The Spanish test for naturalization, part by part.

What the test is

Article 19 of the Ley de Nacionalidad says an applicant must prove they speak Spanish, know the country’s history, and are integrated into the national culture. The Spanish test is how the first of those is proven. It is administered in person by SRE, on the same day as the history exam for people who take both.

parts

3

points in total

6

points to pass

5

exam everybody takes

1

It has three parts — a short interview, a reading, and a piece of writing — worth 6 points between them. To pass you need at least 5 points and to have answered the interview satisfactorily in Spanish. A high score on reading and writing does not rescue an interview you could not hold.

This is the exam nobody is exempt from. Refugees, minors and applicants over sixty are excused the history and culture exam under Article 15 of the Reglamento, and for them it is enough to show they speak Spanish — which means this test, and only this test. Who skips the history exam

Part one: the interview

A short conversation in Spanish with the examiner. Expect it to stay close to you and your situation rather than testing vocabulary: who you are, where you come from, how long you have lived in Mexico, what you do, why you are applying. It is a check that you can hold an ordinary conversation, not an oral exam on grammar.

The useful preparation is unglamorous: practise saying the true answers to those questions out loud, in Spanish, until they come without assembling them first. People who freeze here are usually not short of Spanish. They are short of practice at speaking it under pressure to someone official.

Part two: the reading

You read a passage and show that you understood it. Practise reading Spanish aloud at a normal pace and then saying what it was about in your own words — reading comprehension is being tested, not your accent.

Part three: the writing

A short piece of writing in Spanish, by hand. It is a test of ordinary written Spanish, not of style. Write simple, complete sentences you are sure of rather than long ones you are not, and leave a moment at the end to check accents and agreement.

How to prepare for it

• Speak every day, out loud, to a person. Reading and listening are not the same skill as answering a question about yourself while someone waits.
• Write by hand. If you only ever type Spanish, you have autocorrect doing your accents. The exam does not.
• Learn the vocabulary of the trámite itself. Constancia, domicilio, estancia, solicitud, comprobante. These words come up in the interview because they are what the interview is about.
• Do not translate in your head. The history exam is in Spanish too, and applicants who prepared in translation are the ones who lose on wording rather than on knowledge.

Mexico Ready keeps every practice question in Spanish for exactly this reason. The interface can be English; the questions are the ones you will meet. Try ten of them