About the GED Social Studies Exam

Forty percent of the questions on the Social Studies Test will be based on read-ing passages.. GED Components Here is a quick breakdown of how material will be presented on the Social St

 W h a t t o E x p e c t o n t h e G E D S o c i a l S t u d i e s E x a m

The GED Social Studies Exam covers basic social studies concepts and includes questions from four main con-tent areas including U.S (or Canadian) and world history, geography, civics and government, and economics The test applies these four topics to your daily life and looks at how they affect your role as an individual, a member

of a community, a family member, a worker or student, and a consumer You will not be asked to memorize facts—instead, the test will measure your critical thinking skills These skills include your ability to understand, analyze, and evaluate social studies material

The Social Studies Exam includes 50 multiple-choice questions Each question has five answer choices You will have 70 minutes in which to complete all 50 questions The test will include some question sets, meaning that several questions may address a single graphic or reading passage Question sets usually have between two and five items The test may require you to use your understanding of different social studies concepts within the same question set

C H A P T E R

About the GED Social Studies Exam

TO PREPARE effectively for the Social Studies Exam, you need to

know exactly what the test is like This chapter explains the structure

of the exam, including the types of questions and stimuli you will see

on the test

13

Kinds of Stimuli

Test questions are based on three kinds of stimuli

mate-rials: reading passages, visuals, and combined stimuli

that use both reading passages and visuals Here is what

you can expect on the Social Studies Test:

■ Reading passages from articles, speeches,

text-books, laws, or other documents Reading

pas-sages range in length from 50 to 70 words for

single-item questions and from 150 to 170 words

for question sets Forty percent of the questions

on the Social Studies Test will be based on

read-ing passages The test will include one or more

excerpts from the U.S Declaration of

Indepen-dence, U.S Constitution, Federalist Papers, and

Supreme Court landmark cases Review these

documents before taking the test to familiarize

yourself with their fundamental concepts

■ Visuals including maps, graphs, charts, tables,

diagrams, photographs, and political cartoons

More than half the questions on the exam are

based on some form of graphic The test will also

use one practical document like a voter’s

registra-tion form, consumer guide, tax form, budget,

survey, workplace contract, bank statement,

insurance form, or other document

■ Combined stimuli using both text and visuals.

Combined materials make up 20% of the test’s

questions

GED Components

Here is a quick breakdown of how material will

be presented on the Social Studies Exam:

Kinds of Questions

The questions on the Social Studies Exam measure four

major thinking skills: comprehension (your ability to

understand), application (apply information to new

sit-uations), analysis (break down information and analyze

it), and evaluation (make judgments about information).

Here is the breakdown of the types of questions on the Social Studies Test:

Each question type examines a different thinking skill

■ Comprehension For these questions, you will

read passages or review visuals and demonstrate that you understand the meaning of the text or graphic To answer these questions, you may need

to restate information that you have read, sum-marize ideas from a passage, or draw conclusions When answering these types of questions, do not use any prior or additional knowledge of a sub-ject that you might have Some test questions measure your ability to find the best answer based only on the information that is provided Com-prehension questions are typically worded as in the following examples:

➧ Which of the following best describes the passage?

➧ What is the purpose of this paragraph?

➧ According to the map, which of the following is true?

➧ What conclusion can you make based on the information in the chart?

■ Application To answer these questions, you take

information or ideas from one situation and apply them to a different situation Here are some examples of application questions:

➧ Who might use the information in this graph

to support their position?

➧ Which of the following is the most similar to the situation described above?

■ Analysis For these questions, you need to break

down ideas and show relationships between ideas You might be asked to differentiate between fact and opinion, identify an assumption that the author has made even if he or she did not state it explicitly, identify cause and effect relationships,

or compare and contrast information or ideas

– A B O U T T H E G E D S O C I A L S T U D I E S E X A M –

1 3 0

Typical analysis questions may be worded as in

the following examples:

➧ Based on the quotation, what can we infer

about the speaker?

➧ The writer has not directly stated, but would

support, which of the following statements?

■ Evaluation To answer this type of question, you

will synthesize information and make your own

hypothesis or theory Some questions will require

that you evaluate information or ideas and make

a judgment about whether the information is

accurate You will need to look at data to back up

conclusions, identify how values and beliefs shape

decisions, and uncover arguments that might be

illogical Here are some examples of typical

evalu-ation questions:

➧ Which of the following is supported by the

information given in the passage?

