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Test your basic knowledge |
AP Government
Start Test
Study First
Subjects
:
civics
,
ap
Instructions:
Answer 50 questions in 15 minutes.
If you are not ready to take this test, you can
study here
.
Match each statement with the correct term.
Don't refresh. All questions and answers are randomly picked and ordered every time you load a test.
This is a study tool. The 3 wrong answers for each question are randomly chosen from answers to other questions. So, you might find at times the answers obvious, but you will see it re-enforces your understanding as you take the test each time.
1. The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative districts.
Rider
Direct orders
Unilateralism
Reapportionment
2. Photo opportunities set up by the candidates. The media have been accused of simplifying complicated political issues by relying on photo ops to explain them to the public.
Antifederalists
Issue advocacy
Centralists
Photo ops
3. Usually the largest organization in government with the largest mission; also the highest rank in Federal hierarchy.
The Federalist
Department
Political action committee (PAC)
Nongovernmental organization (NGO)
4. People who favor national action over action at the state and local levels.
Quid pro quo
Line item veto
Judicial activism
Centralists
5. A meeting of local party members to choose party officials or candidates for public office and to decide the platform.
Naturalization
Women's suffrage
Caucus
Fighting words
6. State laws formerly pervasive throughout the South requiring public facilities and accommodations to be segregated by race; ruled unconstitutional.
Office of Management and Budget (OMB)
Jim Crow laws
Civil law
Due process clause
7. A secret ballot printed by the state.
Antitrust legislation
Australian ballot
Checks and balances
Monopoly
8. A system of public employment based on rewarding party loyalists and friends.
Suffrage
Spoils system
Independent regulatory commission
Preferred position doctrine
9. The act of declaring party affiliation; required by some states when one registers to vote.
Issue advocacy
Party registration
Social insurance
Cooperative federalism
10. The convention in Philadelphia - May 25 to September 17 - 1787 - that debated and agreed upon the Constitution of the United States.
Nonprotected speech
Social capital
Judicial review
Constitutional Convention
11. An imbalance in international trade in which the value of imports exceeds the value of exports.
Impeachment
'Necessary and proper' clause
Trade deficit
Opinion of the Court
12. A monopoly that controls goods and services - often in combinations that reduce competition.
Proportional representation
Earmarks
Trust
Permissive federalism
13. A dispute growing out of an actual case or controversy and that is capable of settlement by legal methods.
Libertarianism
Full faith and credit clause
Justiciable dispute
Excise tax
14. A government that enforces recognized limits on those who govern and allows the voice of the people to be heard through free - fair - and relatively frequent elections.
Pocket veto
Constitutional democracy
General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT)
Central clearance
15. Clause of the Constitution (Article I - Section 10) originally intended to prohibit state governments from modifying contracts made between individuals; for a while interpreted as prohibiting state governments from taking actions that adversely affec
Faction
Annapolis Convention
Libertarianism
Contract clause
16. A philosophy that encourages individual nations to act on their own when facing threats from other nations.
Unilateralism
Total and Partial Preemption
The Federalist
Petit jury
17. Literally - a 'friend of the court' brief - filed by an individual or organization to present arguments in addition to those presented by the immediate parties to a case.
Random sample
Restrictive covenant
Dissenting opinion
amicus curiae brief
18. Presidential power to strike - or remove - specific items from a spending bill without vetoing the entire package; declared unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Independent regulatory commission
Political culture
Line item veto
Recall
19. The head of the White House staff.
Direct primary
Chief of staff
Rally point
Open primary
20. Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.
Normal trade relations
Hard power
Affirmative action
Dual citizenship
21. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Federal grants may establish certain conditions that extend to all activities supported by federal funds - regardless of their source. The first and most famous of these is Title VI of the 196
Cross-cutting requirements
Bureaucrat
Preferred position doctrine
Redistributive policy
22. Words that by their very nature inflict injury on those to whom they are addressed or insight them to acts of violence.
