U.S. Government & Politics - Princeton Review

Our phenomenal success in improvingstudents’ scores on standardized tests is due to a simple, innovative, and radicallyeffective philosophy: Study the test, not justwhat the test claims

Rob Franek, VP Test Prep Books, Publisher

Seamus Mullarkey, Associate Publisher

Laura Braswell, Senior Editor

Selena Coppock, Editor

Heather Brady, Editor

Random House Publishing Team

Tom Russell, Publisher

Nicole Benhabib, Publishing Manager

Ellen L Reed, Production Manager

Alison Stoltzfus, Associate Managing Editor

The Princeton Review, Inc

111 Speen Street, Suite 550

Framingham, MA 01701

E-mail: editorialsupport@review.com

The Princeton Review is not affiliated with Princeton University Copyright © 2011 by The Princeton Review, Inc.

Cover design © 2011 by Random House, Inc.

Cover art © 2011 Daniel Kaesler/ Alamy

All rights reserved Published in the United States by Random House, Inc., New York, and in Canada by Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto.

eISBN: 978-0-307-94450-4

ISSN: 1097-2757

Editor: Calvin Cato

Production Editor: Stephanie Tantum Production Coordinator: Deborah A Silvestrini

2012 Edition

v3.1

I want to thank all the great PrincetonReview teachers I’ve worked with over theyears They are quite simply the brightest,most creative, and most energetic group ofpeople I’ve ever come across, and they areundoubtedly The Princeton Review’sgreatest asset

Special thanks also go to Richard Strean,Matthew Polazzo, and John Hoj for theirexpertise Finally, thanks to my family, theguys in my band—5 Chinese Brothers—andmost especially to Lisa

—Tom MeltzerThe Princeton Review would like to thankJohn Moscatiello for his work updating the

2012 edition of this book

PART I: THE TEST AND HOW TO CRACK IT

1 About the Advanced PlacementProgram

2 Being a Good Test-Taker

3 Cracking the Multiple-Choice

Section

4 Cracking the Free Response Section

PART II: AP U.S GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

PART III: THE PRINCETON REVIEW AP U.S.

GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS PRACTICE TESTS AND

16 Practice Test 2: Answers andExplanations

INTRODUCTION

WHAT IS THE

PRINCETON REVIEW?

The Princeton Review is an internationaltest-preparation company with branches inall major U.S cities and several citiesabroad In 1981, John Katzman startedteaching an SAT prep course in his parents’living room Within five years, ThePrinceton Review had become the largestSAT prep program in the country

Our phenomenal success in improvingstudents’ scores on standardized tests is due

to a simple, innovative, and radicallyeffective philosophy: Study the test, not justwhat the test claims to test This approachhas led to the development of techniques fortaking standardized tests based on theprinciples the test writers themselves use towrite the tests

The Princeton Review has found that its

methods work not just for cracking the SAT,but for any standardized test We’ve alreadysuccessfully applied our system to theGMAT, LSAT, MCAT, and GRE, to name just

a few Obviously you need to be well versed

in government and politics to do well on the

AP U.S Government & Politics Exam, butyou should remember that any standardizedtest is partly a measure of your ability tothink like the people who writestandardized tests This book will help youbrush up on your political knowledge andprepare for the exam using our time-testedprinciple: Crack the system based on howthe test is created

We also offer books and online servicesthat cover an enormous variety of educationand career-related topics If you’reinterested, check out our website at

PART I The Test and How to Crack It

1

WHAT IS THE

ADVANCED PLACEMENT PROGRAM?

The fact that you’re reading this book meansthat you probably already know somethingabout the Advanced Placement (AP)program: After all, how many people pick

up a test-preparation guide for a little lightreading? So, you probably already knowthat the AP courses at your high school aresupposed to be the toughest available andthat, at the end of the school year, you cantake an AP exam that may allow you toearn college credit for your work in thecourse However, there are a few things youprobably don’t know: Who decides whatconstitutes an AP course? Are AP courses thesame at every high school? Who writes andgrades the AP exam? This section of the

book answers these and other relatedquestions.

