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 policy-making alliance that involves a very strong ties among a congressional committee - an interest group - and a Federal Department or agency.






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






3. A decision by the president not to spend money appropriated by Congress - now prohibited under Federal law.






4. A technique of Congress to establish federal regulations. Total preemption rests on the national governments power under the supremacy and commerce clauses to preempt conflicting state and local activity. Building on this constitutional authority - f






5. A PAC formed by an officeholder that collects contributions from individuals and other PACs and then makes contributions to other candidates and political parties.






6. Governance divided between the parties - especially when one holds the presidency and the other controls one or both houses of Congress.






7. An ideology that cherishes individual liberty and insists on minimal government - promoting a free market economy - a noninterventionist foreign policy - and an absence of regulation in moral - economic - and social life.






8. Consumer tax on a specific kind of merchandise - such as tobacco.






9. The process of putting a law into practice through bureaucratic rules or spending.






10. Powers expressly or implicitly reserved to the states.

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






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






13. Powers the Constitution specifically grants to one of the branches of the national government.






14. Largely banned party soft money - restored a long-standing prohibition on corporations and labor unions for using general treasury funds for electoral purposes - and narrowed the definition of issue advocacy.






15. Established by Congress in 1978 as a flexible - mobile corps of senior career executives who worked closely with presidential appointees to manage government.






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






17. 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






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






19. Money raised in unlimited amounts by political parties for party-building purposes. Now largely illegal except for limited contributions to state or local parties for voter registration and get-out-the-vote efforts.






20. These are broad state grants to states for prescribed activities—welfare - child care - education - social services - preventive health care - and health services—with only a few strings attached. States have greater flexibility in deciding how to sp






21. Segregation resulting from economic or social conditions or personal choice.






22. A president's claim of broad public support.






23. An electoral district in which voters choose one representative or official.






24. A national meeting of delegates elected at primaries - caucuses - or state conventions who assemble once every four years to nominate candidates for president and vice president - ratify the party platform - elect officers - and adopt rules.






25. Media that emphasize the news.






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






27. The reliance on diplomacy and negotiation to solve international problems.






28. A local or judicial election in which candidates are not selected or endorsed by political parties and party affiliation is not listed on ballots.






29. Assigning police to neighborhoods where they walk the beat and work with churches and other community groups to reduce crime and improve relations with minorities.






30. 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.






31. Method whereby representatives of the union and employer determine wages - hours - and other conditions of employment through direct negotiation.






32. 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.






33. Alternative means of health care in which individuals make tax-deductible contributions to a special account that can be used to pay medical expenses.






34. The president's annual statement to Congress and the nation.






35. 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.






36. The rights of all people to dignity and worth; also called human rights.






37. 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.






38. A characteristic of individuals that is predictive of political behavior.






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






40. How voters feel about a candidate's background - personality - leadership ability - and other personal qualities.






41. An official who is expected to represent the views of his or her constituents even when personally holding different views; one interpretation of the role of legislator.






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






43. A procedural rule in the House of Representatives that prohibits any amendments to bills or provides that only members of the committee reporting the bill may offer amendments.






44. Programs that the Federal government requires States to implement without Federal funding.






45. A jury of 12 to 23 persons who - in private - hear evidence presented by the government to determine whether persons shall be required to stand trial. If the jury believes there is sufficient evidence that a crime was committed - it issues an indictm






46. Citizenship in more than one nation.






47. The rule of precedent - whereby a rule or law contained in a judicial decision is commonly viewed as binding on judges whenever the same question is presented.






48. Censorship imposed before a speech is made or a newspaper is published; usually presumed to be unconstitutional.






49. A commission created by the 1974 amendments to the Federal Election Campaign Act to administer election reform laws. It consists of six commissioners appointed by president and confirmed by the Senate. Its duties include overseeing disclosure of camp






50. Domination of an industry by a single company that fixes prices and discourages competition; also - the company that dominates the industry by these means.