Failed the Australian citizenship test? What happens next

What the Department's pages say

Three things, and they are the solid ground. There is no extra cost to sit the citizenship test, because the application fee you paid includes it. If you pass, the Department continues to process your application. And whatever the outcome, the decision on the application comes in writing, and if it is a refusal the letter gives the reasons, where to lodge a request for a review, and the time limits for doing so.

Nothing on those pages describes a limit on attempts, a waiting period between them, or a fee for a later sitting. The absence is worth knowing, because a good deal of what is written elsewhere is presented as if it were official.

What is reported, and where it comes from

Vendor guides state, almost word for word across sites, that an application may be refused if you do not pass after three test appointments, and that the Department books the next appointment for you. The ABC, in October 2024, described a charge after a third failed attempt and profiled an applicant preparing for a sixth sitting, which suggests that whatever the rule is, three is not a hard stop. None of this appears on the Department's pages as of September 2026. Treat it as reported, plan as if three attempts were all you had, and read your own invitation letter, which is the document that applies to you.

How common failing is

More common than it was. The ABC's report cited Department figures showing that about 94% of applicants passed at their first attempt before the values questions were introduced in November 2020, and about 84% in 2023–24, with those who failed sitting the test an average of four extra times. Other reporting of Senate data put the pass rate per sitting in the mid-60s during 2022 and 2023. The same report gave the figure that matters for morale: about 96% of applicants pass in the end.

The rise in fails tracks the values condition. Five questions that must all be right will fail a well-read applicant who was careless once, and that is the most likely reason a person who knew the material walked out with a fail.

Find out which condition you failed

There are two ways to fail: fewer than 15 correct, or one or more values questions wrong. They need different preparation. A low overall score means the facts in Parts 1 to 3 need more time, and the government part is the usual gap. A values fail with a high score means Part 4 needs reading again, slowly, with attention to the shape of a wrong option. The app's mocks report the two conditions separately for exactly this reason, and a mock that shows 90% and a fail is telling you which page to open.

Make the next attempt the last

Use the wait. Reports put the gap before a second appointment at anywhere from a few weeks to a couple of months depending on the office, and the Department's own percentiles show decisions on most applications inside six months, so there is time for a full second preparation rather than a nervous one. Read Part 4 twice, work through the part that cost you marks, and sit timed mocks until three in a row are at 85% or better with the values clean.

Then do the things the first attempt may have skipped: the Department's practice test for the interface, an original photo ID in the bag the night before, and nothing left blank on the screen. A fail is a delay of weeks in a process the Department measures in months. It is not the end of the application, and for most people it is not repeated.