A first-in-nation compulsory high school civics test was passed by Arizona’s Republican-controlled Legislature this week, requiring high school students to pass the equivalent of the U.S. citizenship test. The bill was supported by all of the 53 Republicans in Arizona’s House and Senate and 10 of its 27 Democrats.

Newly-elected Republican Governor Doug Ducey, who signed it into law Thursday, jockeyed for the bill to be the first to hit his desk. Now, in addition to passing core classes (like science, English, or math) to graduate, high school seniors in the 2016-17 school year will be required to pass the new test to graduate.

Some of the Arizona civics test questions include:

“We elect a U.S. Senator for how many years?”

“We elect a president for how many years?”

“What is the name of the president of the United States now?”

To pass, students must answer at least 60% of the questions correctly. The 100 questions were pulled from the test given to immigrants. 

Gov. Ducey cited a survey of Arizona public education “a few years ago” where, he said, 96 percent of Arizona primary school students did not pass. However, the Goldwater Institute survey Ducey referred to was, according to the Arizona Capitol Times, discredited five years ago. An official with Goldwater confirmed that the conservative public policy advocacy organization removed the survey from its website in 2009 because of questions about its accuracy.

Six years later, Republican Ducey used the disparaged survey as the basis for his first major initiative. Republicans generally abhor federal mandates in schools but, with the new requirements, are now embracing a test written by the federal government and using it as a graduation requirement.

Behind the bill was the Joe Foss Institute, an Arizona-based organization whose goal is to help make teachers more effective. The CEO and president is Frank Riggs, a former California congressman who placed last in Arizona’s most recent Republican gubernatorial primary election. He said the test is as “a common-sense thing to have a base line for everyone” and that the highest priority of secondary education is fundamental knowledge.

Arizona state senator Steve Farley, the assistant minority leader, disagreed, saying the bill did not deal with his state’s crisis in educational funding and that it rushed through the Legislature, introduced as an emergency measure and made into law in one day. “That’s not how a bill becomes law,” he said, noting that legislation needs to be carefully studied “and not be half-baked.”

Farley also pointed out the irony of political conservatives embracing a testing program formed from questions created by the federal government. He said the rush-job on the bill makes it more of a launch pad for political discussion “than a policy.”

Other questions in the test include:

“Name one branch of government.”

“What do we show loyalty to when we say the Pledge of Allegiance?”

Lori Roberts, a columnist for the Arizona Republic, suggested alternative questions “that actually stimulate thought rather than rote memorization.” Questions she would find more helpful include “what protections are afforded by the Fourth Amendment?” “why aren’t judges elected?” and whether the notion of a First Amendment zone is actually a violation of the First Amendment. Arizona, she chided, would henceforth be assured that its schools produced graduates who “will be able to name the first U.S. president.”

During the rushed debate over the testing bill, Farley pushed for an amendment requiring lawmakers to take the same test they wanted to see high school students pass. That amendment failed, he said.