Social Studies Diagnostic Test
The First Inhabitants of the Western Hemisphere
In telling the history of the United States and also of the nations of the Western Hemisphere in general, historians have wrestled with the problem of what to call the hemisphere’s first inhabitants. Under the mistaken impression he had reached the “Indies,” explorer Christopher Columbus called the people he met “Indians.” This was an error in identification that has persisted for more than five hundred years, for the inhabitants of North and South America had no collective name by which they called themselves.
Historians, anthropologists, and political activists have offered various names, none fully satisfactory. Anthropologists have used “aborigine,” but the term suggests a primitive level of existence inconsistent with the cultural level of many tribes. Another term, “Amerindian,” which combines Columbus’s error with the name of another Italian explorer, Amerigo Vespucci (whose name was the source of “America”), lacks any historical context. Since the 1960s, “Native American” has come into popular favor, though some activists prefer “American Indian.” In the absence of a truly representative term, descriptive references such as “native peoples” or “indigenous peoples,” though vague, avoid European influence. In recent years, some argument has developed over whether to refer to tribes in the singular or plural — Apache or Apaches — with supporters on both sides demanding political correctness.
1. Why was the term Amerindian not accepted by historians and others?
(A) It still contains Columbus’s India error.
(B) Native Americans rejected it.
(C) It ignored Columbus’s role.
(D) It had no connection with native people.
2. Why was the term aborigine rejected?
(A) It did not encompass all native people.
(B) Political activists were opposed.
(C) It incorrectly suggested all native people were primitives.
(D) The term First Nations was a better fit.
3. The French, British, Germans, and others all agree to call each other “Europeans.” Why is finding a collective name for Native Americans so difficult?
(A) There was no collective name for all native people.
(B) Native people prefer tribal names.
(C) Many of the options have a European influence.
(D) Historians and anthropologists can’t agree.
Starting in the 1470s, Columbus and his brother began making the rounds of European capitals, looking for ships and financial backing for his idea. His demands were exorbitant. In return for his services, Columbus wanted the title of Admiral of the Oceans, 10 percent of all the loot he found, and the ability to pass governorship of every country he discovered to his heirs.
The rulers of England and France said no thanks, as did some of the city-states that made up Italy. The king of Portugal also told him to take a hike. So in 1486, Columbus went to Spain. Queen Isabella listened to his pitch, and she, like the other European rulers, said no. But she did appoint a commission to look into the idea and decided to put Columbus on the payroll in the meantime.
The meantime stretched out for six years. Finally, convinced she wasn’t really risking much because chances were that he wouldn’t return, Isabella gave her approval in January 1492. Columbus was on his way. Partly because of error and partly because of wishful thinking, Columbus estimated the distance to the Indies at approximately 2,500 miles, which was about 7,500 miles short. But after a voyage of about five weeks, he and his crews, totaling 90 men, did find land at around 2 a.m. on October 12, 1492.
It was an island in the Bahamas, which he called San Salvador. The timing of the discovery was good; it came even as the crews of the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria were muttering about a mutiny.
4. By how much was Columbus’s estimate of the distance to the Indies wrong?
(A) He overestimated by a third.
(B) He underestimated by more than half.
(C) He was almost completely correct.
(D) He used Vespucci’s estimate.
5. Why did Isabella of Spain finally agree to sponsor Columbus’s exploration?
(A) The British were competing with Spain for new colonies.
(B) He was already on the payroll anyway.
(C) She thought she would never have to honor Columbus’s contract.
(D) She was worried Portugal might back him.
6. In what way was the timing of landfall lucky for Columbus?
(A) He had no other way to raise money.
(B) His crew was ready to mutiny.
(C) Isabella was impatient for his return.
(D) All of the above.
One of the earliest cultures to emerge in what’s now the United States was the Anasazi. The group’s name comes from a Navajo word that has been translated to mean “ancient people” or “ancient enemies.” Although they were around the southwestern United States for hundreds of years, they flourished from about AD 1100 to 1300.
At their peak, the Anasazi built adobe-walled towns in nearly inaccessible areas, which made the communities easy to defend. The towns featured apartment houses, community courts, and buildings for religious ceremonies. The Anasazi made highly artistic pottery and tightly woven baskets. The baskets were so good that the culture is sometimes referred to as the Basket Makers.