The Advanced Placement program iscoordinated by an organization called theCollege Board The College Board overseescollege-admissions examinations; it alsopublishes test and course materials fromprevious years, holds seminars on collegeadmissions, and sponsors educationalresearch Its membership is made up ofcollege administrators and educators;college admissions officers; and high schooladministrators, college counselors, andteachers

The College Board appoints adevelopment committee for each of the 34subjects in which AP exams are available.Each committee meets to decide what should

be covered in an AP course and what should

be on the AP exam The Government andPolitics Examination Committee, which

writes both the U.S Government and theComparative Government Exams, is made

up of six people​—two high schoolgovernment teachers and four collegeprofessors (two experts in U.S government,two experts in comparative government).Its decisions are included in a publicationcalled Advanced Placement CourseDescription: Government and Politics, which isavailable from the College Board Don’tbother buying it—our book includes all thepertinent information from that booklet Ifyou want to take a look at it, ask yourteacher if he or she has a copy; most socialstudies departments have copies of all theimportant College Board AP publications It

is also available as a free download on theCollege Board’s website:

The development committee has twoimportant jobs: to update the course

description to reflect recent events andtrends in political science and to write the

AP U.S Government and Politicsexaminations The committee is thereforeresponsible for making changes to both thecourse syllabus and to the test content andformat When the committee finisheswriting an exam, it hands the test over tothe Educational Testing Service (ETS), whichprints and administers the exam ETS also

“normalizes” the multiple-choice section;that is, ETS makes sure that it is no harder

or easier than the previous year’s choice section Yes, ETS is the same groupthat administers the SAT and many otheradmissions exams; fortunately, its role increating AP exams is more limited than it is

multiple-on the SAT

No one forces teachers to teach APGovernment in a particular way; thecommittee’s requirements are actually more

like suggestions If you discuss your APGovernment course with a friend taking thesame course at a different school, you willlikely find that his or her course isnoticeably different from yours (especially ifyou are using different textbooks) Don’tworry about these differences: There is noone right way to teach AP Government Allteachers will interpret the meaning andimportance of events in their own manner.

In that way, your AP Government course issimilar to a college course In most otherways, it will probably be easier than atypical college course, although much harderthan a typical high school course

SHOULD YOU TAKE AP CLASSES?

SHOULD YOU TAKE AP EXAMS?

There’s an obvious downside to taking APclasses: They are more difficult than regular

classes AP classes mean more detailedlectures, more homework, more researchpapers, more tests, and possibly a lowergrade So why take an AP course?

First, if you’re thinking about going tocollege, you want as many AP courses onyour transcript as you can comfortablyhandle These classes indicate to yourprospective schools that you are seriousabout studying Many admissions officeswill give your AP grade a one-level “bump;”that is, they will treat your C as a B (By theway, that’s how some high school studentsend up with GPAs above 4.0; they getalmost all A’s, including their AP courses.)College admissions officers are morefavorably disposed to students who take APcourses

Second, AP courses help you develop skillsyou will need in college A good AP teacherwill assign research papers and administer

essay tests; require you to study primarysource material, maps, census data, andmany other resources beyond your textbook;encourage discussion of course material; andlecture in a way that prompts you to takegood notes in order to pass the course Allthese aspects of AP courses will helpprepare you for your college courses.

Third, AP courses are supposed to prepareyou for AP exams, which can be quitehelpful in getting your college degree Manyschools award college credit for good grades

on AP tests Because college credits costmoney, success on AP exams could save youand/or your parents a lot of money Insome cases, a school will allow you to skip

an introductory class if you have a good APscore In a best-case scenario, taking APtests can help you skip a year of college(and save a year’s tuition) It’s important tonote that you do not have to take an AP

course to take an AP exam If you feelyou’re up to speed in a subject, you shouldtake the AP exam regardless of the courseyou took Remember also that it is theindividual college, and not the CollegeBoard, that decides whether to grantadvanced placement for AP scores; theschools themselves also determine what isconsidered a satisfactory grade Beforecommitting to an AP exam, contact yourprospective schools and find out their APpolicies You can also check the school’scourse catalogue: Almost all schools printtheir AP policies in their catalogues, whichare often available online.

Taking AP tests can help your collegeapplication in other ways as well TheCollege Board confers a number of awards

to students who excel on three or more APexams The AP Scholar Awards are given

to students who exceed an average grade of

3 on three or more AP exams; moreprestigious awards are given to studentswho take more tests and receive highergrades These awards are noted on the scorereports that are sent to your prospectivecolleges.