➧ Which of the following is an unlikely

explana-tion of the informaexplana-tion presented in the graph?

➧ Which of the following expresses an opinion

rather than a fact?

Test Topics

The test covers four main subjects: history, geography,

civics and government, and economics Although you will

not need to memorize facts from these four categories, you

will need to use your knowledge of social studies concepts

and apply your critical thinking skills This will help you

review key social studies terms and offer basic information

in each content area For further information about a

topic, see the Web resources listed on page 167

Four Main Subjects

The GED Social Studies Exam covers these

four topics:

(or Canada), 25%;

World, 15%

Geography 15%

Civics and Government 25%

Economics 20%

If you have taken the Social Studies Test before or if you are an instructor helping others prepare for the test, you will notice some differences in the test from past years The behavioral sciences—psychology, sociology, and anthropology—no longer appear on the test as a separate topic Some major concepts in these topics, like law, culture, race, society, and religion, are now included within other areas The topics of human health and development are not part of the updated Social Studies Test

What’s New for the GED?

In 2002, the GED was revamped with a new emphasis for the Social Studies Test The test now includes more his-tory questions and a greater percentage of civics and gov-ernment questions than in past years The U.S edition of the test covers topics from major world and U.S histor-ical eras, as well as major topics within the studies of geography, civics and government, and economics Sixty percent of the items or passages in the test have a global

or international context Forty percent concern specific developments in U.S history In some cases, the United States factors into the international setting, while in oth-ers, questions focus on different parts of the world The Canadian version of the test is structured the same way, but emphasizes Canadian, rather than U.S., history The current test has an emphasis on the way material

is presented, with graphic or visual source materials making up the majority of the test’s stimuli In addition, the test has a greater percentage of questions that meas-ure the thinking skill of analysis than in past years

If you took the test before 2002, this chart highlights the changes you will find in the Social Studies Exam

Changes in More history questions content More civics and government

questions Behavioral science no longer a content area

Changes in More questions based on visual format source materials

More single-item questions Changes in More questions that measure thinking skills the thinking skill of analysis

– A B O U T T H E G E D S O C I A L S T U D I E S E X A M –

 D e f i n i n g “ S o c i a l S t u d i e s ”

Social studies is the study of how people live every day It explores many aspects of life: the physical environment

in which people live, the beliefs and traditions they follow, and the societies in which they live Social studies include many different fields, broadly described as history, civics and government, economics, and geography Each of these four categories is related to the others To understand an event or a complex issue, you would exam-ine all four branches of social sciences For example, if you were studying the stock market crash of 1929, you would explore what was happening in the country at the time (history); how the free enterprise system works (economics); what programs and policies were implemented to safeguard against another crash (civics and gov-ernment); and how this event affected people in different areas of the country and why (geography)

The next four chapters introduce you to key terms and offer information about major topics in the four sub-jects of the Social Studies Test The exercises in these chapters will help you review the information you learn Practice questions are similar to those on the GED For additional information about these subjects, see the list

of Web resources on page 167

C H A P T E R

World History

IN THIS section, you will learn about social studies in the GED

con-text: what the test is like, what kind of questions to expect, and how

to tackle those questions You will also review the fundamental content areas and skills you need to do well on the exam

14

 Wo r l d H i s t o r y

The Beginnings of Civilization

Early humans lived in nomadic groups that followed the

animal herds they hunted Over time, these nomads

set-tled in areas with a fresh water source, fertile soil, a

hos-pitable climate, and plentiful animal life From cave

drawings, artifacts, fossils, and skeletal remains, scientists

have learned about early humans and their communities

Artifacts of stone tools like hammers or axes are some of

the earliest evidence of human culture As communities

grew, a system of bartering—trading goods or services—

developed Forms of government—systems that

organ-ized societies—also evolved Through trade routes and wars, human cultural achievements spread between places and some civilizations became empires with large land holdings

Religion

Religion, or belief in a spiritual reality, is an influential part of human culture Early belief systems, including that of the Egyptians, Greeks, and the early Roman

Empire, were polytheistic, meaning they revered more than one god The Jewish tribes of Israel were

mono-theistic, believing in one all-powerful god See the table

on the next page

– W O R L D H I S T O R Y –

1 3 4

Fertile Crescent Mesopotamia

A F R I C A

F E RT I L E C R E S C E N T

M E S O P O TA M I A

A S I A

Arabian Sea

Red Sea

Caspian

Sea Black Sea

Mediterranean Sea

E U R O P E

Mesopotamia, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in what is now Iraq, is called the

“cradle of civilization.” Several ancient civilizations—Babylonian, Sumerian, Phoenician, Persian,

and Greek—thrived in this fertile area.

