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Created by the EIU History Department to assist students of Eastern Illinois University in meeting the Illinois state standards for specialization in the social sciences.

The quiz questions are taken from the Illinois Certification Testing System, National Evaluation Systems Inc.

Social Science - Practice Quiz
The following is a short quiz that will test your knowledge of this discipline. These questions have been devised based on similar questions that have been asked on certification tests in the past. The key for the correct answer to each question is at the bottom of this page. To keep track of your answers for each question, simply have a piece of paper and a writing utensil handy.
1. Which of the following would be the most effective way to identify relevant secondary and primary sources for a research aper on a topic in twentieth-century U.S. history?
  A. Conduct a search on the Internet and download material from relevant Web sites.
  B. Review the citations and bibiliography of texts related to the topic of he research.
  C. Examine the New York Times Index for the period to be studied.
  D. Consult volumes of the Readers' Guide to Periodical Literature for the period to be studied.
2. A sociologist is designing a set of experiments to test a hypothesis concerning the relationship between group size and willingness to assume responsibility. The researcher can best ensure the reliability of the experiments by making certain that:
  A. the procedures used for the control and experimental groups are the same except for the independent variable.
  B. the support for the hypothesis being tested is based solely on perfect positive correlations.
  C. the independent observers chosen to record the results are able to develop their own definitions of what they are observing.
  D. the participants in the experiments represent diverse social backgrounds but similar educational levels.
3. A historian has conducted interviews with 50 Vietnam War veterans for a study of the Tet Offensive. In using information obtained from the interviews, the historian should be particularly aware of which of the following?
  A. There is only one true story and the historian is responsible for discovering it.
  B. Conditions in many South Vietnamese cities and towns ere quite chaotic during the Tet Offensive.
  C. How individuals remember major events in their lives changes over the years.
  D. All Vietnam War veterans know the Tet Offensive was a major turning point in the war.
4. Use the table with election results below to answer the question that follows.
 
 
Build Wastewater Treatment Plant
Expant County Jail
 
Yes
No
Yes
No
Wilber County
20,324
18,406
17,940
20,610
  A special county election is held to decide whether to raise taxes for the purpose of expanding the county jail or building a wastewater treatment plant. Following the election, a social scientist wants to determine whether the residents of the county held strong opinions about these two issues. In addition to the results from the table shown above, which of the following pieces of information would be most useful for answering the social scientist's question?
  A. the number of people in the county who were eligible to vote
  B. the party affiliations of the people who voted
  C. the amount of money taxpayers would need to pay for each project
  D. the length of time needed to complete each project

 

5. Which of the following best describes the main purpose of written constitutions in democratic societies?
  A. to establish guidelines for competition among political parties
  B. to set social goals for all levels of government
  C. to establish criteria for assessing the effectiveness of laws
  D. to hold those who govern accountable to the governed
6. Congress is best able to influence U.S. foreign policy by exercising its constitutional power to:
  A. regulate international commerce.
  B. establish independent regulatory commissions.
  C. appropriate federal funds.
  D. approve or reject presidential appointments.
7. A major difference between industrial and postindustrial economies is that postindustrial economies are likely to place greater emphasis on:
  A. the adoption of practices designed to bolster aggregate demand.
  B. the regulation of major business enterprises by the government.
  C. the reduction of inequities inthe distribution of goods and services.
  D. the importance of information as a key productive resource.
8. The Gross Domestic Product is a measure for which of the following?
  A. the value added to domestic goods and services
  B. the amount of domestic firms' unsold inventory
  C. the total value of domestic output in a given year
  D. the annual average domestic cost of living
9. Which of the following best illustrates how experience and culture influence human perceptions of regions?
  A. A Canadian is more likely than a Guatemalan to view Latin America as a culture region.
  B. An Italian is more likely than a Spaniard to view Western Europe as a culture region.
  C. A South African is more likely than an Egyptian to view sub-Saharan Africa as a culture region.
  D. A Malaysian is more likely than a Thai to view Southeast Asia as a culture region.
10. Which of the following best explains why industrial areas of Japan are concentrated in coastal locations?
  A. Japanese industrial expansion is spatially limited by policies to preserve farmland.
  B. Population density in Japan is highest in coastal areas.
  C. Transportation networks linking coastal to inland areas in Japan are poorly developed.
  D. Japanese industry is dependent on imported raw materials.
11. Which of the following is likely to be the main goal of a behavioral therapist who is treating a patient with a phobia?
  A. to obtain insight into the experiences that initiated the phobia
  B. to identify thoughts that trigger phobic responses
  C. to link the stimulus that is provoking fear to a feeling of relaxation
  D. to identify genetic or biological causes of the phobia
12. A psychologist would most likely define personality as the sum total of the:
  A. adaptations that person makes to adjust to his or her social world.
  B. emotional bonds that link a person to other members of the community.
  C. characteristics that make a person different from other people.
  D. thoughts and feelings that a person has about his or her place in society.
13. A major sociological difference between preindustrial and postindustrial societies is that:
  A. people are less likely to integrate religious and secular concerns in preindustrial society.
  B. an individual's sense of self is more likely to be shaped by his or her occupational role in a preindustrial society.
  C. gender roles are likely to be less rigidly defined in a preindustrial society.
  D. social status is moer likely to be determined by nonmonetary standards in a preindustrial society.
14. an anthropologist can best avoid making ethnocentric judgements about elements of another culture by:
  A. locating the cultural elements within a range of possible values relative to the anthropologist's own culture.
  B. exploring the meaning of the cultural elements within the value system of the culture to which it belongs.
  C. abandoning all efforts to put the cultural elements in a moral or ethical framework.
  D. comparing the cultural elements ot parallel aspects of a culture different than that of the anthropologist.
15. For which of the following tasks would historians rely most on chronological thinking?
  A. identifying central questions in narratives
  B. explaining historical causality
  C. proposing alternative choices for addressing a historical problem
  D. considering multiple perspectives
16. Durig the 1960s and 1970s, U.S. historians began making increased use of U.S. Census data in their research. This most influenced the development of which of the following fields of historical inquiry?
  A. legal and political history
  B. religious and intellectual history
  C. family and local history
  D. business and labor history
17. The increased use of steam power by U.S. manufactureres during the first half of the nineteenth century most influenced the:
  A. location and productivity of factories.
  B. division of labor in factories.
  C. variety of goods produced in factories.
  D. quality of goods produced in factories.
18. Use the map below to answer the question that follows.
     
  Which lettered arrow on the map above best indicates the migration route commonly believed to have been taken by the first peoples to settle in North America?
  A. Arrow A
  B. Arrow B
  C. Arrow C
  D. Arrow D
19. which of the following best describes an important consequence of the Neolithic agricultural revolution?
  A. the emergence of pietistic religions
  B. a more equitable distribution of wealth
  C. a decrease in average family size
  D. the creation of permanent settlements
20. In which of the following ways did World War II most influence the process of decolonization in Africa and Asia?
  A. It reduced European investment in Asian and African colonies.
  B. It weakened the economies of major colonial powers.
  C. It reduced global dependence on Asian and African resources.
  D. It destroyed prewar alliances among major colonial powers.

 

 

Answer Key

1:B, 2:A, 3:C, 4:A, 5:D, 6:C, 7:D, 8:C, 9:A, 10:D

11:C, 12:C, 13:D, 14:B, 15:B, 16:C, 17:A, 18:A, 19:D, 20:B

 

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Web-Site Last Updated 4-14-2004
  This practice quiz is a product of the Illinois Certification Testing System