HOW DO YOU SIGN UP FOR THE

EXAM? WHAT WILL HAPPEN ON TEST

DAY?

If you want to take one or more AP exams,the first thing you should do is visit yourcollege counselor He or she will direct you

to the AP coordinator for your school The

AP coordinator is usually a teacher orcounselor who is in charge of collectingexam fees and telling you when and wherethe exam will be held If for some reasonyou can’t take the test through your school

—for example, if you’re the only student

who wants to take an AP exam or yourschool has not designated a coordinator—you can still take the test through anotherschool To find out which schools in yourarea offer the test, call the College Board’s

AP Services office at 609-771-7300 or look

on the website at www.collegeboard.com

It costs $87 to take AP exams within theUnited States This fee is expensive, but stillmuch cheaper than the cost of the collegecourse that you may place out of Yourschool keeps $8 for administrative fees, andthe College Board suggests that the schoolrefund that money to you if you and yourfamily have financial difficulties You mayalso apply to the College Board for a $22fee reduction based on financial need If, forsome reason, you need to take the test at atime other than when it is being offered,you may be charged an additional fee

THE COLLEGE BOARD’S SUGGESTED

TIMETABLE FOR STUDENTS PREPARING

TO TAKE AN AP TEST

January—discuss with your

government teacher and your collegecounselor whether you should take theexam If you decide to take the test,meet with the AP coordinator and handover your fees If you need to makespecial arrangements because of adisability, do so at this time If yourschool does not offer AP exams, contactthe College Board to find the location ofthe nearest school offering the tests.Mid-February—if you need to take theexam at another school and you stillhaven’t made plans to do so, DO ITNOW!

May—AP exams are administered

Early and mid-June—AP exams aregraded If you want your score reportsent to schools other than those youindicated on your test registration, or ifyou want to cancel your test scores, youhave until June 15 to contact the

College Board with your request (learnmore about canceling your test scores

on the next page, under the headingSpecial Circumstances)

Early July—your prospective collegesstart to receive your grades

Early to mid-July—you receive yourgrades

The AP U.S Government and PoliticsExam is usually offered at 8:00 A.M The testmay start a little earlier or later at yourschool, but not by much: College Board rulesprohibit starting before 6:00 A.M. or after10:00 A.M. On test day, you will need to

Two number-two pencils (for the

multiple-choice section) Make sure youhave an eraser

A dark-blue or black pen (with which towrite your essays)

A watch (in case there’s no clock inyour testing room) Do not bring awatch that beeps or has an alarm or acalculator; it will be confiscated by theproctor

THINGS YOU MAY NOT BRING TOTHE EXAM

Cell phones, PDAs, MP3 players,

pagers, or any other electronic or

communication device

Books, compasses, correction fluid,

dictionaries, highlighters, notes, orcolored pencils.

Scratch paper (notes can be made onportions of the exam booklets)

Watches that beep or have an alarm.Portable listening or recording devices(even with headphones) or

SPECIAL

CIRCUMSTANCES

SPECIAL CONDITIONS FOR STUDENTSWITH DISABILITIES

Students who seek special testing conditions

to accommodate disabilities should haveeither a current Individualized EducationProgram (IEP) on file at their school or asigned letter from a doctor describing thedisability The following options areavailable to qualified students: large-typetests and Braille tests for those with poor or

no vision (poor-sighted students may alsohave an aide read to them and takedictation for the essays); the right to takethe exam at a different, moreaccommodating location; and the right totake the exam untimed Take note: Youmust present documentation of yourdisability for your score report to indicate

“Certified Disability.” Make sure yourdocumentation is in order long before testday

PROBLEMS ON TEST DAY

On rare occasions, the College Board writes

a lousy question Sometimes ETS misprints aquestion, misprints a page of the exam (orleaves it blank), or makes some other error

If, during the test, you believe that one ormore of the questions on the test doesn’twork, you should contact the College Board

as soon as possible after the test Providethe test title, the question number, and adescription of what you think was wrongwith the question But honestly, this isextremely unlikely to happen in agovernment exam—such errors almostinvariably occur on math or science tests Ifyou do see a misprint, you should report itimmediately to the proctor, and after theexam, to the College Board at the phonenumber, address, and e-mail addressprovided at the end of this chapter

