SUBJECTS
|
BROWSE
|
CAREER CENTER
|
POPULAR
|
JOIN
|
LOGIN
Business Skills
|
Soft Skills
|
Basic Literacy
|
Certifications
About
|
Help
|
Privacy
|
Terms
|
Email
Search
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. A collection of people who share a common interest or attitude and seek to influence government for specific ends. Interest groups usually work within the framework of government and try to achieve their goals through tactics such as lobbying.
Political culture
Leadership PAC
Mandate
Interest group
2. The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.
Bad tendency test
Natural rights
Coattail effect
Affirmative action
3. Governance divided between the parties - as when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.
Excise tax
Single-member district
Divided government
Iron triangle
4. A person who is employed by and acts for an organized interest group or corporation to try to influence policy decisions and positions in the executive and legislative branches.
Lobbyist
Mass media
Writ of certiorari
Devolution revolution
5. During the Great Society - the marble cake approach of intergovernmental relations.
Creative federalism
Project grants
Protectionism
Stare decisis
6. The authority of a court to hear a case 'in the first instance.'
Nonprotected speech
Original jurisdiction
Reform party
Literacy test
7. Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.
Monetary policy
Civil disobedience
Impeachment
Candidate appeal
8. The process by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.
Labor injunction
National party convention
Immunity
Political socialization
9. A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.
Multilateralism
Divided government
Weapons of mass destruction
Writ of habeas corpus
10. An opinion disagreeing with a majority in a Supreme Court ruling.
Labor injunction
Independent regulatory commission
Delegate
Dissenting opinion
11. A combination of entitlement programs - paid for by employer and employee taxes - that includes retirement benefits - health insurance - and support for disabled workers and the children of deceased or disabled workers.
Divided government
Social Security
Minor party
527 organizations
12. A theory of government that holds that open - multiple - and competing groups can check the asserted power by any one group.
Sound bites
Senior Executive Service
Pluralism
Docket
13. Exemption from prosecution for a particular crime in return for testimony pertaining to the case.
Protectionism
Attentive public
Immunity
White primary
14. The constitutional requirement (in Article II - Section 3) that presidents take care that the laws are faithfully executed - even if they disagree with the purpose of those laws.
Soft power
Take care clause
Filibuster
The Federalist
15. Conservative Christians who (as a group) have become more active in politics in the last two decades and were especially influential in the 2000 presidential election.
Preemption
Multilateralism
Fundamentalists
Executive privilege
16. A provision in a deed to real property prohibiting its sale to a person of a particular race or religion. Judicial enforcement of such deeds is unconstitutional.
Economic sanctions
Constitutionalism
Administrative discretion
Restrictive covenant
17. 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
Deregulation
Literacy test
Appellate jurisdiction
18. Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.
Political socialization
Laissez-faire economics
Impeachment
Class action suit
19. A committee composed of members of both the House of Representatives and the Senate; such committees oversee the Library of Congress and conduct investigations.
Joint committee
Environmental impact statement
Line item veto
Pocket veto
20. A court order requiring explanation to a judge why a prisoner is being held in custody.
Unemployment
Earmarks
Executive order
Writ of habeas corpus
21. Federal statute barring Federal employees from active participation in certain kinds of politics and protecting them from being fired on partisan grounds.
Pocket veto
Racial gerrymandering
Hatch Act
Exclusionary rule
22. Incumbents have an advantage over challengers in election campaigns because voters are more familiar with them - and incumbents are more recognizable.
Name recognition
Prior restraint
National Intelligence Director
Logrolling
23. The total output of all economic activity in the nation - including goods and services.
Restrictive covenant
Special or select committee
Gross domestic product (GDP)
National tide
24. A specific course of action taken by government to achieve a public goal.
Judicial activism
Public policy
Cross-cutting requirements
Fundamentalists
25. The widespread belief that the United States is a land of opportunity and that individual initiative and hard work can bring economic success.
