GED Practice Test (#1) – Social Studies

One of the main theories about the final location of this aircraft is the southern Indian Ocean. What evidence from the passage supports this theory?

Mystery Surrounds Fate of Malaysian Flight 370

Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 (MH370/MAS370) was a scheduled international passenger flight that disappeared on 8 March 2014, while flying from Kuala Lumpur International Airport, Malaysia, to Beijing Capital International Airport in China. The flight last made voice contact with air traffic control at 01:19 MYT, 8 March (17:19 UTC, 7 March) when it was over the South China Sea, less than an hour after takeoff. The aircraft disappeared from air traffic controllers’ radar screens at 01:22 MYT. Malaysian military radar continued to track the aircraft as it deviated from its planned flight path and crossed the Malay Peninsula. It left the range of Malaysian military radar at 02:22 while over the Andaman Sea, 200 nautical miles (370 km) north-west of Penang in north-western Malaysia. The aircraft, a Boeing 777-200ER, was carrying 12 Malaysian crew members and 227 passengers from 15 nations.

A multinational search effort began in the Gulf of Thailand and the South China Sea, where the flight’s signal was last seen on secondary surveillance radar, and was soon extended to the Strait of Malacca and Andaman Sea. Analysis of satellite communications between the aircraft and Inmarsat’s satellite communications network concluded that the flight continued until at least 08:19 and flew south into the southern Indian Ocean, although the precise location cannot be determined. Australia took charge of the search effort on 17 March, when the search moved to the southern Indian Ocean. On 24 March, the Malaysian government noted that the final location determined by the satellite communication is far from any possible landing sites, and concluded that “flight MH370 ended in the southern Indian Ocean.” The current phase of the search, the largest and most expensive in aviation history, is a comprehensive survey of the sea floor about 1,800 kilometres (970 nmi) south-west of Perth, Western Australia, which began in October 2014. Nothing was found of the aircraft until 29 July 2015, when a piece of marine debris, later confirmed to be a flaperon from Flight 370, washed ashore on Réunion Island. The bulk of the aircraft has still not been located, prompting many theories about its disappearance.

(source: Retrieved from: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malaysia_Airlines_Flight_370 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)

The passage mentions several specific examples that led to a change in women’s suffrage rights. Which of the following is implied in the passage?

The 19th Amendment

The 19th Amendment guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation. Beginning in the mid-19th century, woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered radical change.

Between 1878, when the amendment was first introduced in Congress, and 1920, when it was ratified, champions of voting rights for women worked tirelessly, but their strategies varied. Some tried to pass suffrage acts in each state. Nine western states adopted woman suffrage legislation by 1912. Others challenged male-only voting laws in the courts. More public tactics included parades, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. Supporters were heckled, jailed, and sometimes physically abused.

By 1916, most of the major suffrage organizations united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment. When New York adopted woman suffrage in 1917, and President Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began to shift.

On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment, and two weeks later, the Senate followed. When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, the amendment was adopted. While decades of struggle to include African Americans and other minority women in the promise of voting rights remained, the face of the American electorate had changed forever.

(Source: Featured Document: The 19th Amendment – National Archives … (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/amendment_19/)

According to this passage, which of the following were practical and visual examples of tireless work on behalf of championing women’s voting rights?

The 19th Amendment

The 19th Amendment guarantees American women the right to vote. Achieving this milestone required a lengthy and difficult struggle; victory took decades of agitation. Beginning in the mid-19th century, woman suffrage supporters lectured, wrote, marched, lobbied, and practiced civil disobedience to achieve what many Americans considered radical change.

Between 1878, when the amendment was first introduced in Congress, and 1920, when it was ratified, champions of voting rights for women worked tirelessly, but their strategies varied. Some tried to pass suffrage acts in each state. Nine western states adopted woman suffrage legislation by 1912. Others challenged male-only voting laws in the courts. More public tactics included parades, silent vigils, and hunger strikes. Supporters were heckled, jailed, and sometimes physically abused.

By 1916, most of the major suffrage organizations united behind the goal of a constitutional amendment. When New York adopted woman suffrage in 1917, and President Wilson changed his position to support an amendment in 1918, the political balance began to shift.

On May 21, 1919, the House of Representatives passed the amendment, and two weeks later, the Senate followed. When Tennessee became the 36th state to ratify the amendment on August 18, 1920, the amendment was adopted. While decades of struggle to include African Americans and other minority women in the promise of voting rights remained, the face of the American electorate had changed forever.

