Answers for Practice Test 1, Social Studies

Answers and Explanations

D. They all exchanged products. England, Africa, and the West Indies all traded products: The West Indies traded molasses, sugar, and slaves with England for food and wood; England (via the New England colonies) then made the molasses and sugar into rum and traded it with Africa for more slaves. But these areas did not all have the same commodities to trade; each had its own strengths.
C. purchase of slaves. Rum was used to purchase slaves for the colonies. The other answer choices — colonial farms, milling of lumber, and molasses and sugar — were all patterns of commerce but weren’t uses of rum.
A. They built the ships. Ships were built in the colonies to increase Atlantic trade. Sewing sails, naval stores, milled lumber, and other crafts were colonial products that shipbuilding stimulated. However, ship building itself was the primary reason the colonies were important to the Atlantic trade — the other choices were secondary.
D. They provided raw materials. The colonies provided raw materials for British manufacturing industries. According to the passage, “Mercantile theory encouraged the colonies to provide raw materials for England’s industrializing economy….” The British government blocked exports of finished goods from the colonies.
C. hats. The export of hats — a finished good — from the colonies was prohibited because it threatened British manufacturing. Coal and lumber were raw materials, which didn’t threaten English manufacturing. Even pig iron needed further manufacturing to sell, so it was allowed.
B. failing to pass laws. According to the first paragraph of the passage, the king neglected the colonies in a number of ways. Of the ways listed here, only failing to pass laws (ones that would alleviate grievances) is correct. Although the other choices are grievances, they can’t be alleviated until the appropriate laws are passed.
D. He made meeting places unusual, distant, and uncomfortable in order to fatigue them into compliance. According to the third paragraph of the passage, the charge against the king clearly states that he tries to force compliance by forcing his legislative bodies to meet in uncomfortable and far-off places in an effort to wear them down and make them more agreeable to his wishes.
A. He dissolved representative houses. According to the fourth paragraph of the passage, the king dissolved the representative houses because they opposed his attacks on the rights of the people.
D. discouraged people from settling. The sixth paragraph of the passage says, “He has endeavored to prevent the population of these states.” In other words, he has discouraged newcomers from settling.
C. He refused to enact certain laws. The seventh paragraph of the passage states that the king didn’t give his approval to laws that would’ve created a local judicial system.
an independent military. The king made sure the military was independent from the colonists (last paragraph). This independence meant the colonists didn’t have any authority over when to hire or fire soldiers, how large the military was, or who the officers were. Only the king made those kinds of decisions.
D. Insufficient information is provided. Although both Choices (A) and (B) are potentially correct, nothing in the map supports those statements. Choice (C) is simply speculation and, therefore, doesn’t apply. The only option left is Choice (D).
C. 400,000. You’re asked for an approximate answer. First, find that the range of the male population is between 43.2 and 48.9 percent. So using an average of 47 percent, there are about 2.6 million males. That means that there are some 3 million females, for a surplus of about 400,000 females. Because all the numbers are approximate, you can round off your answer. Regardless, the only choice that comes close is Choice (C).
white male. Based on the table, the group with the highest income for full-time employment for the year is white male.
B. Female, American Indian and Alaskan Native. Based on the chart, the lowest full-time earners are American Indians and Alaskan native females.
D. He could not. The table doesn’t list information for people under the age of 16. That is shown in the subheading of the chart title.
C. liberty and equality. As stated in the first two sentences of the passage, the issues of prime importance in the Civil War were liberty and equality. Happiness and friendship, safety and security, and peace and prosperity aren’t the best answers.
C. on a battlefield. You know from the passage that President Lincoln was delivering his speech on a battlefield at Gettysburg. This fact rules out every answer choice except on a battlefield and on the radio (he could’ve recorded his speech, and it could’ve been broadcasted by radio at the battlefield). However, Lincoln gave this speech in 1863, and radios (or audio recorders for that matter) hadn’t yet been invented.
D. People around the world will not remember the speech. Lincoln was saying that the world would remember the soldiers who died but wouldn’t remember his speech. (He was wrong, given that the Gettysburg Address is one of the most famous speeches in American history.)
burial ground. Some of the battlefield was to become a burial ground for the fallen.
B. those who fought there. The ground was hallowed by those who fought there. Lincoln doesn’t believe the people involved in the dedication of the battlefield can make the place holy or important; only the people who fought on the battlefield can do so.
C. time. The word years follows four score and seven, so you can assume that phrase relates to time. (By the way, a score is 20 years, so four score and seven is 87 years.)
Serbia. Archduke Ferdinand was assassinated by a Serbian nationalist, so the correct answer is Serbia.
B. demanding indemnities. Austria demanded indemnities in response to the assassination. This answer comes directly from the passage.
C. Germany and France. Germany and France weren’t allies in the war. Although the list of allies is rather confusing, the passage does sum up who was on which side.
A. Germany invaded Belgium. You know that Great Britain entered the war when Germany invaded Belgium from the sentence that states, “Great Britain entered the war on August 4, following Germany’s invasion of neutral Belgium.”
