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WorksheetsAP Government Practice Exam
Total questions: 55
Worksheet time: 55mins
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates the concept of concurrent powers?
The president negotiates a treaty regarding climate change with foreign governments, but for the treaty to take effect, it requires approval by the Senate.
As commander-in-chief of the military, the president orders troops to a foreign nation to address a potential threat to national security.
A Senate committee holds a hearing to discuss potential misuse of funds by the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The federal government provides about 25% of the total funding for highways and transit in the US, while the other 75% of the funding comes from the states.
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates a member of Congress supporting pork barrel legislation?
A senator from a coal-producing state voting against a job-training program for coal miners.
A member of the House voting for urban renewal in exchange for increased funding for roads.
A senator from an agricultural state amending legislation to establish a potato research institute in his/her state.
A member of the House Armed Services Committee marking up a bill that will increase funding for military bases.
In which of the following situations would the Supreme Court be most likely to utilize the doctrine of selective incorporation?
When an individual claims that a right protected by the Bill of Rights is infringed upon by a state.
When there is a conflict among the branches of the national government.
When a federal policy shifting oversight authority from a national agency to a state agency is challenged.
When a former employee files a wrongful termination claim against a company headquartered in another state.
Which of the following is a true statement about the role of the media in providing citizens with information?
Investigative reporting dominates the news because it is less expensive than political commentary.
Demand for instantaneous news reporting has led to the growth of 24-hour news operations and a shift to online media consumption.
The media is increasingly controlled by the major political parties, who determine which stories are covered by the press.
There has been an increase in social media and Internet news consumption by the public, causing the top five media conglomerates to have greater control over public opinion.
Which of the following statements is most accurately supported by the data in the table?
President Clinton greatly reduced the use of presidential signing statements compared with his predecessors.
While President George W Bush issued fewer signing statements than President Clinton, his included more objections than President Clinton's.
President Clinton's brief access to the power of the line-item veto allowed him to issue fewer signing statements that raised concerns about legislation.
President George W. Bush was forced to issue more signing statements as a direct result of the terrorist attacks of 9-11-01.
Which of the following best explains a reason that a president might use a signing statement to express displeasure with a bill as opposed to issuing a veto?
The president may have objections to provisions of a bill but does not want to risk Congress overriding a veto.
Congress has severely curtailed the power of the president to withhold funds for bills that have adopted.
The Supreme Court is hesitant to acknowledge the president's power to veto legislation.
The president wants to ensure executive agencies do not spend money appropriated by Congress.
Which of the following describes the Twenty-Fourth Amendment?
It desegregated places of public accomodations.
It required elections for the US Senate.
It reduced barriers to political participation on the basis of gender.
It eliminated poll taxes.
On February 9, 2016, President Barack Obama released his budget proposal for the 2017 fiscal year. Facing a Republican Congress, many declared the plan "dead on arrival". Among the cited issues was Obama's request for $582.7 billion in discretionary spending for defense which many Republicans believed was not enough. Which of the following explains the interaction between the president and Congress regarding the defense budget?
The Congress has the enumerated power to raise revenue, but it is forced to work with the president because the president has the power to determine spending for each department in upcoming fiscal year.
The president can create a budget for defense spending, but Congress has the power to execute laws and operate the government, which can affect how much money is actually spent.
Congress passes a budget for the entire federal government, including defense, but it must consider the president's proposal because the president may veto the bill.
The president introduces a specific budget bill for defense spending, but Congress uses its power of legislative oversight to set up a negotiation process with the president.
Which of the following is the most accurate interpretation of the political cartoon?
State governments have used the 10th Amendment to override the federal government's mandates.
State governments are unwilling to share their budgetary surpluses with other states.
State governments prefer federal funding but do not want federal oversight over how the money is spent.
The fiscal irresponsibility of state governments has led to increased federal regulation on their budgetary priorities.
Which of the following policies would the states most likely prefer according to the political cartoon?
Federal mandates
Regulatory preemption
Block grants
Categorical grants
Which of the following newspaper headlines best summarizes the excerpt from Washington's Farewell Address?
Washington Boasts of the Potential of the New Republic
Washington Warns of Dangerous Party Factions
Washington Endorses a Stronger Executive Branch
Washington Takes Negative View of Checks and Balances
In what respect does the Constitution address Washington's concern regarding the "spirit of encroachment" expressed in the excerpt?
The Constitution distributes power across national institutions.
The Constitution provides for equal representation of all citizens in Congress.
The Constitution requires a simple majority vote in Congress to overturn a veto.
The Constitution requires the Supreme Court to approve all legislation.