Because of the region’s arid conditions, the Anasazi people couldn’t support a large population and were never numerous. But just why their culture died out so suddenly around the beginning of the 14th century is a puzzle to archaeologists. One theory is that a prolonged drought simply made life unsustainable in the region. A more controversial theory is that marauding Indians from Mexico conquered the Anasazi or drove them off. However the Anasazi’s demise came about, their culture was developed enough to continue, in many ways unchanged, and is evident in some of the Southwest tribes of today….
Arid conditions made life tougher for tribes in the Southwest. Tribes such as the Apache were foragers, scrounging for everything from bison to grasshoppers, while tribes such as the Hopi scratched out an existence as farmers. In what’s now California, most of the scores of different tribes were pretty laid-back. They lived in villages, as hunters and gatherers.
7. Why is the disappearance of the Anasazi mysterious?
(A) They had a highly developed culture.
(B) They were ancient enemies of the Navajo.
(C) Archaeologists have not yet found a clear explanation.
(D) All of the above.
8. What suggests that the Anasazi were attacked by hostile tribes from time to time?
(A) Their towns had high, easily-defended walls.
(B) They lived in that area for at least 200 years.
(C) There were many competing tribes in the area.
(D) All of the above.
9. What evidence supports the statement that the tribes in what is now California were “pretty laid-back”?
(A) No evidence supports that claim.
(B) They lived as hunters and gatherers.
(C) They were not farmers.
(D) It was California.
Illustration courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau
10. Which state shows the greatest gains in seats in the House of Representatives?
(A) Washington (WA)
(B) New York (NY)
(C) Oklahoma (OK)
(D) Texas (TX)
11. Which state lost the most representatives?
(A) Washington (WA)
(B) New York (NY)
(C) Oklahoma (OK)
(D) Texas (TX)
12. What is the underlying population shift leading to this reapportionment of seats?
(A) The western population is growing compared to the rest of the country.
(B) The eastern population is growing compared to the rest of the country.
(C) The states around the Great Lakes are losing population compared to the rest of the country.
(D) Texas has had a significant increase in population.
Illustration courtesy of U.S. Census Bureau
13. Which group shows the fastest increase in college enrollment?
(A) Male 14–24
(B) Female 14–24
(C) Male 35+
(D) Female 25–34
14. What was the approximate overall enrollment of men 14–24 in college in 2012?
(A) 5,800
(B) 5,800,000
(C) 5,000,000
(D) 6,800,000
An experienced and courageous adventurer, [John] Smith was also a shameless self-promoter and a world-class liar, with a knack for getting into trouble. On the voyage over, for example, he was charged with mutiny, although he was eventually acquitted.
But whatever his faults, Smith was both gutsy and diplomatic. He managed to make friends with Powhatan, the chief of the local Native Americans, and the tribe provided the colonists with enough food to hold on. Smith provided much-needed leadership, declaring, “He that will not work neither shall he eat.” Without Smith, the colony may not have survived.
15. What statement in this passage suggests a problem with colonists who were not working hard enough?
(A) Smith had a penchant for trouble.
(B) He needed the help of Powhatan, a chief of the local tribe.
(C) He had to institute a rule requiring work from everyone who wanted to eat.
(D) The text states that without Smith the colony might not have survived.
For most of human history, people didn’t manage to squeeze much out of their limited resources. Standards of living were quite low, and people lived poor, short, and rather painful lives. Consider the following facts, which didn’t change until just a few centuries ago:
- Life expectancy at birth was about 25 years.
- More than 30 percent of newborns never made it to their 5th birthdays.
- A woman had a one in ten chance of dying every time she gave birth.
- Most people had personal experience with horrible diseases and/or starvation.
- The standard of living was low and stayed low, generation after generation. Except for the nobles, everybody lived at or near subsistence, century after century.
16. Many people hundreds of years ago lived just as long as people today. If that is so, why is the life expectancy shown in the passage so low?
(A) The passage has a printing error
(B) The 25 years is an average. The large numbers of children who died very young offset the number of long-lived people.
(C) It is only an estimate.
(D) It does not include the nobles.
Declaration of Independence
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights; that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed; that whenever any form of government becomes destructive of these ends it is the right of the people to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new government, laying its foundation on such principles, and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their safety and happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same object, evinces a design to reduce them under absolute despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security. Such has been the patient sufferance of these colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former system of government. The history of the present king of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute tyranny over these states. To prove this, let facts be submitted to a candid world.
17. What does self-evident mean?
(A) All men are not created equal.
(B) Men don’t have rights.
(C) These points are so obvious they need no explanation.
(D) There is evidence to support the concept that men have certain rights.
