Study decks

The executive, legislative and judicial branches, who leads the government, how long a presidential term lasts and how the Supreme Court is organized.

The Senate and the Chamber of Deputies: whom each chamber represents, how many members they have, their terms and how the Constitution is amended.

The three levels of government, the municipality, the INE and federal elections, and the political parties that have governed Mexico.

Which are Mexico’s national symbols, what the three colours of the flag stand for and which is the national flower.

The eagle, the serpent, the nopal, the oak and laurel branches, and the legend of the founding of Tenochtitlan on Lake Texcoco.

Who wrote the National Anthem, when it became official, how it begins and what its best-known lines mean.

Human rights and non-discrimination, the multicultural nation, free secular public education, and equality between women and men.

Articles 5 to 13: freedom of work, speech, the press, petition, assembly and movement, the right to asylum and other guarantees.

Articles 30 to 38: who is Mexican, who is a citizen, their rights and duties, foreigners, and how nationality can be lost.

What SHCP, SAT, SRE, SEGOB, CNDH, INEGI and other government acronyms stand for, and what each body does.

IMSS, ISSSTE, INFONAVIT, PROFECO, PEMEX, CFE and CONAGUA: what service each institution provides and when some were founded.

The SEP, UNAM, IPN, UAM, INAH, CONALEP and other educational and cultural institutions, with their mottos and history.

The major periods of Mexican history, the pre-Hispanic periods, life in Mesoamerica, the Olmec mother culture and Tula.

Teotihuacan and its pyramids, Chichén Itzá and other Maya cities, the archaeological sites of each state and UNESCO World Heritage.

From Aztlán to the founding of Tenochtitlan in 1325, the Triple Alliance, the Templo Mayor, the Mexica and Maya gods, and what Mexico means.

The tlatoani, the altepetl, the calpulli, pipiltin and macehuales, the calmécac and telpochcalli schools, chinampas and Nezahualcóyotl.

Cortés’s arrival in 1519, Moctezuma, La Malinche, the Noche Triste, Cuitláhuac, Cuauhtémoc and the fall of Tenochtitlan in 1521.

Viceroys, the encomienda, the caste system, haciendas and peones, silver, the Manila galleon, the Royal Treasury and Bartolomé de las Casas.

The first printing press, the colleges and newspapers of New Spain, the intendancies, Nueva Vizcaya, the Acordada, Balbuena and Sor Juana.

The Valladolid conspiracy, La Corregidora Josefa Ortiz, Leona Vicario and the Grito de Dolores of 16 September 1810.

Miguel Hidalgo, Father of the Nation, Ignacio Allende and Juan Aldama, their execution in 1811 and the Constitution of Cádiz of 1812.

José María Morelos, the siege of Cuautla, the Sentimientos de la Nación, the Constitution of Apatzingán, Vicente Guerrero and Fray Servando.

The Plan of Iguala and the Three Guarantees, the Treaty of Córdoba, Iturbide and the First Empire, Guadalupe Victoria and the 1824 Constitution.

Santa Anna and Texas, the 1846–1848 war, the Niños Héroes of Chapultepec, the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo and the Plan of Ayutla.

Benito Juárez, the 1857 Constitution, the Reform Laws, the Reform War between liberals and conservatives, and Melchor Ocampo.

The Battle of Puebla and Cinco de Mayo, Zaragoza, Maximilian and the Second Empire, the Republic restored in 1867 and Lerdo de Tejada.

Porfirio Díaz and his plans against re-election, railways and modernization, repression and the Cananea strike of 1906.

20 November 1910, the Plan of San Luis, Francisco I. Madero, Pino Suárez and Victoriano Huerta’s coup in the Decena Trágica.

Emiliano Zapata and the Plan of Ayala, Pancho Villa and the Division of the North, Venustiano Carranza and the Plan of Guadalupe, and the adelitas.

The 1917 Constitution, Obregón, Calles and the Maximato, the Cristero War and José Vasconcelos at the Ministry of Public Education.

Lázaro Cárdenas and the 1938 oil expropriation, Ávila Camacho and the Second World War, and the government of Miguel Alemán.

Women’s suffrage in 1953, López Mateos, the Treaty of Tlatelolco, 2 October 1968, the Mexico City Metro and López Portillo’s presidency.

The 1985 earthquake, NAFTA and the Zapatista uprising of 1994, the democratic change of 2000 and the most recent presidents.

Scientists and inventors such as Mario Molina and González Camarena, the first Mexican astronaut and pioneering women such as Matilde Montoya.

Mexico’s size and population, its 32 federal entities, the countries and states it borders and its border cities.

The Río Bravo, the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean coasts, the main ports and what Mexico exports.

The Sierras Madre, the Volcanic Belt, Pico de Orizaba, Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl, the peninsulas and the Gulf of Mexico.

The Sea of Cortés, the Sumidero Canyon, the Cacahuamilpa Caves, Cerro de la Silla, nature reserves and endangered species.

The capitals and demonyms of Baja California, Baja California Sur, Sonora, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Nuevo León, Tamaulipas and more.

