What is no longer on the test
Everyone repeats that the handbook is from 2013, as though nothing had happened to it since. That is wrong. The publisher issues numbered reprints with lists of changes, and whole sections have been removed from the book — and with them, from the test. If you are studying from a free copy circulating online, you are learning things nobody will ask you about.
1. Two things removed entirely
The publisher includes a statement with current reprints. We quote it in the original, because it is the only document we know of that says outright what you will not be asked about.
„On 31 January 2020 the United Kingdom left the European Union (EU). Sections of the handbook… which refer to the UK being a member of the EU and its institutions, are out of date and have been removed from subsequent prints of the handbook."
„On 8 September 2022 Her Majesty the Queen sadly passed away. Sections of the handbook… which refer to Queen Elizabeth II and the Monarchy, are out of date and have been removed from subsequent prints of the handbook. You will not be asked any questions on this as part of the Home Office approved test based on the current (3rd) edition."
Plainly: EU membership, and the sections on Queen Elizabeth II and the Monarchy, have been removed and have dropped out of the test. The monarch is King Charles III. The change of monarch itself is not testable material.
2. “Not asked about the EU” is not the same as “no EU in the book”
The separate section on the EU and its institutions is gone — the European Parliament, MEPs, voting rights of EU citizens. Do not study that.
But the historical mentions remain. The history chapter still runs through the European Community and ends with the United Kingdom leaving the EU on 31 January 2020. We checked this in the current edition, on the page. The EU as a constitutional topic is gone; the EU as a historical event stayed.
3. Names that changed
- Wales: not “National Assembly for Wales” but the Senedd; not “Assembly members (AMs)” but Senedd members (SMs).
- The literary prize: Booker Prize, without “Man”.
- Twitter replaced by X.
- The National Citizens Service removed.
If your material still says “National Assembly for Wales”, you are holding an edition several reprints old — and that is a reason to distrust the rest of it too.
4. The most dangerous chapter: procedures
Chapter one — the test itself, the offices, the fees — has aged worst, because it describes institutions, and institutions change names and addresses.
| in old copies | in the current edition |
|---|---|
| UK Border Agency | Home Office |
| “about 60 test centres” | “There are over 30” |
| www.lifeintheuktest.gov.uk | www.gov.uk/life-in-the-uk-test |
The UK Border Agency has not existed since 2013. In the current edition that name does not appear once — we checked with the reader's full-text search.
5. How to tell in a minute whether your copy is old
Search for “Border Agency”. Any hit means your copy is old. The current edition does not contain the phrase at all.
Search for “Senedd”. No hits means your copy is old. The current edition uses the word many times.
Search for “31 January 2020”. The sentence about leaving the EU should be there. If it is missing, you are holding the first 2013 print.
6. The rule that still applies
And finally the thing that sounds contradictory next to all of the above, and matters most: on the test you answer as the handbook has it, even where it is no longer true.
The test examines one book. If you have lived here for years and know something looks different now, that knowledge will not help you in the exam room and can hurt you. We teach the handbook's answer — and say plainly where it parts company with reality, so you get the mark without being misled about the country you live in.
A course written from the current edition
Every question checked against a purchased, current edition of the handbook, page by page. Audio lectures in your own language, questions in English.
See the course