18. When should people rebel against an unjust government?
(A) whenever a government becomes unjust
(B) only when government tries to reduce the people under absolute rule
(C) whenever they feel subjugated
(D) never
19. According to the Declaration of Independence, what did King George do wrong?
(A) He abused his powers.
(B) He tried to usurp people’s rights.
(C) He resorted to absolute despotism.
(D) All of the above.
Source: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/37846/37846-h/37846-h.htm#GERMAN_CHIVALRY_ON_THE_SEA
20. What do these tombstones for revolutions represent?
(A) pending strategies that might turn the war around
(B) strategies that never worked out
(C) revolutions that the Germans inspired but that failed
(D) none of the above
21. What point is the cartoon making?
(A) The Germans have had heavy losses in the war.
(B) Germans are responsible for causing heavy casualties among their enemies.
(C) The war is almost over.
(D) German strategies have failed again and again.
22. Name one country, according to this image, involved in the slave trade in the 1600s.
(A) France
(B) England
(C) the Netherlands
(D) Spain
Resistance to Slavery
Resistance to slavery took several forms. Slaves would pretend to be ill, refuse to work, do their jobs poorly, destroy farm equipment, set fire to buildings, and steal food. These were all individual acts rather than part of an organized plan for revolt, but the objective was to upset the routine of the plantation in any way possible. On some plantations, slaves could bring grievances about harsh treatment from an overseer to their master and hope that he would intercede on their behalf. Although many slaves tried to run away, few succeeded for more than a few days, and they often returned on their own. Such escapes were more a protest — a demonstration that it could be done — than a dash for freedom. As advertisements in southern newspapers seeking the return of runaway slaves made clear, the goal of most runaways was to find their wives or children who had been sold to another planter. The fabled Underground Railroad, a series of safe houses for runaways organized by abolitionists and run by former slaves like Harriet Tubman, actually helped only about a thousand slaves reach the North.
23. What was one of the main reasons slaves ran away from their masters?
(A) They were ill.
(B) They were poorly paid.
(C) They wanted to find wives or children that had been sold to others.
(D) They longed to be free.
24. How successful was the fabled Underground Railroad?
(A) It wasn’t very successful, based on the numbers it helped.
(B) It was important mainly because it offered hope to all slaves of permanent escape.
(C) It funded slave rebellions.
(D) It helped end slavery.
Although the total population of slaves was relatively low through most of the 1600s, colonial governments took steps to institutionalize slavery. In 1662, Virginia passed a law that automatically made slaves of slaves’ children. In 1664, Maryland’s assembly declared that all black people in the colony were slaves for life, whether they converted to Christianity or not. And in 1684, New York’s legislators recognized slavery as a legitimate practice.
As the 17th century closed, it was clear that African slaves were a much better bargain, in terms of costs, than European servants, and the numbers of slaves began to swell. In 1670, Virginia had a population of about 2,000 slaves. By 1708, the number was 12,000. Slavery had not only taken root; it was sprouting.
25. What does the phrase institutionalize slavery mean?
(A) establish laws defining and controlling slavery
(B) turning slavery into an institution
(C) replacing European servants with slaves
(D) making laws that automatically enslaved children of slaves
The obvious reason for higher living standards, which continue to rise, is that human beings have recently figured out lots of new technologies, and people keep inventing more. But if you dig a little deeper, you have to wonder why a technologically innovative society didn’t happen earlier.
The Ancient Greeks invented a simple steam engine and the coin-operated vending machine. They even developed the basic idea behind the programmable computer. But they never quite got around to having an industrial revolution and entering on a path of sustained economic growth.
And despite the fact that there have always been really smart people in every society on earth, it wasn’t until the late 18th century, in England, that the Industrial Revolution actually got started and living standards in many nations rose substantially and kept on rising, year after year.
26. Why did the Greeks not make use of the ideas of steam engines or vending machines?
(A) They never developed sufficient technology to apply these ideas.
(B) They didn’t realize what they had invented.
(C) They saw no need for these inventions.
(D) impossible to say based on the text
Weather and Traffic Report
Good morning, and welcome to America’s weather and traffic on WAWT, the voice of the world in the ear of the nation. Today is going to be hot. That’s H-O-T, and we all know what that means. The big P is coming back for a visit. We are going to have pollution today for sure with our record heat on each coast. If you think it’s hot here, it’s even hotter up higher. And that means unhealthy air, leading to unhealthy people. I can hear the coughs and sneezes coast to coast. I think I hear a whole series of gasps from our nation’s capital, good ol’ Washington, D.C., and it’s not Congress that is producing all that hot air. And out in western California, it’s just as bad. Just the other day, I looked up “poor air quality” in the dictionary, and it said “see California.” Lots of luck breathing out there.