RELIGION ORIGIN CHARACTERISTICS

Hinduism India in 1500 B C ■Hinduism has no single founder; it developed over a period of 4,000 years.

■One of its main features is a caste system, in which people are born into a

prescribed class and follow the ways of that class.

■They are polytheistic.

Buddhism India in 525 B C ■It was founded by Siddhartha Gautama, called the Buddha.

■Buddhists believe in a cycle of rebirth.

■The ultimate goal of the Buddhist path is to achieve nirvana, an

enlight-ened state free from suffering.

Judaism Middle East, now ■The belief in a single, all-powerful God is central to Judaism.

Israel—the Jewish ■The Torah—the instructions believed to be handed down from God to

calendar begins Moses—encompasses Jewish law and custom.

with the biblical time of the Creation Christianity Jerusalem, now in ■Early followers believed that Jesus fulfilled the Jewish prophesy of the

Israel—Christian Messiah.

calendar begins ■The Gospels in the Bible’s New Testament describe the teachings and life with the birth of of Jesus.

Jesus ■Beliefs include that Jesus is the son of God and that after crucifixion, he

rose from the dead.

Islam Arabia in 622 A D ■Its followers, called Muslims, believe in one all-powerful God.

■They adhere to the codes of living set forth in the holy book of Islam, the

Qur’an (Koran).

■The founder of Islam was Muhammed, a prophet who lived in Mecca in

the sixth century, A D

– W O R L D H I S T O R Y –

E XERCISE 1

Choose the best answer to the question based on the

information in the chart The answer is on page 168

1. What conclusion can you make based on the

information in the chart?

a All major religions believe in a single,

all-powerful God

b Most religions developed in the last

millennium

c Religion is not a force in today’s world

culture

d Many of the world’s major religions have

influenced human culture for over a thousand

years

e All of today’s major religions had their

begin-nings in the Middle East

The Middle Ages

As the Roman Empire began to fracture in the fourth and fifth centuries, a period that historians refer to as the

Middle Ages began in Western Europe During this time,

culture centered on Christianity as the Roman Catholic Church gained authority and missionaries spread

Chris-tian ideas A new social organization called feudalism

developed Based on an agricultural society, this system divided people into classes The ruling class consisted of nobles, while the majority of people were in the peasant

or serf class Between the eleventh and fourteenth cen-turies, European Christians led a series of wars called the

Crusades to recover the Holy Land from the Muslims.

Although they did not achieve this goal, the wars brought Europe in contact with Arab culture, stimulated com-merce between regions, and increased geographical knowledge By the fourteenth century, wars, famine, and

the spread of the bubonic plague, or Black Death—an

infectious disease that killed up to one-third of all

Euro-peans—weakened the feudal economy

The Renaissance

In the 1400s, a rediscovery of Greek and Roman

litera-ture led to the humanist movement in Europe, which

called for a return to classical ideals As Western Europe

became more stable again, a period of intellectual

devel-opment began The Renaissance, meaning “rebirth,” led

to advances in the sciences, music, literature, art, and

architecture During its height in the fifteenth and early

sixteenth century, artists like Piero della Francesca,

Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael

con-tributed works praised for their grandeur and sense of

harmony

The New World

European exploration of North America began in the

tenth century when Viking explorers landed in

Green-land and NewfoundGreen-land However, Christopher

Colum-bus’s landing in the Bahamas in 1492 had a greater

impact on the history of the world Under the service of

Spain, Columbus sailed west, hoping to discover a

quicker trade route to Asia He landed in the Caribbean

instead His historic journey marked the start of

Euro-pean exploration and colonization in the New World

(See the table at the bottom of this page.)

