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






2. The study of the characteristics of populations.






3. 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.






4. A minor party founded by Ross Perot in 1995. It focuses on national government reform - fiscal responsibility - and political accountability. It has recently struggled with internal strife and criticism that it lacks an identity.






5. A belief that limited government insures order competitive markets and personal opportunity.






6. Through different grant programs - slices up the marble cake into many different pieces - making it even more difficult to differentiate the functions of the levels of government.






7. 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.






8. Something given with the expectation of receiving something in return.






9. A form of organization that operates through impersonal - uniform rules and procedures.






10. A formal writ used to bring a case before the Supreme Court.






11. 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.






12. A judicial system in which the court of law is a neutral arena where two parties argue their differences.






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






14. An election during periods of expanded suffrage and change in the economy and society that proves to be a turning point - redefining the agenda of politics and the alignment of voters within parties.






15. The formal process for making regulations.






16. A type of policy that takes benefits (usually through taxes) from one group of Americans and gives them to another (usually through spending).






17. An election system in which each party running receives the proportion of legislative seats corresponding to its proportion of the vote.






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






19. Lawsuit brought by an individual or group of people on behalf of all those similarly situated.






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






21. A division of population based on occupation - income - and education.






22. Arrangement whereby public officials are hired to provide legal assistance to people accused of crimes who are unable to hire their own attorneys.






23. A tax graduated so that people with higher incomes pay larger fraction of their income than people with lower incomes.






24. The distribution of individual preferences or evaluations of a given issue - candidate - or institution within a specific population.






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






26. The right to vote.






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






28. Efforts by government to alter the free operation of the market to achieve social goals such as protecting workers and the environment.






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






30. 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.






31. A rise in the general price level (and decrease in dollar value) owing to an increase in the volume of money and credit in relation to available goods.






32. Formal orders issued by the president to direct action by the Federal bureaucracy.






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






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






35. 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.






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






37. The desire to avoid international entanglement altogether.






38. 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.






39. The authority of a court to review decisions made by lower courts.






40. The right of women to vote.

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






42. Programs in which eligibility is based on prior contributions to government - usually in the form of payroll taxes.






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






44. An official who is expected to vote independently based on his or her judgment of the circumstances; one interpretation of the role of the legislator.






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






46. The tendency of presidents to learn more about doing their jobs over time.






47. Elections held midway between presidential elections.






48. The convention in Philadelphia - May 25 to September 17 - 1787 - that debated and agreed upon the Constitution of the United States.






49. Government in which the people elect those who govern and pass laws; also called a republic.






50. A notion held by a nineteenth-century Americans that the United States was destined to rule the continent - from the Atlantic the Pacific.