This morning, once again, there’s a layer of hot air just above ground level. That’s where we live — ground level. This temperature inversion acts like a closed gate, keeping the surface air from rising and mixing. Of course, we are all going to drive our cars all day in heavy traffic, and some of us will go to work in factories. And, surprise: By afternoon, all those pollutants from the cars mix with the emissions from the factories and get trapped by the layer of hot air, and it’s try-to-catch-your-breath time. Unhealthy air is here again. Tomorrow and every day after, we’ll probably have more of the same until we learn to take care of our environment.
Well, I’ll see you tomorrow, if the air’s not too thick to see through.
27. What is the big P?
(A) the president
(B) pollution
(C) record heat
(D) smog
28. What is a temperature inversion?
(A) hot air holding down cooler air, trapping pollution
(B) colder air higher in the atmosphere
(C) an unexpected cold front
(D) ground level pollution
In the third century BC, the Greek scholar Eratosthenes made a remarkably accurate measurement of Earth’s circumference. At Syene (near Aswan, Egypt), the sun illuminated the bottom of a well only one day every year. Eratosthenes inferred correctly this could only happen if the sun were directly overhead the well — that is, 90 degrees above the horizon. By comparing that sun angle with another one measured in Alexandria, Egypt, on the same day the sun was directly overhead at Syene, Eratosthenes deduced that the distance between the two locations was one-fiftieth (1/50th) of Earth’s circumference. Thus, if he could measure the distance from Syene to Alexandria and multiply that number times 50, the answer would be the distance around the entire Earth.
There are diverse accounts of the method of measurement. Some say Eratosthenes had his assistants count camel strides (yes, camel strides) that they measured in stade, the Greek unit of measurement. In any event, he came up with a distance of 500 miles between Syene and Alexandria. That meant Earth was about 25,000 miles around. (“About” because the relationship between stade and miles is not exactly known.) The actual average circumference is 24,680 miles, so Eratosthenes was very close.
29. How long ago did the Greek scholar Eratosthenes calculate the Earth’s circumference?
(A) about 300 years ago
(B) about 2,000 years ago
(C) about 2,300 years ago
(D) not enough information given
30. What information did Eratosthenes have with which to calculate the Earth’s circumference?
(A) two angles and the distance between two points
(B) two angles and one side of a triangle
(C) one 90-degree angle and a distance
(D) not enough information given
The End of the Cold War
In July 1989, Gorbachev repudiated the Brezhnev Doctrine, which had justified the intervention of the Soviet Union in the affairs of communist countries. Within a few months of his statement, the Communist regimes in Eastern Europe collapsed — Poland, Hungary, and Czechoslovakia, followed by Bulgaria and Romania. The Berlin Wall came down in November 1989, and East and West Germany were reunited within the year. Czechoslovakia eventually split into the Czech Republic and Slovakia with little trouble, but the end of the Yugoslav Federation in 1991 led to years of violence and ethnic cleansing (the expulsion of an ethnic population from a geographic area), particularly in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Soviet Union also broke up, not long after an attempted coup against Gorbachev in August 1991, and the Baltic states of Latvia, Estonia, and Lithuania were the first to gain their independence. That December, Gorbachev stepped down, and the old Soviet Union became the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). The CIS quickly disappeared, and the republics that had once made up the Soviet Union were recognized as sovereign nations. The end of the Cold War led directly to major nuclear weapons reduction agreements between President Bush and the Russian leaders as well as significant cutbacks in the number of troops the United States committed to the defense of NATO.
31. Which of these statements is true?
(A) Gorbachev accepted the Brezhnev doctrine.
(B) Brezhnev ended the Cold War in 1991.
(C) Gorbachev stepped down in 1989.
(D) None of the above.
32. What was the effect of the end of the Yugoslav Federation?
(A) years of violence and ethnic cleansing
(B) the reunification of East and West Germany
(C) major arms reductions in Europe
(D) the independence of Latvia
A region is an area of Earth, large or small, that has one or more things in common. So when you say “I’m going to the mountains” or “I’m heading for the shore,” you refer to an area — a region — that has a certain set of characteristics over a broad area….