Age of Enlightenment

The Enlightenment describes a period in Europe and

America during the eighteenth century in which

philoso-phers celebrated rational thought, science, and

techno-logical progress The scientific developments of sixteenth and seventeenth centuries acted as a precursor to the Enlightenment Galileo Galilei, Nicolaus Copernicus, and Isaac Newton contributed new ideas about astron-omy and physics that challenged the understanding of the physical world Later, the philosophy of John Locke influenced attitudes about the role of the individual in society and challenged the notion that knowledge is inborn The works of the French philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau shaped political and educational the-ory, as did the ideas of Immanuel Kant in Germany, David Hume in England, and Benjamin Franklin and Thomas Jefferson in the American colonies

E XERCISE 2

Select the best answer to the questions based on the para-graph about the Age of Enlightenment The answers are

on page 168

1. Which of the following statements about the Enlightenment is an opinion?

a The proponents of the Enlightenment

believed in rationality

b The Enlightenment philosophers challenged

formerly held beliefs

c The Enlightenment was an international

movement

d John Locke contributed the most to the

Enlightenment philosophy

e Hume, Kant, Jefferson, and Franklin shared a

faith in human reason

– W O R L D H I S T O R Y –

1 3 6

Early European Explorers

986 Eric the Red Iceland Greenland

1000 Leif Ericsson Norway North America, possibly Newfoundland

1492 Christopher Columbus Spain Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola

1497 John Cabot England Cape Breton Island

1499 Amerigo Vespucci Italy, later Spain North coast of South America

1500 Gasper Corte-Real Portugal Between Labrador and Newfoundland

1513 Juan Ponce de Leon Spain, later governor Florida and Mexico

of Puerto Rico

2. Which was the most likely factor that

contrib-uted to the beginning of the Enlightenment?

a scientific discoveries in the previous century

b feudalism

c the French Revolution

d the Crusades

e missionaries of the Roman Catholic Church

in Europe

French Revolution

The French Revolution (1789–1799) ranks as one of the

most important events in Europe Increased criticism of

the monarchy by thinkers of the Enlightenment, as well

as unequal taxation and persecution of religious

minori-ties, were some of the factors that led to political

upheaval Food shortages and economic depression were

a more immediate cause Parisians revolted in 1789 by

violently overtaking the Bastille, a prison in Paris

Aris-tocrats, including the king and queen, were beheaded

Political unrest followed until Napoleon Bonaparte

emerged as a leader in 1799 and declared himself

emperor in 1804 Although it appeared to be a failure at

the time, the Revolution created a precedent for

repre-sentative governments around the world It also

intro-duced revolution as a means of seeking different kinds of

freedom

The Industrial Era

By the mid-nineteenth century, changes in technology

began to transform Europe and the United States from

societies with an agricultural base to ones with an

indus-trial base This period is called the Indusindus-trial Revolution.

The introduction of steam-powered engines, inventions

that increased the output of cotton textiles, and the

advent of the railroad are some of the technological

changes that increased the speed of production and

transportation of goods

The doctrine of laissez-faire appealed to factory

own-ers of the Industrial Revolution Supported by

econo-mists like Adam Smith and John Stuart Mill, this

doctrine stated that economic systems work better

with-out intervention by government Another doctrine that

developed during this period was The Communist

Man-ifesto, a document of communist principles Authored

by German writer Karl Marx in 1848, the Manifesto

described the history of society as a history of class strug-gles between the ruling class and the exploited working class Marx believed that the working class would over-throw the powerful capitalist class of the Industrial Rev-olution and create a classless society His ideas later influenced Vladimir Ilyich Lenin and the formation of the Communist state in Russia

World War I

World War I (1914–1918) involved 32 countries, includ-ing many European nations, the United States, and other nations around the world By the war’s end, ten million soldiers were killed and 20 million wounded The assas-sination of the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne by a Ser-bian nationalist was the immediate cause of the war, but conflicts between European nations over territory and economic power were also factors Two coalitions of

European nations formed The Central Powers included

Austria-Hungary, Germany, Bulgaria, and Turkey The

Allied Powers included Great Britain, France, Serbia,

Rus-sia, Belgium, and Italy The fighting ended in 1918 when

the Allies defeated German forces With the Treaty of

Ver-sailles in 1919, the war officially ended One of the most

destructive wars in European history, World War I left European powers in enormous financial debt and greatly weakened

