The 12 scenario questions of the civic exam: the only questions that are not published

28 questions published, 12 that are not

The civic exam has 40 questions, and the Ministry of the Interior specifies how they are broken down in its general information on the civic exam: 28 knowledge questions and 12 situational questions.

The first 28 are public. The ministry publishes the list, word for word, for the CSP category and for the CR category. The other 12 are not: at the top of these same lists, it writes that the scenario questions “are not made public”.

What a scenario question really tests

A knowledge question asks: “what is the motto of the French Republic?”. A scenario question asks: “you are in this situation, what do you do?” or “what are you allowed to do?”. The first tests memory, the second tests application.

This makes sense given the text. Theorder of 10 October 2025 sets a syllabus in five areas, the last of which is called “living in French society”: it is not a list of facts, it is an ability to behave according to principles. It cannot be assessed by asking for a date.

The five areas, read as situations

• Principles and values of the Republic → a situation where secularism, equality or freedom of expression is at stake.
• Institutional and political system → a situation where you need to know who to contact: the town hall, the prefecture, a court, an elected official.
• Rights and duties → a situation where you suffer or witness a breach: discrimination, failure to meet an obligation.
• History, geography and culture → the most factual area, and therefore the least represented in scenario questions.
• Living in French society → the heart of this exercise: school, health, work, housing, neighbours, public services.

The topic sheets published by the Ministry of the Interior follow exactly this breakdown. They are the revision material closest to what the scenario questions ask.

What a scenario question looks like

Example 1, “rights and duties” area

“A landlord refuses to rent you a home because of your origin. What can you do?”

• A. Nothing: a landlord is free to choose their tenant.
• B. Report discrimination, which is prohibited by law.
• C. Offer a higher rent.
• D. Ask the town hall to give you this home.

What is assessed is not detailed legal knowledge, but a principle : discrimination is prohibited, including in access to housing, and there are ways to report it (see the official government information on housing discrimination). Option A is the classic trap: it describes a real freedom (choosing a tenant) and infers from it a right that does not exist (choosing on the basis of origin).

Example 2, “living in French society” area

“Your 13-year-old daughter tells you she no longer wants to go to PE lessons. What must you do?”

• A. Excuse her, it is your decision as a parent.
• B. Send her: education is compulsory and sport is part of the curriculum.
• C. Ask the head teacher for a permanent exemption.
• D. Change school.

Same mechanism: the question does not ask you to recite the law on compulsory education, it asks you to know what takes priority between a personal preference and a collective obligation. This is the key to almost all scenario questions.

The method: three questions to ask yourself, in this order

Since you cannot learn them, you need a way of reasoning that works for any of them. This one comes down to three questions, and it deals with the vast majority of cases:

1. 1Which principle is at stake? Equality, secularism, freedom, respect for the law, compulsory schooling, solidarity. A scenario question always puts a principle to the test, naming it usually eliminates two options out of four.
2. 2Does the answer respect the law AND the rights of others? An option that suits the person but harms someone else is wrong, even if it seems practical.
3. 3Is there a competent institution? Town hall, prefecture, school, court, labour inspectorate, Defender of Rights. When an option names the right institution, it is often the answer, and the options “do nothing” or “sort it out alone” are almost always wrong.

The three reflexes that lose you points

• Answering what you would really do. The question is not about your habits, but about what the law and republican principles provide. The two can differ, and it is the second that is marked.
• Choosing the most conciliatory answer. “Settle it amicably” is not always the right answer: when a right is at stake, the right answer is to assert it.
• Confusing freedom with power. This is the trap in example 1. A real freedom does not allow everything: it stops where a protected right begins.

Where to revise: the documents published by the State

The scenario questions cannot be learnt by heart, but they can be worked on, by reading the documents that set out the principles they are drawn from. All of them are published by the State and open to everyone:

• The ministry’s topic sheets, published by the Ministry of the Interior. The five areas of the syllabus, in the order of the syllabus.
• The Citizen’s Booklet, for the naturalisation category, published by the Directorate-General for Foreigners in France. Only download it from the Ministry of the Interior, never from a third-party website.
• The official lists of knowledge questions (CSP and CR categories): they do not cover scenario questions, but they reveal the topics the ministry emphasises, and scenario questions draw on the same topics.

The ministry itself also states that consulting its teaching materials is not a condition for passing the exam: they are resources, not a compulsory step. For the full format of the exam, see our article on how it works ; for the topics and sample knowledge questions, our guide “The civic exam questions”.