The 5 themes
Living in French society: theme 5 revision
Work through sets from theme 5, the most practical, then review the everyday procedures and rules it asks about.
Independent site, not linked to the French Interior Ministry, the préfectures or the exam centres.
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| Practice set of 10 questions |
Knowledge questions: French Interior Ministry, Licence Ouverte 2.0, translated by us. Options, explanations and scenarios: Radif Partners. The real exam is in French only. Not the official exam.
Living in French society is the fifth and last theme of the French civic exam. It is the most practical one: it deals with everyday procedures and rules, split into four notions, settling and living in France, access to healthcare, working, and parental authority with school. On the day it carries only 4 of the 40 questions, one per notion: 1 on settling in, 1 on healthcare, 1 on work and 1 on school and parental authority. It has no scenario questions. For someone already living in France, many answers come from experience: emergency numbers, registering with France Travail, a written lease, declaring a birth. Mistakes mostly come from deadlines and numbers learnt roughly. Expats who arrived recently may not yet have met every procedure, which is where this theme helps beyond the exam. The tool above draws ten-question sets from this theme, out of the 61 in our bank, and marks each answer with the rule and the official sheet; the small tool shows the split. The real exam is in French only.
How many questions on this theme?
Questions in the exam
4 / 40
| Settling and living | 1 |
| Healthcare | 1 |
| Working | 1 |
| Parental authority, school | 1 |
Answers, dates and costs by Radif Partners · Editorial policy · Method
Settling and living in France
This notion covers civil status, housing, paperwork and neighbourhood life. The questions check that you know a resident's basic obligations.
- "When must you register your child's birth with the town hall registry office?" Answer: Within 5 days of the birth. Registering a birth is compulsory within 5 days of delivery, at the town hall of the place of birth. It can be done by the father, the mother or someone who attended the birth.
- "A tenancy agreement (bail) is valid if it is:" Answer: written and signed by the tenant and the landlord. A residential tenancy agreement is a written contract between the landlord and the tenant. It specifies the rent, the duration and each party's obligations, and must be signed by both.
Access to healthcare
Emergency numbers, healthcare cover, vaccinations, medical confidentiality: the notion mixes public health and patients' rights.
- "Which emergency number calls the SAMU (emergency medical service)?" Answer: 15. 15 reaches the SAMU for medical emergencies. 17 calls the police, 18 the fire brigade and 115 the emergency shelter service. 112 works throughout the European Union.
Remember too that access to care rests on stable, legal residence, and that medical confidentiality protects the patient's information, including from their family.
Working
This notion covers job hunting, contracts and payslips, equality at work, the right to strike and the ban on undeclared work.
- "What is the first step to take when looking for a job?" Answer: Register with France Travail (the public employment service). France Travail is the public body that supports jobseekers. A foreign national with legal residence and no job must register there to get help finding work or training.
The recurring trap presents an informal arrangement as acceptable: "paid in cash", "no contract to start with". The right answer always comes back to the duty to declare work and the social rights that depend on it.
Parental authority and school
- "In the event of divorce, who exercises parental authority?" Answer: Both parents, as a general rule. Divorce does not change parental authority: in principle both parents continue to exercise it jointly, wherever the child lives. A judge can give it to one parent if the child's interests require it.
- "Parental authority includes the obligation:" Answer: to ensure the child's education and protection.
Two ideas dominate: both parents share parental authority, and schooling is compulsory for every child, girls and boys alike, with no religious exception.
Landmarks to memorise
| Notion | Frequent landmark | Usual trap |
|---|---|---|
| Settling in | declaring a birth at the town hall within a short deadline | mixing up town hall and préfecture |
| Healthcare | 15 for the SAMU | swapping the emergency numbers |
| Work | registering with France Travail to look for a job | thinking undeclared work is tolerated |
| School | compulsory schooling, shared parental authority | thinking divorce removes one parent's authority |
How to work on this theme
With one question per notion, it does not need as much time as principles or rights and duties. Two or three sets in the tool, a look at your mistakes and the matching civic training sheets are often enough. Keep it for days when time is short: a ten-question set takes a few minutes.
It extends rights and duties, which covers the same subjects from the angle of freedoms and obligations, and matches the concerns of people applying for a first multi-year permit, for whom these procedures are still recent.