The Russian Revolutions of 1917

Peasant and worker uprisings led to two revolutions in Russia during 1917 The first overthrew the Tsar Nicholas

II, an absolute monarch from the Romanov dynasty who ruled the country A provisional government took control but could not solve the problems that led to the upris-ing—mainly the devastating effect of the country’s involvement in World War I Vladimir Lenin and a group

of revolutionary socialists called the Bolsheviks took power The Bolsheviks hoped to transform Russia into a

classless society called the Union of Soviet Socialist

Republics (USSR) However, the Communist regime that

they created became increasingly authoritarian and eventually controlled the economic, social, and political life of the nation After Lenin’s death, Bolshevik Joseph Stalin became the dictator of the Soviet Union He ruled with total and often brutal control The Communist

– W O R L D H I S T O R Y –

regime continued to hold power until its collapse in

1991

World War II

World War II (1939–1945), the deadliest and most

destructive war in history, began between Germany and

the English and French, but later included all of the

major world powers The rise of fascism—an Italian term

for military-based totalitarian governments—as well as

the effects of economic depression, fueled the conflict

The peace settlements of World War I also left three

powers—Germany, Italy, and Japan—dissatisfied, and

each wanted to increase its territory In Germany, Adolf

Hitler of the German National Socialist (Nazi) Party,

promoted national pride and offered a scapegoat for the

country’s economic problems: the Jews His racist

poli-cies led to the persecution and murder of millions of

Jewish people and other Europeans, an atrocity now

known as the Holocaust.

Germany, with Hitler in power, began an aggressive

campaign in Europe, invading Czechoslovakia Hitler

then created an alliance with Italy and Japan to form the

Axis Powers When Germany invaded Poland, Great

Britain and France entered the war By 1940, the only

Allied force to resist German occupation was Great

Britain However, Great Britain gained an ally when

Ger-many invaded the Soviet Union in 1941

Although the United States was trying to be neutral in

the conflict, events forced it to enter the war On

Decem-ber 7, 1941, Japan attacked Pearl Harbor, a U.S military

base in the Pacific On December 11, Germany and Italy

declared war on the United States The United States

joined the Allied forces and helped turn the war in its

favor In May 1945, Germany surrendered In August

1945, the United States dropped the first atomic bomb

on Hiroshima, Japan, and another on Nagasaki, Japan.

Five days later, Japan surrendered

World War II devastated entire cities, and both

civil-ians and soldiers suffered Tens of millions of people were

killed The war revolutionized warfare by introducing

nuclear weapons Politically, power shifted away from

Great Britain and France, and the United States and the

Soviet Union emerged as world powers After the war, the

Soviet Union kept control of its occupation zones in

Aus-tria and Germany and took power in Eastern Europe

This expansion threatened the West and started the Cold

War, a struggle for power between the capitalist West and

the Communist bloc that lasted until 1989

E XERCISE 3

Use the information from the passage about World War

II to answer the questions The answers are on page 168

1. Which of the following is NOT a likely conse-quence of World War II?

a death of millions

b the end of racism

c destruction of cities

d shift in world power

e threat of nuclear war

2. Based on the information about World War II, which of the following is a likely assumption as

to why Hitler rose to power?

a Hitler’s totalitarian government exercised

absolute power

b Many citizens resisted the rise of the Nazi

Party

c Germans wanted a powerful leader who

would lift them out of financial chaos

d Germans needed a leader to fend off British

and French aggression

e Nazi propaganda techniques were not

successful

 U S H i s t o r y

A New Nation

After Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, Western Europe began colonization of the Americas Spain, Por-tugal, France, The Netherlands, and England had vast holdings in the New World A group of English

immi-grants called Puritans—people seeking to purify the

Church of England—started settlements in New

Eng-land One group, known as the Pilgrims, landed in

Ply-mouth, Massachusetts in 1620 These settlers established

the Plymouth Colony and created the Mayflower

Com-pact, an agreement that said the colonists would make

decisions by the will of the majority This became the first instance of self-government in America Through-out the British colonies, forms of self-government developed

– W O R L D H I S T O R Y –

1 3 8