How the questions, the marking and the dates are built

All pages and tools read two kinds of file: the question banks, and one parameter file holding the IRCC rules and fees as read on October 25, 2026. A pass mark, a fee or a day limit is never typed into a page; when IRCC changes one, a single edit to that file updates the whole site.

1. Writing the questions

The English bank has 150 questions spread over the ten chapters of Discover Canada: 15 on Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship, 15 on Who We Are, 15 on Canada's History, 15 on Modern Canada, 15 on How Canadians Govern Themselves, 15 on Federal Elections, 15 on The Justice System, 15 on Canadian Symbols, 15 on Canada's Economy, 15 on Canada's Regions. Each has one right answer, three wrong ones we wrote, an explanation and a pointer to the part of the guide that backs it. Discover Canada is Crown copyright and the Government of Canada's terms rule out commercial reproduction without permission, so we take facts from it, never its sentences and never its own study questions. Questions in French were drafted in French from the start rather than translated from this bank.

Two kinds of question are excluded: those whose answer is whoever holds an office right now, and those resting on facts that are no longer true. When the guide and today's law differ, the explanation says so.

2. Drawing and marking a mock test

A mock test has the shape of the real one: 20 questions, 45 minutes, pass at 15 correct answers (IRCC study page). Each draw is random across the whole bank but seeded, which means a shared link brings back the identical set. The timer starts at the first answer. A question left blank when time runs out is marked wrong, as an unanswered question on the real test would be. Practice sets take ten questions from one chapter and correct each answer at once.

3. Counting the 1,095 days

The date tool tries each day from today and stops at the first on which the count reaches 1,095 days in the 5 years before that day, with at least 730 days as a permanent resident (who can apply). Following the IRCC instructions on physical presence, the day you sign is not counted, only a day spent entirely outside Canada is an absence, and each day in Canada before permanent residence counts for half, up to 365 days. The tool does not count time in prison, on parole or on probation, nor Crown service abroad: if either applies to you, the official calculator in your IRCC account is the one to use.

When the total sits within five days of the limit, the result warns you: IRCC compares your count with your travel records, and one wrong date can change the outcome.

4. Fees

Fees are taken from the IRCC fee list, updated by IRCC on September 21, 2026. That list gives $653 for an adult, including the processing fee and the right of citizenship fee of $123; the $530 processing part is the difference between the two, worked out by us.

5. Automated checks

Each build runs tests: no question repeats an option, lacks a correct choice, an explanation or a source; a mock test has 20 questions; the half-day credit stops at 365 days; a departure and a return on consecutive days remove no day; fees add up. A monthly script re-reads the fee list and halts the update if an amount differs.

6. What the site does not do

• It does not assess prohibitions, criminal records or the validity of your PR status.
• It does not reproduce the official test or claim to.
• It sends nothing to IRCC: applications are made only in your IRCC account or on paper.

Method version: 2026-10-25. A figure looks wrong: contact.