But would-be Aussies will still be quizzed on cricketing icon Sir Donald Bradman because he helps explain the nation's love of the sport, he said.

Announcing the review in Canberra on Tuesday, Mr Evans said 'a range of concerns' had been raised about the 20-question test, which was introduced by the previous conservative government on Oct 1.

He said the centre-left Labor government's review, which will begin in April, would examine the appropriateness of the multiple-choice test designed to demonstrate Australian values, traditions and history.

'Labor's committed to the test, we think it's an important thing. It's a question of whether people should be failing the test on sports trivia,' he said.

Although generally well accepted by migrants, the exam appeared to focus too heavily on sporting heroes of the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, he said.

'Would you feel that you had failed to understand the virtues and responsibilities of being an Australian citizen if you got an answer wrong about Walter Lindrum,' he said in reference to a billiards player who died almost half a century ago.

'Seems to me that's not a basis on which we ought to decide someone not becoming an Australian citizen.'

But he said a question about Australia's greatest cricketer of the 1930s - Sir Donald Bradman or The Don - would not be dropped.

'We all love The Don,' he said. 'I have no problem with The Don. I think The Don is a reasonable thing to put in any understanding of Australia, its love of cricket.'

Mr Evans revealed that the test had a pass rate of 93 per cent in its first three months, with South Africans, Indians and Filipinos scoring the highest results.

He said most responses to the test were positive, but community groups had complained that some migrants, particularly those in the humanitarian intake, were scared by the exam. -- AFP