The short answer
Yes, several cantons publish their citizenship test questions as PDFs, usually as past test series or as a question catalogue with answers. There is no national PDF, because there is no national test: each canton, and in some places each municipality, decides the format. The official files show you what the questions look like and how many there are. What they do not do is explain the answers, and most of them are a few years old. Below is every official file we could verify as of September 2026, canton by canton, followed by what to do with them.
Cantons with an official question file
Bern runs a written test of 48 questions in 90 minutes and publishes past series on its naturalisation test page, in German and French. These are the closest thing to real exam papers you will find anywhere in Switzerland.
Aargau publishes the handbook on ordinary naturalisation; its appendix 4 lists suggested topics and sample questions for the naturalisation interview, updated 30 June 2026. The municipalities' association also offers an online practice test.
Lucerne publishes a question-and-answer sheet on knowledge of Switzerland for the simplified procedure. Answers included, explanations not.
City of Zurich publishes a study brochure for the basic knowledge test (2024), which is a course text rather than a question list.
Vaud describes its knowledge test and offers an official practice tool: 48 random questions under exam conditions, drawn from 160 questions on history, geography, institutions and society. Several communes circulate the multiple-choice sheet with answers as a PDF.
Geneva groups its material under Connaître la Suisse et Genève.
Valais publishes its naturalisation questionnaire with answers (2021).
Neuchâtel publishes a questionnaire on knowledge of Switzerland with answers, December 2024 edition.
Fribourg collects its preparation documents on one page.
Cantons without a question PDF
Most German-speaking cantons publish a topic list, a brochure or nothing at all, and let the municipality run the interview or test. Zurich as a canton, Basel-Stadt, St. Gallen and Thurgau fall into this group; the basic knowledge test in the canton of Zurich has an official course text but no released question set. For Ticino we found no official question file at all. If your canton is not in the list above, the canton overview tells you what is tested and by whom, and the canton edition of the handbook supplies the local material.
What the official PDFs do not do
Three gaps show up in every file. First, no explanations: you learn that answer C is right, not why, so a reworded question on the same topic catches you out. Second, age: the Bern series date from 2021 and 2022, the Valais questionnaire from 2021, and figures such as fees, retirement age or the number of municipalities have moved since. Third, scope: the PDFs cover the written test, not the interview, and rarely the canton chapter in any depth. Treat them as a mirror of the format, not as a syllabus.
How to use a PDF properly
Print it and sit the whole series once under exam conditions: 48 questions, 90 minutes, no notes. Mark every question you guessed, even the ones you got right. Those topics are your reading list. Then learn the topic, not the answer: if you guessed the Ständemehr question, read the chapter on direct democracy until you could explain it to a friend. Come back to the same PDF two weeks later. If your score does not move on the questions you had marked, you memorised; if it does, you learned. The 8-week study plan builds this loop into a calendar.
Where the handbook comes in
The handbook was written for the gap the PDFs leave open. Its 525 practice questions come with the reasoning behind every answer, the material is dated 2026, and the canton edition adds a Part III with your canton's lessons, its own practice questions and the procedural facts. Use the official PDF of your canton to check the format, and the handbook to make sure a reworded question does not stop you.
Everything in one book
See the handbook