Which of the following scenarios illustrates Washington's concerns?
An increasing number of voters are not turning out to vote in elections.
Federalism can lead to different public policy outcomes between states.
Ideological divisions within Congress can lead to partisan gridlock.
Members of the press fail to report on the illegal activities of certain members of the bureaucracy.
Which of the following sets of policies would most likely be supported by a libertarian?
Increase income and capital gains taxes on the wealthy to raise revenue for social security benefits
Legalization of the commercial sale of marijuana and a reduction in government spending on prisons
Elimination of the estate tax and promotion of government-funded prekindergarten education
Expansion of the welfare state and a reduction in spending on national defense
"If, therefore, the legislature pass any laws, inconsistent with the sense the judges put upon the constitution, they will declare it void; and therefore in this respect their power is superior to that of the legislature." Brutus 15
Which of the following cases is most related to the quote?
Marbury v Madison (1803)
McCulloch v Maryland (1819)
McDonald v Chicago (2010)
United States v Lopez (1995)
Which of the following is generally the most important agent of political socialization?
Family
The media
Place of birth
Social class
Which of the following scenarios best illustrates a formal check on the power of the bureaucracy?
A lobbyist representing the National Rifle Association refusing to meet with employees from the Department of Homeland Security
The secretary of defense being called to testify before a congressional committee
The White House chief of staff being formally censured by the president for publicly speaking out against the president's policy goals
A federal judge being impeached for making legal decisions based on bribes
Which of the following constitutional amendments is most related to the issue shown on the map?
Second Amendment
Eighth Amendment
Sixteenth Amendment
26th Amendment
Which of the following constitutional principles best explains why there is variation among states on the use of capital punishment?
Separation of powers
Judicial review
Checks and balances
Federalism
An important Senate race takes place in the state of Georgia. Rather than focus on the issue positions taken by the candidates, a 24-hour cable news station instead focuses primarily on poll results and campaign strategies using a "big board" to show the counties where each candidate has the most support. Which of the following is an effect of this type of new coverage?
The electorate will be increasingly divided along partisan lines.
The electorate will be more likely to turn out to vote on Election Day.
The electorate will be more likely to have expanded knowledge of the electoral process.
The electorate will be less able to accurately compare the policy platforms of candidates running in the election.
Which of the following is an example of how separation of powers creates friction between the executive and legislative branches in the policy-making process?
The electoral college vote ends with no candidate receiving a majority of the votes, and the House of Representatives is delegated the task of selecting the next president.
The Senate votes to impeach a sitting president for high crimes and misdemeanors.
The secretary of state is dispatched along with a delegation of senators to negotiate a treaty with a foreign government.
The president threatens to issue an executive order for stricter gun control if Congress continues to refuse to take action.
A new president has been elected after running on a campaign of lowering taxes and reducing spending on discretionary programs but now must work with Congress to ensure legislation passes which achieves those goals. Which of the leaders in the diagram plays the most crucial role in shaping the legislation that the president wants passed?
President pro-tempore
Vice president
Speaker of the House
House majority leader
Based on your knowledge and the diagram, which of the following is true regarding the leadership structure of Congress?
The role of the minority leader in both the House of Representatives and the Senate is to coordinate a strategy for the minority party.
The vice president is responsible for creating and setting the legislatives agenda for the Senate.
The Speaker of the House has very little power to control members of the majority party in the House of Representatives.
The majority leaders in both chambers work to ensure that a bipartisan agenda is passed in the Congress.
In the 1780s, proponents of the new Constitution cited Shay's Rebellion as an example in support of which of the following criticisms of the national government under the Articles of Confederation?
The national government did not provide sufficient protection of individual rights.
The lack of a centralized judiciary made enforcement of national laws difficult.
States with larger populations were underrepresented in Congress.
There was a lack of a national military power to address security concerns.
The majority party in the Senate is concerned that the Supreme Court has made a number of ideologically dangerous and controversial rulings. Which of the following actions could be taken by the Senate to limit the Supreme Court's power?
Replace the chief justice of the Supreme Court with someone with whom they agree with ideologically
Pass legislation already passed by the House that would limit the impact of the Supreme Court's recent rulings
Ratify a constitutional amendment limiting the Supreme Court's power
Enforce term limits for justices on the Supreme Court.
Which of the following is most likely responsible for the increase in the number of southern African American state legislators between 1960 and 1992 as shown in the graph?
The Civil Rights Act of 1964
Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954)
The Voting Rights Act of 1965
The Nineteenth Amendment
Which of the following statements presents the most important limitation of the data in the graph?
The time frame for the data is misleading.
