question mentions freedom, religion, violence, equality or the law. You have 45 minutes for 20 questions and no prize for finishing early. Those five questions decide your result. Give them the extra thirty seconds each.
This site is an independent study resource, not a government service. Test rules can change, so confirm current requirements with the Department of Home Affairs.
Frequently asked questions
Every Australian citizenship test includes 5 questions drawn from Part 4 of the official booklet, Australian Citizenship - Our Common Bond. They cover values such as freedom, respect, equality, democracy, the rule of law, and English as the national language. You must answer all 5 correctly to pass, no matter how well you do on the other 15 questions.
Yes. To pass the Australian citizenship test you need at least 15 of 20 questions correct overall, and all 5 Australian values questions correct. There is no partial credit on the values questions - 4 out of 5 is a fail even with a perfect score elsewhere.
You fail that sitting of the test, even if you answered all other questions correctly. You can re-sit the test, and failing does not affect your permanent residency. Most people who fail on a values question pass comfortably on a later attempt after studying Part 4 of Our Common Bond.
Values questions are often scenario-based. For example - "Should people in Australia make an effort to learn English?" (Yes) or "In Australia, can you encourage violence against a person or group if you have been insulted?" (No, never). The safe pattern - answers consistent with freedom, respect, equality and the rule of law are correct.
All values questions come from Part 4 of Australian Citizenship - Our Common Bond, titled "Australian values". It is one of the four testable sections of the booklet, and the only section where every question must be answered correctly.
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