(Source: Featured Document: The 19th Amendment – National Archives … (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/featured_documents/amendment_19/)

According to the defenders of the Constitution, all of the following ensure a strong national government except:

Checks, Balances, and Constitutional Defense

Even long ago, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and John Jay were defending the Constitution. They wrote their defense in the Federalist, saying that built-in restraints were important. Quoting from their text, “You must first enable government to control the governed; and in the next place oblige it to control itself.” Each branch of government had been given powers by the constitution to limit one or more of the other branches. For example, the legislative branch could remove officials from office, including the President. The Congress could be limited by the President’s power to veto legislation and the Supreme Court is monitored by the Presidential appointments to it and the “advice and consent” of the Senate. Chief Justice Marshall actually created the present three way restraint system when he instituted the judicial review policy. This confirms the present policy of checks and balances in the U.S. Government.

(Source: https://uniontestprep.com/ged-test/practice-test/social-studies/pages/4)

According to the map “Original Thirteen Colonies,” which of the following is not true?

(Retrieved from: http://www.worldatlas.com/webimage/countrys/namerica/usstates/colonies.htm)

You are perusing a social media site and come across an announcement that an ancestry research group has found hereditary ties between a popular celebrity and a former President of the United States, who lived many years ago. Wondering why the site would publish such information, you can think of these reasons. Which one would you discard as being the most unlikely?

With which of the following statements would the author of this passage agree?

In trying to understand and adapt to today’s world, we can find a great deal of help in the study of past geographies. At different times of Earth history, there have been widely varied climates, resources of land and water, animals, plants, and routes of transportation. As humans have interacted with these resources, the resources themselves have changed, changing the face of history for future generations. The results of historical Earth/human interaction can tell us a lot about our present role on Earth and how we can help create the best possible scenario for our descendants.

(Source: https://uniontestprep.com/ged-test/practice-test/social-studies/pages/9)

“The spirit of slavery and barbarism, which still lingers to blight and destroy…”

As used in this sentence, the word “spirit” most nearly means _______.

According to the context clues, which of the following is the best definition of the word “consecrated” as used in the Gettysburg Address?

The Gettysburg Address

“Fourscore and seven years ago our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation, conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, testing whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure. We are met on a great battlefield of that war. We have come to dedicate a portion of that field as a final resting-place for those who here gave their lives that that nation might live. It is altogether fitting and proper that we should do this.

But in a larger sense, we cannot dedicate, we cannot consecrate, we cannot hallow this ground. The brave men, living and dead who struggled here have consecrated it far above our poor power to add or detract. The world will little note nor long remember what we say here, but it can never forget what they did here. It is for us the living rather to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who fought here have thus far so nobly advanced. It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us–that from these honored dead we take increased devotion to that cause for which they gave the last full measure of devotion–that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain, that this nation under God shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth.”

(Source: Lincoln, Abraham. “The Gettysburg Address.” Dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery. Gettysburg. 19 Nov. 1863. Address.)

According to the passage, which of the following describes the “reporting out” process?

How Does an Idea Turn into Law?

In the U.S. Congress, there is a definitive process by which a law is made. First, a congressperson takes his/her idea for a new law and formulates a bill. This bill is then given to the Clerk of the House or put in the “hopper”, a box used for this purpose. The bill is identified by its sponsor (the member who submitted it) and a unique number assignment. If the member introducing the bill is from the House of Representatives, the number is preceded by “H.R.” and Senate bill numbers are preceded by “S.”. Each bill is printed by the Government Printing Office (G.P.O.) and a copy is given to each member.

Depending on the category of the bill, it is assigned to one of the many committees (22 in the House of Representatives) to study. The designated committee is responsible for hearing expert testimony regarding the bill, as well as input from interested parties. The committee then does one of two things: release the bill (with or without revision) or lay it aside. If the bill is laid aside, this is called “tabling” and the House or Senate cannot vote on it. If, on the other hand, the bill is released, it is called “reporting out” and the congressional body involved will be able to vote on passage.

(Source: https://uniontestprep.com/ged-test/practice-test/social-studies/pages/21)

Which of the following is an example of something that would not be included in the United States GDP?

A person at an all-you-can-eat buffet devours his first plate of food, enjoys the second plate and can hardly stomach the third plate. How would an economist explain what is happening here?

How does a government measure inflation?

A plant that produces 100 units of an item decides to make 101 units instead. What is the cost of this additional cost called?

Which of the following is not a necessary condition for a perfect market?