C. Germany. Germany was not an Allied power. About halfway through the passage is a list of the Central powers (on one side of the war) and the Allied powers (on the other side).
B, D, C, A (Germany declares war on Russia; Germany invades Belgium; Great Britain declares war on Germany; Italy enters on the Allied side). In this sequence, Germany declared war on Russia and then invaded Belgium. Great Britain declared war on Germany because it invaded Belgium. Italy didn’t enter into the war on the Allied side until 1915.
B. inspiring teacher. In the cartoon, Barack Obama is portrayed in front of a chalkboard in a classroom setting. Most of the students are seen as receptive to his role as an inspiring teacher. The other choices — comedian, disciplinarian, or fashion model — don’t go with the cartoon.
D. issues that can be solved. Most of the young people are portrayed as smiling students. They each represent an issue Obama must face, some more obvious than others. They’re not happy voters, nor is there any indication that they represent the public in general. Although they may represent a bright future, there are also problems, so Choice (D) is the most logical answer. The smiling faces reinforce the idea that these issues can be solved.
A. These issues are very important but often overlooked. Each of the students in the cartoon represents a different problem facing America, but the issue of tensions with Iran and Iraq are always in the background and potentially a much larger problem for the president. The smiling faces suggest that the problems attached to them can be solved. But the issues of Iran and Iraq must also be solved, and the suggestion in the cartoon is that they’re just waiting to become major.
D. all of the above. All of the above is the only correct choice because each of the students represents one of the problems facing America.
34.6%. According to the table, the United States produced 34.6 percent of the soybean output that year. It’s the third item down on the last column of the table.
B. most of it. Production that year was 18.1 million bales. Exports amounted to 15.5 million bales. That is just over 85 percent. The best match among the choices is most of it.
A. increased. According to the table, center section, corn exports increased from 76.9 to 90.6 metric tons.
480 pounds. The explanatory notes under the table give the answer: 480 pounds. On tables and charts, it’s important to read the fine print — the explanatory notes, legends, and keys — to make sure you have a complete understanding of the content.
B. value of gold. The first item on the list states “gold standard for currency adopted.” That means that the value of the American dollar was based on the value of gold.
A. It was the trigger. The Great Depression was caused by a variety of issues, but the immediate cause, the trigger, was the crash of the stock market. The other answers are wrong. Although Choice (B) says that problems had been building, the crash started the panic that resulted in the Great Depression. It wasn’t coincidence nor did the crash delay the Depression.
D. Citizens had to take all their gold to government offices. U.S. citizens had to take all their gold to U.S. offices and not keep any in their own homes. The timeline and graph don’t tell you why they had to do so, just that they did. Turn in is the key phrase here.
1973. The U.S. currency was removed from the gold standard in 1973.
C. The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan. The best answer is that gold reached a historic high when the Soviets invaded Afghanistan. You have to read the timeline to answer this question.
A. Location. Meteorologists call these storms hurricanes in the Atlantic and northeast Pacific and cyclones in the eastern Pacific and Indian Ocean. There is no difference between these storms other than location. Both hurricanes and cyclones are cyclonic storms, and both may bring flooding and heavy rains. A cyclone is not a tornado.
D. Choices (A) and (B). The extreme drought conditions in Australia led to both crop failures and the need to sell off far more sheep than usual. Both represent financial losses. Therefore, Choices (A) and (B) are correct. Although Choice (C) may be true, no information offered supports the idea that crop insurance exists for these farmers.
A. It reinforces the idea of climate change and global warming. Because of unseasonably warm weather, locusts were found in Denmark. Locusts are drawn to warm weather. The fact that Denmark, a northern European country, is warm enough to allow locusts to survive means that the local climate must be warming. Although the newscast doesn’t say so, in the context of all the other information presented, this fact supports the argument for climate change. You must interpret the information to arrive at the correct conclusion.
C. It was limited because of pre-war budget cuts. The efforts against sabotage, Choice (A), and psychological warfare, Choice (D), weren’t part of foreign intelligence gathering and are thus wrong. Choice (B) is also domestic intelligence. The foreign intelligence work was limited because of budget issues. The text states at the end of the first paragraph that foreign intelligence “did not aid the cause very much.”
B. Frederick Douglass’ main point is that expecting enslaved people to celebrate the Fourth of July, a day honoring independence, freedom from tyranny, and liberty, is cruel and hypocritical.
D. Douglass asks the question, “What, to the American slave, is your 4th of July?” to point out that the ideal of “liberty and freedom for all” isn’t the reality of life for slaves.
B. The Bill of Rights is comprised of the first ten amendments to the Constitution.
B. The three branches of the U.S. government are the executive, legislative, and judicial branches. There is no environmental branch of government although there is a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
A. The excerpt from the Declaration of Sentiments, written during the Seneca Fall Convention in 1848, makes a direct reference to the words of the Declaration of Independence. It’s a direct quote from the second paragraph of the Declaration of Independence.

Answers for Practice Test 1, Social Studies

Answers and Explanations

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