Marcos Martini

The exam is a pain in the arse. I 'm in my 30’s, and I have lived most of my life in México. The exam is not difficult, but it is designed to not be passed, not because of its difficulty but because of its close margin in probability. For the test you must answer at least 8 out of 10 questions. So far I have failed twice the Exam, and I have been 2 and 1 questions short respectively, so this has depressed me a little. A bit more than year ago I was struggling with the decision about going through this citizenship process. I however prepared, and downloaded the old 100 question Study guide. I was happy ‘cause it took me between 5 to 7 minutes to answer it, I only had doubts about two questions, and even then I had the right suspicion about the correct answer. This made me feel confident, but it took me a bit more than a year to finally come to terms with the decision. I however was too late. It’s 2018 now and they changed the exam. This new exam is not difficult, but chances are that there might be things you won’t remember; at least maybe not at the exact same moment you are answering the test. And without an actual study guide, you might actually waste time studying something that probably won’t even be asked. I am very disappointed, I think I will no longer pursue the Mexican citizenship, but it does make me angry. I agree with the fact that anyone who applies should know the history, but not everything that Is asked is mentioned in the bibliographical references. From the 12 or so Links with bibliographies given, I only found 2 to be useful, the first one which is like a 500 page History book and the one from UNAM’s CCH which is like a summary of Mexican History used to teach High school students. The rest of the links have no useful information, at least not for any of the 2 tests I did. I remember most of the questions of the tests I did, so I will post them in the hopes that more people who have done the test will collaborate and share their questions. This in order to help others in need: Examen 1 1. ¿Cómo está constituido el poder judicial? Por la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación, el Tribunal Electoral, el Consejo de la Judicatura Federal, Juzgados de Distrito y los Tribunales Colegiados y Unitarios de Circuito. 2. ¿Qué tipo de Árbol es el de la Noche Triste? Ahuehuete 3. ¿Quién escribió La noche de Tlatelolco. Testimonios de historia oral? Elena Poniatowska (Fortunately I knew this one, but the answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 4. ¿Qué es la conspiración de Valladolid? Organizaron un movimiento clandestino que tenía como fin organizar una Junta Nacional Gubernativa que tomara el poder a nombre de Fernando VII luego de que éste entregara el poder a Napoleón 5. ¿Quién es el único arquitecto mexicano ganador del Pritzker? Luis Barragán (Fortunately I knew this one, but the answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 6. ¿Cuándo se inauguró el Ángel de la Independencia? 16 de septiembre de 1910 7. ¿Canción que se canta cuando alguien cumple años? La mañanitas (Everyone know this one, but obviously the answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 8. ¿Cuál es el nombre del ritual que consta de cuatro jóvenes que trepan por un mástil de 18 a 40 metros de alto y un quinto hombre, Sentado en la plataforma que remata el mástil, tocando una flauta y un tambor? Los Voladores de Papantla (Everyone know this one, but obviously the answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 9. ¿Qué ecosistema neutral se encuentra en el Golfo de México? El Sistema Arrecifal Veracruzano (the answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 10. ¿En cuántos años se cursa la educación primaria en México? 6 años Examen 2 1. ¿A quién representa la Cámara de Senadores? A las entidades federativas (los estados) 2. ¿Qué mexicano ganó el Premio Nobel de la Química? Mario Molina (Fortunately I knew this one, but the answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 3. ¿Qué significa el Nombre Cuauhtémoc? El águila que descendió 4. ¿Cuándo se inauguró el metro de la Ciudad de México? 4 de septiembre de 1969 (No average Mexican knows this, and knowing this doesn’t qualify you as a Mexican. This fact has to do only with people from Mexico City. My father knows this answer because when he was a young boy and visited Mexico City with my grandfather the Metro had just opened for the first time. The answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given)) 5. ¿Cuál fue la primera constitución del México Independiente? La Constitución de Apatzingán de 1814 (Funny thing about this tricky question, is that The first constitution Mexico had as an actual country was the one of 1824, which was written about three years after Mexico became fully independent in 1821. That is why I picked this option, which was marked wrong by the examiner. The reason given was that apparently the historians considered the 1814 one as the first official one for an independent Mexico… this question is not well drafted because Mexico started its fight for independence from Spain in 1810, a process that lasted 11 years. This means that when the Apatzingan Constitution was written when Mexico was not actually independent yet. Many sources on the internet actually consider the 1824 the actual first constitution, and 1814 one is just seen as a precursor but not the first official constitution.) 6. ¿Qué callejón localizado en Guanajuato es popular entre los mitos y leyendas de México? El Callejón del Beso. 7. ¿Autor mexicano que escribió Temporada de zopilotes: una historia narrativa sobre la Decena Trágica, sobre los generales porfirista que juraban fidelidad al presidente Madero conspiraban por las noches para dar un golpe de Estado? Paco Ignacio Taibo (Another question that no average citizen knows… I was between him and another author, but picked the other one instead, so I got it wrong) (The answer is not in any of the bibliographical references given) 8. ¿En qué año entro en vigor el Tratado de Libre Comercio? 1994 (I rembered this one because I moved to Mexico when I was a kid just before this happened. The average citizen doesn’t even know this… I know it because I have asked around) 9. ¿Cuál es el nombre del Primer Virrey de la Nueva España? Antonio de Mendoza y Pacheco (Probably at some point of my elementary school life I learned this fact, but I obviously forgot about it because I never got to use this fact in real life, and I never came across it again until this exam. I have asked around and the average citizen doesn’t even know or remember it) 10. 1. ¿Cuál es la Cultura Madre de Mesoamérica? Olmeca