American dream
Issue network
Vouchers
Full faith and credit clause
26. Voting by member of one party for a candidate of another party.
Protectionism
Crossover voting
Collective bargaining
Primary election
27. Alternative means of health care in which people or their employers are charged a set amount and the HMO provides health care and covers hospital costs.
Tariff
Health maintenance organization (HMO)
Movement
Public choice
28. Constitutional arrangement that concentrates power in a central government.
Preemption
World Trade Organization (WTO)
Unitary system
Dissenting opinion
29. A policy-making alliance among loosely connected participants that comes together on a particular issue - then disbands.
Antitrust legislation
Party registration
Executive agreement
Issue network
30. The powers expressly given to Congress in the Constitution.
Bureaucracy
Enumerated powers
Coattail effect
Civil disobedience
31. A tax graduated so that people with higher incomes pay larger fraction of their income than people with lower incomes.
Demographics
Progressive tax
Articles of Confederation
Winner-take-all system
32. Supporters of ratification of the Constitution and of a strong central government.
De jure segregation
Federalists
Statism
Decentralists
33. Electoral system used in electing the president and vice president - in which voters vote for electors pledged to cast their ballots for particular party's candidates.
Discharge petition
Poll tax
Electoral college
Keynesian economics
34. Government policy that attempts to manage the economy by controlling taxing and spending.
Class action suit
Bad tendency test
Fiscal policy
Cycle of increasing effectiveness
35. The formal process for making regulations.
Ethnicity
Rule
Rule-making process
Political socialization
36. The legislative leader selected by the majority party who helps plan party strategy - confers with other party leaders - and tries to keep members of the party in line.
Primary election
The Federalist
American dream
Majority leader
37. Statement required by Federal law from all agencies for any project using Federal funds to assess the potential affect of the new construction or development on the environment.
Decentralists
Executive privilege
Environmental impact statement
Iron triangle
38. Elections in which voters elect officeholders.
Closed primary
Monopoly
General election
Dealignment
39. System designed to reduce voter fraud by limiting voting to those who have established eligibility to vote by submitting the proper documents.
Monopoly
Cycle of decreasing influence
Voter registration
Dual citizenship
40. Economic theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and be curbed during booms.
Civil law
Keynesian economics
Political socialization
Closed rule
41. A policy-making alliance that involves a very strong ties among a congressional committee - an interest group - and a Federal Department or agency.
Proportional representation
Amicus curiae brief
Iron triangle
Centralists
42. Legal process whereby an alleged criminal offender is surrendered by the officials of one states to officials of the state in which the crime is alleged to have been committed.
Free rider
Bureaucrat
Extradition
Merit system
43. Programs that the Federal government requires States to implement without Federal funding.
Green party
Unfunded mandates
Monopoly
Due process
44. A tax whereby people with lower incomes pay a higher fraction of their income than people with higher incomes.
Bundling
Uncontrollable spending
Open shop
Regressive tax
45. Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.
Executive orders
Regressive tax
Soft money
Line item veto
46. Clause in the First Amendment that states that Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion. The Supreme Court has interpreted this to forbid governmental support to any or all religions.
Naturalization
Establishment clause
New Jersey Plan
Race
47. A theory that is based on creating enough military strength to convince other nations not to attack first.
Direct orders
Theory of deterrence
Political action committee (PAC)
Mass media
48. Officer of the Senate selected by the majority party to act as chair in the absence of the vice president.
President pro tempore
Defendant
Impeachment
Women's suffrage
49. Procedure for submitting to popular vote measures passed by the legislature or proposed amendments to a state constitution.
Antitrust legislation
Referendum
Impoundment
Due process
50. The first governing document of the confederated states drafted in 1777 - ratified in 1781 - and replaced by the present Constitution in 1789.
Express powers
Cycle of decreasing influence
Independent expenditure
Articles of Confederation