Question 1
TThe Department of Defense, the National Security Council, and the Central Intelligence Agency were created as a result of the conclusions reached by policymakers in the wake of:
- World War II
- the Korean War
- Stalin’s death
- the East Berlin uprising of 1953
Question 2
In the United States, there are mainly two levels of law: 1) the US Constitution and 2):
- laws enacted by elected legislatures
- presidential recess decrees
- Supreme Court rulings
- local initiatives are adopted by majority vote
Question 3
Which U.S. government official does the West Point and Annapolis Military Academies require applicants to receive a nomination for admission?
- President
- Member of the Office of the Chief of Staff
- Judge of the federal district court or circuit court
- Congressional representative
Question 4
The Congressional Black Caucus received credit for which of the following foreign policy actions during the Clinton administration?
- Establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in New York City
- Blocking the President’s initiative to exclude Haiti from the North American Free Trade Agreement
- Pressuring the president to use force to restore Haiti’s elected president
- Increasing the priority the US military places on missions other than war
Question 5
To justify military action without congressional approval, Presidents Harry S. Truman, George HW Bush, and Bill Clinton relied on a resolution from which of the following organizations?
- Organization of American States
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization
- United Nations Security Council
- European Union
Question 6
The aphorism that the United States cannot have 535 secretaries of state refers to the idea that Congress must defer to the president in matters of foreign policy because it:
- has too great a diversity of views
- is too isolationist
- works too slowly
- is too involved in domestic issues
Question 7
The U.S. Constitution prohibits national and state governments from enacting which of the following criminal laws because they would retroactively disadvantage an individual?
- Acquisition invoices
- Laws afterwards
- Habeas corpus
- Exclusion rules
Question 8
8. In the early 20th century, reformers who used journalism to expose corporate and urban corruption were commonly known as:
- monkey wrenches
- muckrakers
- bosses
- bodlers
Question 9
The Cabinet-level agency primarily responsible for managing the federal resources of the United States, including national parks and Native American lands, is the Department of:
- Trade
- Homeland Security
- the interior
- Agriculture
Question 10
10. Which of the following does the War Powers Resolution place time limits on the U.S. President’s use of troops for hostilities without congressional authorization?
- Fourteen days
- Sixty days
- Six months
- One year
Question 11
The US Strategic Petroleum Reserve was established in 1975 with the purpose of:
- stabilize oil prices for American consumers
- providing emergency supplies in case of disruption
- providing storage in case of domestic overproduction
- creating an energy self-sufficient country
Question 12
The US Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v Wade was mainly celebrated as a victory because:
- the women’s movement
- single parents
- the Catholic Church
- the civil rights movement
Question 13
In an early version of the Declaration of Independence, one of the grievances against the King of England was his responsibility for the horrors of the slave trade. Which of the following reasons best explains why the authors and signatories omitted this complaint from the final draft of the Declaration?
- Slavery was not important enough to the economies of the colonies to emphasize the slave trade
- Slavery was not a major complaint because it was gradually ending
- Opposition to the slave trade would prevent France from coming to the aid of the colonies in a war
- The colonies could not all agree to the signing if the phrase about slavery remained in the document
Question 14
The most lasting legacy of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal is that the policies:
- ended unemployment and pulled the United States out of a depression
- strengthened private organizations that provide assistance to those in need
- expanded the role of the federal government through the creation of new government agencies
- furthered the cause of civil rights by ending segregation in the U.S. Armed Forces
Question 15
Which American president made a surprise visit to communist China in 1972, paving the way for the establishment of formal diplomatic relations?
- Gerald Ford
- Jimmy Carter
- Richard Nixon
- Ronald Reagan
Question 16
Which influential book by a physician changed parenting practices after World War II?
- Dr. Alfred Kinsey
- Dr. Jonas Salk
- Dr. Benjamin Spock
- Dr. Carl Sagan
Question 17
Known for novels such as This Side Of Paradise and The Great Gatsby, which American author coined the term ‘the jazz age’ to describe the 1920s?
- Willa Cather
- Robert Penn Warren
- William Saroyan
- F. Scott Fitzgerald
Question 18
Which country has the largest illegal drug market in the world in terms of turnover?
- Holland
- The United States
- China
- The United Kingdom
Question 19
In response to the creation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), Eastern European states organized a formal military alliance known as the:
- Eastern European Treaty Organization
- Council for Mutual Assistance
- Warsaw Pact
- Comintern
Question 20
‘Workers of the world, unite. You have nothing to lose but your chains’ is a passage from:
- Common Sense by Thomas Paine
- Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence
- The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- Declaration of the rights of women and the female citizen by Olympe de Gouges
Question 21
The lesson that most American policymakers took from Neville Chamberlain’s meeting with Hitler in Munich was that:
- Britain was an unreliable ally
- Vichy France was an unreliable ally
- Appeasing an aggressor leads to more aggression
- International institutions such as the United Nations were essential for maintaining peace
Question 22
In 1998, a peace agreement resolved a long-standing border dispute between Ecuador and which of the following countries?
Question 23
Which of the following countries has the largest number of Palestinian refugees?
Question 24
In which country did the genocide of Tutsis by Hutus take place in 1994?
Question 25
If consumers think that the supply of bread will decrease in the coming months, the most likely effect is:
- an increase in demand, resulting in a higher price for bread
- a decrease in demand, resulting in a lower price for bread
- an increase in supply, resulting in a lower price for bread
- a decrease in supply, resulting in a higher price for bread
Source: The US Department of State
Note: These are only the first 25 questions in the test, which also contains other sections including an essay section that is not available for practice due to the high cost of grading them.