Senior Executive Service
Fighting words
Suffrage
Candidate appeal
23. A law that governs relationships between individuals and defines their legal rights.
Senior Executive Service
Fiscal policy
Police powers
Civil law
24. Exemption from prosecution for a particular crime in return for testimony pertaining to the case.
Vouchers
Immunity
Concurrent powers
National tide
25. During the Great Society - the marble cake approach of intergovernmental relations.
Naturalization
Ethnicity
Creative federalism
Soft money
26. Unlimited amounts of money that political parties previously could raise for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state and local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.
Deregulation
Literacy test
Issue advocacy
Soft money
27. Programs in which eligibility is based on prior contributions to government - usually in the form of payroll taxes.
Capitalism
Confederation
Social insurance
Writ of certiorari
28. Governance divided between the parties - especially when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.
Rider
Divided government
Project grants
Constitutional democracy
29. An economic and governmental system based on public ownership of the means of production and exchange.
Keynesian economics
Constitutional democracy
Shays's Rebellion
Socialism
30. The tendency of presidents to learn more about doing their jobs over time.
Dissenting opinion
Cycle of increasing effectiveness
Chief of staff
Devolution revolution
31. Consumer tax on a specific kind of merchandise - such as tobacco.
Democracy
Natural rights
Medicaid
Excise tax
32. A writ issued by a magistrate that authorizes the police to search a particular place or person - specifying the place to be searched and the objects to be seized.
Australian ballot
Constituents
Revolving door
Search warrant
33. A law that defines crimes against the public order.
Social capital
Criminal law
Winner-take-all system
Concurring opinion
34. Loss of tax revenue due to Federal laws that provide special tax incentives or benefits to individuals or businesses.
Unitary system
Veto
Literacy test
Tax expenditure
35. Directive issued by a president or governor that has the force of law.
Theocracy
Revolving door
Public opinion
Executive order
36. The dispensing of government jobs to persons who belong to the winning political party.
Majority rule
Defendant
Patronage
Administrative discretion
37. Employment cycle in which individuals who work for governmental agencies that regulate interests eventually end up working for interest groups or businesses with the same policy concern.
Minor party
Referendum
Revolving door
Racial profiling
38. A specific course of action taken by government to achieve a public goal.
Public policy
Gerrymandering
Means-tested entitlements
Chief of staff
39. An opinion that agrees with the majority in a Supreme Court ruling but differs on the reasoning.
Concurring opinion
Right of expatriation
Bush Doctrine
National Intelligence Director
40. The power to keep executive communications confidential - especially if they relate to national security.
Capitalism
Court of appeals
Indexing
Executive privilege
41. Citizenship in more than one nation.
Direct democracy
Federal Reserve System
Dual citizenship
Property rights
42. The Supreme Court has ruled that individuals - groups - and parties can spend unlimited amounts in campaigns for or against candidates as long as they operate independently from the candidates. When an individual - group - or party does so - they are
Administrative discretion
Independent expenditure
Appellate jurisdiction
Realigning election
43. An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.
Health maintenance organization (HMO)
Proportional representation
Independent regulatory commission
Statism
44. Constitutional arrangement in which sovereign nations or states - by compact - create a central government but carefully limit its power and do not give it direct authority over individuals.
Socialism
Confederation
Fundamentalists
Court of appeals
45. Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890) that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade.
Value-added tax (VAT)
Initiative
Natural law
Antitrust legislation
46. The cluster of presidential staff agencies that help the president carry out his responsibilities. Currently the office includes the Office of Management and Budget - the Council of Economic Advisers - and several other units.
Inherent powers
Hard money
Executive Office of the President
Presidential election
47. Interpretation of the First Amendment that holds that the government cannot interfere with speech unless the speech presents a clear and present danger that it will lead to evil or illegal acts.
Clear and present danger test
Regulation
Categorical-formula grants
Free rider
48. Election system in which the candidate with the most votes wins.
Winner-take-all system
Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act (BCRA)
Precedent
Speaker
49. Powers that the Constitution gives to both the national and state governments - such as the power to levy taxes.
Political action committee (PAC)
Concurrent powers
Logrolling
Fundamentalists
50. The right to renounce one's citizenship.
Senatorial courtesy
Incumbent
Right of expatriation
Interstate compact