The capitals and demonyms of Jalisco, Colima, Michoacán, Nayarit, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí.

Mexico City and its past as the Federal District, and the capitals and demonyms of Hidalgo, the State of Mexico, Morelos, Tlaxcala and Puebla.

The capitals and demonyms of Guerrero, Oaxaca, Chiapas, Veracruz, Tabasco, Campeche, Yucatán and Quintana Roo.

The Pearl of the Bajío, the Windy Beauty, the Four Times Heroic, the Sultana of the North: the nicknames of Mexico’s cities.

How Paseo de la Reforma was laid out and its monuments: the Angel of Independence, the Diana Cazadora, El Caballito and the Estela de Luz.

The Zócalo, the National Palace, Bellas Artes, the Torre Latinoamericana, the Monument to the Revolution, Chapultepec Castle and Los Pinos.

What a Pueblo Mágico is and the ones that have come up on the exam: Bernal and its monolith, Tequila, Cholula, Izamal, Xilitla, Palenque and more.

The dates Mexico celebrates, from New Year’s Day to Three Kings’ Day: the night of the Grito, Revolution Day, 10 May and more.

The Day of the Dead, the Virgin of Guadalupe, the posadas, the Passion play of Iztapalapa and the Voladores de Papantla.

The jarabe tapatío, the Dance of the Little Old Men, the jarana and other regional dances, the Guelaguetza, the Cervantino and the Night of the Radishes.

Mariachi, son jarocho and La bamba, Las mañanitas, Las golondrinas, Cri-Cri and Juan Gabriel.

The muralists Rivera, Orozco and Siqueiros, Frida Kahlo, Posada and La Catrina, José María Velasco, Luis Barragán and the Ruptura generation.

Carlos Fuentes, Juan Rulfo, Octavio Paz, Rosario Castellanos, the novel of the Revolution, Tlatelolco in literature and the Cervantes Prize.

Early Mexican film, the Golden Age with Cantinflas, Pedro Infante and Jorge Negrete, Chespirito, the Ariel and the Oscar-winning directors.

Pozole, tamales, mole poblano and the seven moles of Oaxaca, chiles en nogada, cochinita pibil, sopa de lima and cabrito.

Garnachas, chalupas, memelas, panuchos, Mennonite cheese, escamoles and other insects eaten in Mexico, and the fonda.

Cajeta, buñuelos, jericalla, charamuscas, palanquetas, queso de tuna, soursop, and pulque, tequila and mezcal.

How many Indigenous languages Mexico has, the Nahua, the Maya and their achievements, the Zapotecs and Monte Albán, and the Totonacs of El Tajín.

The Purépecha of Michoacán, the Rarámuri of Chihuahua, the Chontal of Tabasco, and the Kickapoo, Tepehuan, Wixárika and Yaqui peoples.

Charrería, the 1968 Olympic Games, the World Cups held in Mexico, and athletes such as Soraya Jiménez, Julio César Chávez and Hugo Sánchez.

Words from Nahuatl, colloquial expressions, the market and the corner shop, city life and the Mexican women who have been Miss Universe.

All of Mexico’s Pueblos Mágicos, from Aculco to Zozocolco, with the state each one belongs to.

Tacos, soups, salsas, seafood, breakfasts, sweets, cheeses and drinks: the full list of Mexican cooking and where each dish comes from.

Avocado, mamey, pitaya, nance, prickly pear and other fruit eaten in Mexico.

La Minerva, El Pípila, the Faro del Comercio, Teatro Juárez, Cristo Rey and other monuments in the capital and the states.

Mixtec, Otomí, Tsotsil, Tseltal, Mazahua, Seri, Kumiai and many other Indigenous peoples, where they live and what their language is called.

Olympic medallists, footballers, baseball players, divers and archers who have brought sporting glory to Mexico.

The Mazatlán Carnival, the San Marcos Fair, Cumbre Tajín, the Balloon Festival, the Romería de Zapopan and other regional fiestas.

What each line of the chorus and first verse of the National Anthem means, word by word.

Due process, criminal justice, religious freedom, economic planning, land and water, monopolies and the suspension of rights.

Cacique, pochteca, tlacuilo, tameme, tianguis, tecpan and teocalli: words from pre-Hispanic Mexico that still turn up in books.

Day of the Dead, ofrendas and the alumbrada of Mixquic: a reading retold to practice the reading comprehension part of the naturalization exam.

The doomed love of Sac-Nicté and Hul-Kin at the Zací cenote in Valladolid: a Maya legend for the naturalization exam’s reading comprehension.

Quetzalcóatl turns into an ant to bring corn out of the mountains: an Aztec legend for the naturalization exam’s reading comprehension section.

Itzamná creates the Mayab and chooses the pheasant, the deer and the rattlesnake: a Maya legend for the exam’s reading comprehension section.

Popocatépetl and Iztaccíhuatl: the legend of the volcanoes, retold to practice the reading comprehension part of the Mexican naturalization exam.