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. A veto exercised by the president after Congress has adjourned; if the president takes no action for 10 days - the bill does not become law and does not return to Congress for possible override.






2. The number of Americans who are out of work but actively looking for a job. The number does not usually include those who are not looking.






3. 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.






4. A court with appellate jurisdiction that hears appeals from the decisions of lower courts.






5. Literacy requirements some states imposed as a condition of voting - generally used to disqualify black voters in the South; now illegal.






6. A procedural practice in the Senate whereby a senator temporarily blocks the consideration of the bill or nomination.






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






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






9. Advertisements and commercials for products and services; they receive less First Amendment protection - primarily to discourage false and misleading ads.






10. A permanent committee established in a legislature - usually focusing on a policy area.






11. An official document - published every weekday - which lists the new and proposed regulations of executive departments and regulatory agencies.






12. Deliberate refusal to obey law or comply with orders of public officials as a means of expressing opposition.






13. A policy that emphasizes a united front and cooperation between the major political parties - especially on sensitive foreign policy issues.






14. Views the Constitution as giving a limited list of powers—primarily foreign policy and national defense—to the national government - leaving the rest to the sovereign states. Each level of government is dominant within its own sphere. The Supreme Cou






15. An action taken by Congress to reverse the presidential veto - requiring a two-thirds majority in each chamber.






16. A tactic in which PACs collect contributions from like-minded individuals (each limited to $2000) and present them to a candidate or political party as a 'bundle -' thus increasing the PAC's influence.






17. The clause in the Constitution (Article 1 - Section 8 - Clause 1) that gives Congress the power to regulate all business activities that cross state lines or affect more than one state or other nations.






18. 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






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






20. Quality or state of a work that taken as a whole appeals to a prurient interest in sex by depicting sexual conduct in a patently offensive way and that lacks serious literary - artistic - political - or scientific value.






21. In this type of sample - every individual has unknown and random chance of being selected.






22. Period at the beginning of the new president's term during which the president enjoys generally positive relations with the press and Congress - usually lasting about six months.






23. A specific course of action taken by government to achieve a public goal.






24. The proportion of the voting age public that votes - sometimes defined as the number of registered voters that vote.






25. The process by which provisions of the bill of rights are brought within the scope of the Fourteenth Amendment and so applied to state and local governments.






26. 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.






27. Proposal at the Constitutional Convention made by William Paterson of New Jersey for a central government with a single-house legislature in which each state would be represented equally.






28. Tax required to vote; prohibited for national elections by the Twenty-Fourth Amendment (1964) and ruled unconstitutional for all elections in Harper v. Virginia Board of Elections (1966).






29. Congress appropriates a certain sum - which is allocated to state and local units and sometimes to nongovernmental agencies - based on applications from those who wish to participate. Examples are grants by the National Science Foundation to universi






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






31. Agreement between a prosecutor and a defendant that the defendant will plead guilty to a lesser offense to avoid having to stand trial for a more serious offense.






32. Relationships among interest groups - congressional committees and subcommittees - and the government agencies that share a common policy concern.






33. Programs such as unemployment insurance - disaster relief - or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.






34. A convention held in September 1786 to consider problems of trade and navigation - attended by five states and important because it issued the call to Congress and the states for what became the Constitutional Convention.






35. 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.






36. A theory of international relations that focuses on the hope the nations will act together to solve international problems and promote peace.






37. Theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes - stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and the curve during booms.






38. A policy adopted by the Bush administration in 2001 that asserts America's right to attack any nation that has weapons of mass destruction that might be used against U.S. interests at home or abroad.






39. Federal program that provides medical benefits for low-income persons.






40. Money spent by individuals or groups not associated with candidates to elect or defeat candidates for office.






41. The redrawing of congressional and other legislative district lines following the census - to accommodate population shifts and keep districts as equal as possible in population.






42. The process - most notably in families and schools - by which we develop our political attitudes - values - and beliefs.






43. Democratic and civic habits of discussion - compromise - and respect for differences - which grow out of participation in voluntary organizations.






44. The drawing of election districts so as to ensure that members of a certain race are a minority in the district; ruled unconstitutional in Gomillion v. Lightfoot (1960).






45. Constitutional requirement that governments act reasonably and that the substance of the laws themselves be fair and reasonable; limits what the government may do.






46. An international trade organization with more than 130 members - including the United States and the People's Republic of China - that seeks to encourage free trade by lowering tariffs and other trade restrictions.






47. Synonymous with 'collective action -' it specifically studies how government officials - politicians - and voters respond to positive and negative incentives.






48. Programs such as unemployment insurance - disability relief - or disability payments that provide benefits to all eligible citizens.






49. Economic theory based on the principles of John Maynard Keynes stating that government spending should increase during business slumps and be curbed during booms.






50. The authority of a court to hear a case 'in the first instance.'