There is no information about the total number of state legislators.
There are insufficient data points to detect a trend.
The trend over time is potentially misleading and would be easier to read in a pie chart.
Which of the following is likely to occur as a result of new legislation regarding automobile safety?
The Supreme Court will be asked to review the legislation annually.
States will be empowered to begin automobile manufacturing.
The Department of Transportation will be given discretionary authority to create auto regulations.
Mandatory spending will be required in all future federal budgeting for the program.
A media organization is interested in reporting election results in a congressional election prior to the final tally of votes which will not occur until later in the evening. The organization randomly selects several polling places across the district asking voters whom they voted for. They type of poll being used in this scenario is known as
an exit poll
a benchmark poll
an opinion poll
a tracking poll
The clause of the United States Constitution that was used in the Supreme Court's ruling in Brown v Board of Education of Topeka (1954) was
The due process clause
The necessary and proper clause
The free exercise clause
The equal protection clause
A 2017 study in The American Economic
Review found that watching Fox News during an
election cycle increased a Democrat’s chances
of voting Republican by 28 percent. Conversely,
by watching MSNBC Republicans were more
inclined to vote Democrat by 8 percent. This
scenario best illustrates which of the following
about the media?
Increased media choices tend to reinforce
existing beliefs when citizens are offered
ideological choices in programming.
Cable news programming is oftentimes
ideologically driven and effective in
persuading citizens to adopt their point of
view.
The consumption of news tends to increase
voter participation for Republicans but is
less effective in increasing participation
for Democrats.
Modern political parties have launched air
campaigns to persuade voters by
purchasing advertisements on 24-hour
news networks.
In The Federalist 70, Alexander Hamilton states
that “energy in the executive is a leading
character in the definition of good government.”
In this statement, Hamilton is arguing in favor of
the need for
a single executive who can respond quickly
to crises
a president who has a good understanding
of public policy
an electoral college in the selection of the
president
a president who is youthful and assertive
Which of the following Supreme Court
decisions allows public school students to wear
T-shirts protesting a school board decision that
eliminates funding for high school arts
programs?
Engel v. Vitale (1962)
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Tinker v. Des Moines Independent
Community School District (1969)
New York Times Co. v. United States
(1971)
Given the information in the graph, in which of
the following states would an individual’s vote
likely have more influence?
Wyoming
West Virginia
Alabama
California
The data in the graph best illustrate which of the
following common criticisms of the electoral
college?
Small states have fewer electoral votes than
large states and therefore have no impact
on presidential elections.
Individuals in small-population states have
a greater impact on the electoral college
than individuals in large-population
states.
Candidates from states with a large number
of electoral votes have a major advantage
in the electoral college.
Smaller states have more electoral votes
than larger states, which distorts the
popular vote.
A voter’s decision to support the incumbent
president in an upcoming election is based on
recent economic growth and record low
unemployment. Which of the following models
of voting behavior best characterizes this voter’s
decision?
Prospective voting
Party-line voting
Retrospective voting
Rational choice voting
During his confirmation hearing, Chief Justice
John Roberts stated that Roe v. Wade (1973) “is
the settled law of the land.” This statement
suggests that in a future case that challenges the
constitutionality of legislation restricting privacy
and reproductive rights, which of the following
should be a key factor in the court’s ruling?
Briefs submitted by interested parties
Contemporary societal norms
The consensus of the other justices
Reliance on legal precedent
Which of the following actions did President
Johnson suggest he would take to address
problems in public schools?
Driving down the cost of education by removing ineffective teachers
Calling on experts to advise the federal
government in finding ways to improve
public education
Increasing school accountability by
requiring schools to show evidence of
improvement
Scaling back the role of the federal
government and allowing state and local
governments to take the lead in education policy
By using the phrase “creative federalism,”
President Johnson is most likely referring to
which of the following features of the American
system?
The relationship between the federal and
state governments evolves over time and
is flexible enough to permit new forms of
interaction.
National policymaking is constrained by
the sharing of power between the three
branches of government.
The balance of power between the states
and federal government has been trending
toward more federal regulation and less
state control.
Congress may use the commerce clause to
address problems in public schools such
as lack of resources and school safety.
Which of the following explains President
Johnson’s motivation for the speech in relation
to his role as the head of the executive branch?
President Johnson believes that Congress
will soon pass a bill on education reform,
and he would like to be able to claim
credit for it.
President Johnson is seeking to use the
bully pulpit as a means of promoting his
agenda on public education.
President Johnson is expecting the
Supreme Court to soon rule on the
constitutionality of a law passed by the
previous administration.
