Study Guide

MoGEA Social Studies Subtest
Sample Questions

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Competency 0012
Apply inquiry and literacy skills in the social sciences.

1. Read the passage below; then answer the question that follows.

The political ideology of patriot leaders on the eve of the American Revolution combined high idealism with hard-eyed realism. On one hand, they believed government should be based on the consent of the governed. They further believed that individuals should be willing to subordinate private interests to the greater good of the entire society. At the same time, however, patriot leaders had no illusions about political power and what the possession of it did to people. As they saw it, power was by nature expansive and, if left unchecked, would in time overwhelm the forces of freedom. Where liberty tended to be frail and passive, power was brutal and active.

Not surprisingly, patriot leaders had an equally suspicious view of human nature. Ideally, political leaders should be paragons of virtue, ever ready to sacrifice their interests to the public good. But that was not how the world worked. Humankind, they believed, was inherently susceptible to corruption. And because most people lacked the wherewithal to resist the temptations of power, it had to be actively resisted, just as liberty had to be actively defended.

To understand what all this meant, we need to put these beliefs in context by relating them to the forms of power that most troubled patriot leaders—to the authority of Parliament to direct colonial affairs. Any such examination immediately gives rise to the question of representation. The colonists had no representatives in Parliament, and when they raised the issue, British authorities claimed that actually voting for representatives was not a necessary feature of representation. Members of Parliament, they explained, sit not as representatives of their own constituents, but as representatives of all the peoples of Great Britain and its empire; therefore, it made no difference whether a representative happened to live in Great Britain or in America. This rationale was fine so long as colonists felt there was a natural identity of interests between Great Britain and America. Should they begin to believe otherwise, however, the argument had little to recommend it.

The author's main purpose in this passage is to:

  1. compare colonial and British views of the legislative process.
  2. examine colonial beliefs about the nature of political power.
  3. raise questions about colonial views of political corruption.
  4. analyze the legal basis of Parliamentary authority.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B. This question requires the examinee to demonstrate the ability to identify purpose, point of view, and central ideas in social science documents. Much of the passage is devoted to an examination of how beliefs about consent of the governed, human nature, and representation shaped colonial views of political power.

Competency 0013
Understand major developments and significant features of world and U.S. history, geography, culture, and society.

2. Which of the following best describes a major difference between the Roman Empire and China's first imperial dynasty?

  1. China's first imperial dynasty exhibited greater cultural homogeneity.
  2. The Roman Empire based its legitimacy on a concept of centralized political authority.
  3. The Roman Empire established a more orderly and effective bureaucracy.
  4. China's first imperial dynasty used new organizational methods to form a strong military.
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A. This question requires the examinee to recognize the chief characteristics, connections, commonalities, differences, and contributions of world civilizations. Compared with the Roman Empire, which included peoples from diverse cultures extending from Spain to Asia Minor and across North Africa, China's first imperial dynasty was much more ethnically homogeneous and exhibited a much greater degree of cultural unity.

Competency 0014
Understand primary features, central concepts, and basic operations of the world's political and economic systems and the principles of American citizenship.

3. Excelsior Paper Products and the International Writing Paper Company are two independently owned suppliers of paper goods that have decided to merge their businesses. Before the merger can be completed, however, it must first be approved by a government regulatory agency to make sure that it will not have an adverse effect on competition in the paper goods industry.

This scenario would most likely occur in which of the following types of economic systems?

  1. traditional
  2. mixed
  3. pure market
  4. command
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B. This question requires the examinee to examine similarities and differences among major economic systems. As described in the scenario, the combination of private ownership of the means of production and government regulation of economic activity is most characteristic of a mixed economy.