Test your basic knowledge |

AP Government

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 widely shared beliefs - values - and norms about how citizens relate to governments and to one another.






2. The process by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






3. Unlimited and undisclosed spending by an individual or group on communications that do not use words like 'vote for' or 'vote against -' although much of this activity is actually about electing or defeating candidates.






4. A company with a labor agreement under which union membership cannot be required as a condition of employment.






5. The assigning by Congress of congressional seats after each census. State legislatures reapportion state legislative districts.






6. Powers that grow out of the very existence of government.






7. Special spending projects that are set aside on behalf of individual members of Congress for their constituents.






8. During the Great Society - the marble cake approach of intergovernmental relations.






9. Attempting to overthrow the government by force or use violence to interrupt its activities.






10. Legislative act inflicting punishment - including deprivation of property - without a trial - on named individuals or members of a specific group.






11. A procedure for terminating debate - especially filibusters - in the Senate.






12. Remedial action designed to overcome the effects of discrimination against minorities and women.






13. Views the national government - 50 states - and thousands of local governments as competing with each other over ways to put together packages of services and taxes. Applies the analogy of the marketplace: we have some choice about which state and ci






14. The rights of an individual to own - use - rent - invest in - buy - and sell property.






15. A theory of government that holds that open - multiple - and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group.






16. An informal and subjective affiliation with a political party that most people acquire in childhood.






17. 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.






18. The head of the White House staff.






19. A meeting of party delegates to vote on matters of policy and in some cases to select party candidates for public office.






20. Authority given by Congress to the Federal bureaucracy to use reasonable judgment in implementing the laws.






21. Agency that administers civil service laws - rules - and regulations.






22. The practice of exporting U.S. jobs to lower paid employees in other nations.






23. Federal laws (starting with the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890) that try to prevent a monopoly from dominating an industry and restraining trade.






24. Interest groups organized under section 527 of the Internal Revenue Code may advertise for or against candidates. If their source of funding is corporations or unions - they have some restrictions on broadcast advertising. 527 organizations were impo






25. Constitutional division of powers among the legislative - executive - and judicial branches - with the legislative branch making law - the executive applying and enforcing the law - and the judiciary interpreting the law.






26. Government by the people - both directly or indirectly - with free and frequent elections.






27. The clause of the Constitution (Article I - Section 8 - Clause 3) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






28. Presidential staff agency that serves as a clearinghouse for budgetary requests and management improvements for government agencies.






29. A philosophy that encourages individual nations tacked together to solve international problems.






30. Philosophy proposing that judges should interpret the Constitution to reflect what the framers intended and what its words literally say.






31. Biological - chemical - or nuclear weapons that can cause a massive number of deaths in a single use.






32. Governance according to the expressed preferences of the majority.






33. Holding incumbents - usually the president's party - responsible for their records on issues - such as the economy or foreign policy.






34. 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






35. The means by which individuals can express preferences regarding the development of public policy.






36. A career government employee.






37. An elected office that is predictably won by one party or the other - so the success of that party's candidate is almost taken for granted.






38. Legislative or executive review of a particular government program or organization. Can be in response to a crisis of some kind or part of routine review.






39. Established rules and regulations that restrain government officials.






40. Elections held in years when the president is on the ballot.






41. A jury of 6 to 12 persons that determines guilt or innocence in a civil or criminal action.






42. Engaging in activities aimed at influencing public officials - especially legislators - and the policies they enact.






43. A nonprofit association or group operating outside of government that advocates and pursues policy objectives.






44. A system of public employment in which selection and promotion depend on demonstrated performance rather than political patronage.






45. The boost that candidates may get in an election because of the popularity of candidates above them on the ballot - especially the president.






46. Implies that although federalism provides 'a sharing of power and authority between the national and state governments - the state's share rests upon the permission and permissiveness of the national government.'






47. Clause in the Fifth Amendment limiting the power of the national government; similar clause in the Fourteenth Amendment prohibits the state governments from depriving any person of life - liberty - or property without due process of law.






48. How groups form and organize to pursue their goals or objectives - including how to get individuals and groups to participate and to cooperate. The term has many applications in the various social sciences such as political science - sociology - and






49. A type of policy that provides benefits to all Americans.






50. The joint listing of the presidential and vice presidential candidates on the same ballot as required by the Twelfth Amendment.