President Johnson is issuing an executive
order calling on local governments to
increase training for teachers and address
poverty among students.
A liberal response to the “strained resources” of
local government most likely would include
a reduction of federal income taxes so that
state and local governments can use those
resources
less federal regulation and more authority
for local school boards to create curricula
and standards
an increase in federal spending on public
education and more programs aimed at
helping lower-income communities
encouraging state and local governments to
offer vouchers so that students can attend
private or charter schools
In a public opinion poll, a polling company used
an online survey tool to randomly contact
respondents who did not have telephone lines in
addition to contacting people over the phone.
Which of the following best explains this
decision?
The company saved money because it did
not need to hire as many telephone
interviewers to conduct the poll.
The company was establishing a
benchmark poll at the beginning of a
campaign.
The company was interested in asking
different questions to different
individuals.
The company wanted to ensure that the
sample of the population was truly
random.
Which of the following is an accurate comparison of rights protected and not protected by the First
Amendment?
A
B
C
D
Which of the following is the correct pairing of powers found in the Articles of Confederation and powers
found in the Constitution?
A
B
C
D
Which of the following accurately compares the formal and informal powers of the president?
A
B
C
D
Which of the following makes a correct comparison between political parties and interest groups in the United
States?
A
B
C
D
Which of the following pair of Supreme Court cases best illustrates how views of federalism have shifted in the
United States?
A
B
C
D
Which of the following is true based on the
information graphic?
All citizens over 18 years old are eligible
to vote regardless of where they live, but
only about 56% actually do vote.
Voters from 18 and 54 are far more likely
to vote than voters over 54, but this can
depend on which state they live in.
Over 75% of the population is eligible to
vote, but only about half the electorate
actually voted in the 2016 presidential
election.
Voters ages 18–35 are less likely to vote
because some states restrict voting only to
citizens over the age of 21.
Which of the following best explains why
eligibility criteria vary by state as shown on the
information graphic?
The Twenty-Sixth Amendment is not
incorporated to the states.
States can create criteria for voting rights
so long as they do not violate the United
States Constitution.
The president is selected through the
electoral college process, and therefore
citizens do not actually have a real vote in
presidential elections.
The Voting Rights Act guarantees that each
state may determine its own procedures
for elections.
Which of the following scenarios is an example
of the trustee model of representation?
The NAACP leadership sends
representatives to Washington to lobby
for changes to the Voting Rights Act.
Congress passes a bill allocating money to
clean up nuclear waste sites after a wave
of large-scale peaceful protests.
A member of Congress votes to close a
popular tax loophole based on the belief
that the money would be better spent
paying down the national debt.
A presidential candidate advocates using
an executive order to increase the
minimum wage for federal contractors.
Two interest groups are competing for influence
in Congress. One group represents banking
institutions, while the other advocates for
consumer protections. A critic of the influence
of interest groups would make which of the
following claims?
The interest groups will nominate a slate of
candidates for office to compete against
each other in the next election in order to
determine which interests prevail.
The consumer protection group will appeal
only to Republican leaders, while the
banking interests will appeal only to
Democratic leaders.
The banking interest group likely has
greater financial resources and access to
policy makers than the consumer
protection group.
The consumer protection group is
prohibited by federal regulations from
direct lobbying.
Which of the following is a likely effect of the
trend depicted in the bar graph on voting and
elections?
There will be fewer restrictions placed on
voting
Voter turnout is likely to increase among
non-Whites.
The Democratic Party will win more
elections, based on current voting trends.
There will be more retrospective voting
among young voters.
Which of the following best explains how
political parties are likely to respond to the data
in the chart?
Political parties are likely to continue to
stand by their traditional positions and not
bother to appeal to groups that have not
previously been included in their base.
Political parties will adapt their positions
and find ways to appeal to voters from
growing demographic groups.
Political parties will adapt by switching
from candidate-centered campaigns to
campaigns that strategically mobilize
voters across the country with a
consistent message.
Political parties will advocate for
proportional representational systems so
that groups with larger populations are
able to win seats and be represented more
fairly in government.
A public school district implemented a policy
that allowed students to vote on whether they
wanted a student-led prayer to be read at football
games. This policy was later found to be
unconstitutional by the United States Supreme
Court. Which of the following clauses did the
policy most likely violate?
The interstate commerce clause
The free exercise clause
The supremacy clause
The establishment clause
Which of the following Supreme Court cases
established that those accused of felonies who
cannot afford legal counsel are entitled to legal
counsel provided by the state?
United States v. Lopez (1995)
McDonald v. Chicago (2010)
Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972)
Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