More common are problems in test

administration Maybe your proctor gavethe directions incorrectly For you, thatshould be no big deal, as you’ll know all thedirections well before test day because youread this book The big problem is a proctorwho times the exam incorrectly, particularly

if he or she gives you too little time (youcould report an error if your proctor gaveyou too much time, but why would you wantto?) In the case of a timing error, notify theschool’s AP coordinator immediately If thecoordinator doesn’t help (maybe he or she isthe proctor who screwed up the timing), gosee the principal If you wait too long, youmay get stuck with the score you got on themistimed exam

That covers what happens when theCollege Board, ETS, or your proctor messes

up What about when you screw up? If youthink (or know) that you blew the exam,you have until June 15 to contact the

College Board and cancel your score June

15 is also the date by which you have tocontact the College Board if you want towithhold your grades from certain colleges

or add schools to the list of those receivingyour grades Unless you’re reasonablycertain you got a 1 on an AP exam, youprobably shouldn’t cancel your grade

Finally, here’s a list of things that will getyou thrown out of the test, lead to yourscores being canceled, and raise serioussuspicions that you are a cheater

Leafing through the exam booklet

before the exam begins

Trying to give answers to or receiveanswers from someone else during theexam

Working on the wrong section of theexam

Continuing to work on the exam after

you have been instructed to stop.

Tearing a page out of your test booklet

or trying to sneak the entire exam out

of the test site

Looking in a textbook, notebook, orencyclopedia during the exam

Behaving disruptively

WHAT IS THE AP U.S GOVERNMENTAND POLITICS EXAM LIKE? HOW IS IT

GRADED?

The AP U.S Government and Politics Exam

is a two-part test The chart below illustratesthe test’s structure

The test is designed to test an overview ofU.S government It doesn’t give all subjectsequal weight, however Here’s how the testquestions break down.

While most of the questions deal with theinstitutions of government, the questionsare nearly evenly divided among the fourinstitutions There are no definitionquestions, although you need to know thedefinitions of words to understand the

questions The questions tend to deal withthe dynamics of how government operateswithin a political environment Forexample, you may be asked how interestgroups attempt to influence policy making

in Congress and the bureaucracy or how thepresident attempts to influence Congressthrough public opinion The test writerswant to know whether you understand thegeneral principles that guide U.S.government and the making of publicpolicy

In addition to the multiple-choicequestions, there are four mandatory free-response questions You’ll have a total of

100 minutes to answer all of them Youshould spend approximately 25 minutes perquestion, but be aware that you mustmanage your own time Additional timespent on one question will reduce the timethat you have left to answer another

Writing more than is necessary to answerthe question will not earn you extra points.

The graders assign each of your response answers a numerical score.Weighing the average on the free-responsesand the score on the multiple-choicequestions each as 50 percent, the graderscreate a final score from a low of 1 to a high

free-of 5 The chart below tells you what thatfinal score means

After you’ve read this book, take ourpractice tests To score your multiple-choicequestions, award yourself one point forevery correct answer and credit 0 points toyour score for every question you left blank.Remember that there is no longer a guessingpenalty on the test This will give you yourraw score.

Here’s what that score would translateinto on the AP U.S Government and PoliticsExam, assuming you performed as well onthe essay questions

Of course, if you follow our advice for

how to write a good free-response essay,you could score higher on the free-responsesection than on the multiple-choice sectionand potentially increase your final grade byone point.

Recently, the College Board announced amajor revision to a number of its APprograms, but not to the U.S Governmentand Politics Exam, so you have nothing toworry about for this exam These revisionsare scheduled to roll out over the next fewyears, beginning with small-scale programs

in French, German, and World History forthe 2011–2012 academic year andcontinuing the following year with Biology,Latin, and Spanish In the 2013–2014academic year, the U.S History Exam, one

of most popular AP exams will receive asignificant overhaul

FINALLY…

A lot of the information in this chapter alsoappears in a free College Board publicationcalled Advanced Placement: Bulletin forStudents and Parents It includes sample testquestions and updated information aboutthe exam It also contains some test-takingsuggestions We at The Princeton Reviewthink our suggestions are much better.

You should be able to get a copy fromyour counselor The publication, as well asinformation and sample questions forindividual subjects, is also available fordownload from the College Board website(www.collegeboard.com) Also check out the

AP Central section of the site If all elsefails, you can request more informationfrom the College Board The phone number

is 609-771-7300, and the e-mail address is