Regions make it easier to comprehend our Earthly home. After all, Earth consists of gazillions of locations, each of which has its own particular and peculiar characteristics. Knowing every last one of them would be impossible. But we can simplify the challenge by grouping together contiguous locations that have one or more things in common — Gobi Desert, Islamic realm, tropical rainforest, Chinatown, the Great Lakes, suburbia. Each of these is a region. Some are big and some are small. Some refer to physical characteristics. Some refer to human characteristics. Some do both. But each facilitates the task of understanding the world.
33. What process do geographers use when they divide the Earth into regions for easier study?
(A) simplification
(B) generalization
(C) classification
(D) approximation
A firm that has no competitors in its industry is called a monopoly. Monopolies are much maligned because their profit incentive leads them to raise prices and lower output in order to squeeze more money out of consumers. As a result, governments typically go out of their way to break up monopolies and replace them with competitive industries that generate lower prices and higher output.
At the same time, however, governments also very intentionally create monopolies in other situations. For instance, governments issue patents, which give monopoly rights to inventors to sell and market their inventions. Similarly, in many places, local services such as natural gas delivery and trash collection are also monopolies created and enforced by local government.
34. Under what circumstances are monopolies encouraged?
(A) for local services
(B) to protect inventors
(C) both of the above
(D) neither of the above
Alice Paul, leader of the National Women’s Party, brought attention-grabbing protest tactics from British suffragists to the United States. In 1917, ten suffragists were arrested for picketing the White House. Their crime, obstructing sidewalk traffic. Their presence, noted by President Wilson and his wife, was soon forgotten as clouds of war gathered over the United States.
The suffrage movement slowed during World War I, but women continued to assert their status as full and independent members of society. During World War II, women began entering the work force in support of the war effort.
Since 1878, a women’s suffrage amendment had been proposed each year in Congress. In 1919, the suffrage movement had finally gained enough support, and Congress, grateful for women’s help during the war, passed the Nineteenth Amendment on June 5. With these words, Congress at last enfranchised half of the American population:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any state on account of sex.
35. When did women receive the right to vote?
(A) 1878
(B) 1917
(C) 1919
(D) During World War II
The Panic of 1873
In 1873, over-speculation in railroad stocks led to a major economic panic. The failure of Jay Cooke’s investment bank was followed by the collapse of the stock market and the bankruptcy of thousands of businesses; crop prices plummeted and unemployment soared. Much of the problem was related to the use of greenbacks for currency. Hard-money advocates insisted that paper money had to be backed by gold to curb inflation and level price fluctuations, but farmers and manufacturers, who needed easy credit, wanted even more greenbacks put in circulation, a policy that Grant ultimately opposed. He recommended and the Congress enacted legislation in 1875 providing for the redemption of greenbacks in gold. Because the Treasury needed time to build up its gold reserves, redemption did not go into effect for another four years, by which time the longest depression in American history had come to an end.
36. What was the role of paper money in the economic collapse in 1873?
(A) It triggered the collapse.
(B) It led to easy credit.
(C) It caused crop prices to plummet.
(D) It had no effect.
37. What was Grant’s position on paper money?
(A) He favored it.
(B) He was opposed.
(C) He took no official position.
(D) insufficient information in the passage
In 1963 and 1964, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. brought hundreds of black people to the courthouse in Selma, Alabama to register [to vote]. When they were turned away, Dr. King organized and led protests that finally turned the tide of American political opinion. In 1964, the Twenty-Fourth Amendment prohibited the use of poll taxes. In 1965, the Voting Rights Act put federal teeth into enforcing the right to vote for African Americans.
The 1965 Voting Rights Act created a significant change in the status of African Americans throughout the South. The Voting Rights Act prohibited the states from using literacy tests … and other methods of excluding African Americans from voting. Prior to this, only an estimated twenty-three percent of voting-age blacks were registered nationally, but by 1969 the number had jumped to sixty-one percent.
38. What were some of the requirements used by local authorities to stop African Americans from voting? Write the correct letter(s) in these boxes: 
(A) poll taxes
(B) literacy tests
(C) photo identification
(D) passports
39. Which state experienced the greatest decrease on real GDP in 2013?
(A) Texas
(B) Alaska
(C) New England
(D) Georgia
40. Which region among those listed showed the greatest increase in GDP?
(A) Far West
(B) Southwest
(C) Great Lakes
(D) New England
Diagnosing areas of strength and weakness with a sample Social Studies test
Practice tests work best when you take them under the same conditions as the real test. We can’t provide a computer along with the test, but you can simulate the test-taking experience in other ways. Take this test in a room with no distractions, no music, no telephone, no munchies, and no interruptions. Tell family and friends you’ve left town for the day and do the diagnostic test in one sitting.
