GED TEST SOCIAL STUDIES TEST EXAM QUESTIONS

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GED® TEST SOCIAL STUDIES TEST EXAM QUESTIONS

Actual Qs and Ans - Expert-Verified Explanation -Guaranteed passing score -24 Questions and Answers

-Format: Multiple-choice / Flashcard

Question 1: Using the chart, what can you infer about representative democracy?

• Each individual's choices are not represented when lawmakers make decisions.
• Every citizen's vote on laws is represented when lawmakers make decisions.
• The president or prime minister writes the laws.
• It is the same as direct democracy

Answer:

• Choice a is correct.

In this type of democracy, people elect representatives who then make decisions on their behalf. People do not each get a vote on legislature. Choice b is incorrect. In this type of democracy, people elect representatives who then make the laws. In direct democracy, each individual's vote is represented.Choice c is incorrect. There is no evidence in this chart to support that conclusion; neither a president nor a prime minister's role is outlined here. Choice d is incorrect. Direct democracy and representative democracy are two separate branches.

Question 2: Please use the following excerpts to answer questions

16-18.

The following is an excerpt from the United States Supreme Court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).: Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences.The following is an excerpt from the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.The following is an excerpt from the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954): To separate [children in grade

and high schools] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone . . . Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority . . . We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place.The following is an excerpt from the Sixth Amendment: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.The following is an excerpt from the Thirteenth

Amendment. Section 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,

except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.The following is an excerpt from the Fourteenth

Amendment Section 1: All persons born or naturalized in the United

States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

• Which of the following statements is supported

by evidence from the excerpts?

• The U.S. Supreme Court occasionally

changes its mind.

• The Brown decision declared segregation

was constitutional and overturned the Plessy decision.

• It is impossible to make laws to eliminate

racial instincts.

• Interpretive problems can be solved by

returning to the actual words of the Constitution.

Answer:

• Choice a is correct.

The Brown decision

overturned the Plessy decision, thus demonstrating that the U.S. Supreme Court occasionally changes its mind.Choice b is incorrect. The Brown decision did overturn the Plessy decision, but, in doing so, it declared segregation to be unconstitutional.Choice c is incorrect. The Plessy decision held that laws could not eliminate racial instincts, but this does not make it a reasonable conclusion; indeed, Brown's authors completely disagreed.Choice d is incorrect. Both decisions were based on the Fourteenth Amendment.

Question 3: Please use the following excerpts to answer question 23.

The following excerpt is from Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations, Book V, Chapter 2 (1776)."The subjects of every state ought to contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible, in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state. The expense of government to the individuals of a great nation is like the expense of management to the joint tenants of a great estate, who are all obliged to contribute in proportion to their respective interests in the estate." The following excerpt is from On the Duty of Civil Disobedience, by Henry David Thoreau (1849)."When a sixth of the population of a nation which has undertaken to be the refuge of liberty are slaves, and a whole country is unjustly overrun and conquered by a foreign army, and subjected to military law, I think that it is not too soon for honest men to rebel and revolutionize. What makes this duty the more urgent is the fact that the country so overrun is not our own, but ours is the invading army. . . . If a thousand men were not to pay their tax bills this year, that would not be a violent and bloody measure, as it would be to pay them, and enable the State to commit violence and shed innocent blood. This is, in fact, the definition of a peaceable revolution, if any such is possible."

• Based on the two excerpts, what would you conclude to be true of the following statements?
• Adam Smith and Henry David Thoreau would agree on the distribution of taxation within the

government.

• Adam Smith and Henry David Thoreau would agree on the definition of a peaceable

revolution.

• Adam Smith and Henry David Thoreau would disagree on the use of military by the

government.

• Adam Smith and Henry David Thoreau would disagree on the use of taxation as an avenue for

government critique.

Answer:

• Choice d is correct.

Since Adam Smith notes that all men ought to contribute via taxation to the government, it seems likely that he would disagree with Henry David Thoreau's notion that not paying taxes is a good way to disagree with government activities.Choice a is incorrect. This is not something that it appears Adam Smith and Henry David Thoreau would agree on. Adam Smith notes that the government should be paid for the protections that each individual enjoys. This would suggest that Smith believes government should use those taxes for citizen protection, which might include military action. Thoreau, on the other hand, is against the use of tax money for military action, especially since he was protesting the Mexican-American war during this time.Choices b and c are incorrect. Adam Smith does not refer to either concept.

Question 4: Please use the following excerpts to answer questions

16-18.

The following is an excerpt from the United States Supreme Court decision of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896).: Legislation is powerless to eradicate racial instincts or to abolish distinctions based upon physical differences.The following is an excerpt from the First Amendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.The following is an excerpt from the United States Supreme Court decision of Brown v. Board of Education (1954): To separate [children in grade and high schools] from others of similar age and qualifications solely because of their race generates a feeling of inferiority as to their status in the community that may affect their hearts and minds in a way unlikely to ever be undone . . . Whatever may have been the extent of psychological knowledge at the time of Plessy v. Ferguson, this finding is amply supported by modern authority . . . We conclude that in the field of public education the doctrine of "separate but equal" has no place.The following is an excerpt from the Sixth Amendment: In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.The following is an excerpt from the Thirteenth

Amendment. Section 1: Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude,