Practice Test 18 - AP Human Geography

20 questions. Answer them in any order, then submit to see your score and every explanation.

Start practice test

1. A secondary-source note on trade blocs states that regional integration can create trade diversion, shifting imports from efficient nonmembers to less efficient member producers due to preferential tariffs. Which scenario best illustrates trade diversion?
2. A secondary source focused on education and women's economic empowerment argues that increased girls' schooling is associated with delayed marriage, lower fertility, improved health outcomes, and higher lifetime earnings. The author also notes that education does not automatically translate into equal employment if labor markets are segregated or if women carry heavy unpaid care responsibilities. Which claim best aligns with this account?
3. Secondary source excerpt: Export-oriented industrialization (EOI) encourages states to promote manufacturing for foreign markets through infrastructure investment, special economic zones, and policies that attract foreign direct investment. While EOI can accelerate growth and employment, it can also deepen reliance on external demand and global buyers who set standards and prices, shaping labor conditions and environmental practices. Which policy package is most consistent with an export-oriented development strategy?
4. Secondary source excerpt (embedded): Political economists argue that globalization encourages competition between cities to attract foreign direct investment and corporate headquarters. City governments may offer tax incentives, rezoning, infrastructure upgrades, and branding campaigns to signal a "business-friendly" environment. While such strategies can draw capital, they can also shift public resources toward elite districts and create vulnerabilities if mobile firms relocate. Question: Which policy action best exemplifies the competition described in the excerpt?
5. A secondary-source excerpt explains that trafficking involves the recruitment and movement of people through coercion, deception, or force for exploitation, making it a form of forced migration even when travel appears "voluntary" at first. Which option best identifies trafficking as forced migration?
6. Secondary source excerpt (gentrification, 110 words): A university study of the Old Harbor neighborhood finds that after a new light-rail station opened, cafés and boutique retail replaced many long-standing discount stores. Property assessments rose quickly, and landlords increasingly used short-term leases. The study reports that some long-time renters moved to cheaper peripheral areas when rents increased faster than wages, while new residents were disproportionately higher-income and college-educated. The authors stress that neighborhood change includes both reinvestment and displacement risk, especially when tenant protections are weak. Which outcome best matches the challenge described?
7. A secondary source on mechanization in a grain-producing region reports that tractors reduced the need for manual plowing (a task often done by men), while women's labor remained concentrated in weeding, harvesting, and post-harvest processing. The author adds that unless women gain access to machinery training and hiring services, mechanization may not reduce women's total labor burden. Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
8. A secondary source on central place theory emphasizes that higher-order goods have higher thresholds and longer ranges, which helps explain why they cluster in fewer, larger settlements. In a rural region, residents travel to City M for luxury jewelry and specialized medical care, but buy bread and fuel in nearby Town N. Which inference best fits the theory?
9. A university policy brief (secondary source excerpt, 75–125 words) discusses a city where new high-paying jobs attracted migrants faster than housing could be built. The brief reports that landlords subdivided older homes into multiple units, informal rentals increased, and overcrowding became common among recent arrivals. It also notes that building permits rose, but most new units were priced above the median household's ability to pay. Which challenge resulting from urban change is most directly illustrated?
10. A teacher argues that the von Thünen model remains relevant despite limitations because it highlights a core idea: land users weigh market access and transport costs against land rent, shaping spatial patterns even when rings are imperfect. The teacher gives a modern example: high-value specialty crops cluster near major metro areas, while extensive grazing occurs in more remote zones. According to the von Thünen model, which of the following best explains the agricultural pattern described?
11. Secondary-source excerpt (18th–19th c.): By adopting multi-field crop rotations, nitrogen-restoring fodder crops, and improved animal husbandry, some regions produced more calories per hectare and more manure for fields. The result was a higher carrying capacity for populations, though benefits were unevenly distributed. Which option best explains the demographic effect of increased agricultural productivity in this era?
12. Urban geographers often use central place theory (Christaller) to describe how settlements form a hierarchy of service centers. In an idealized, flat region with evenly distributed population and purchasing power, higher-order cities provide specialized services (e.g., universities, major hospitals) that require a larger threshold population and have a larger range, while lower-order towns provide everyday goods (e.g., groceries) with smaller thresholds and ranges. Based on this model, which statement best describes how city size and spacing should relate across the hierarchy?
13. A secondary-source excerpt on fair trade and alternative trade networks notes that these systems often emphasize long-term purchasing relationships rather than spot-market buying. Which benefit is most directly associated with long-term contracts for small producers?
14. In Country G, life expectancy at birth increased from 52 years in 1970 to 71 years in 2020 following improvements in nutrition, infectious disease control, and primary care. Which statement best explains how rising life expectancy typically affects population dynamics?
15. A digital geography reading describes how online gaming communities create shared slang, etiquette, and even holiday-themed in-game rituals that spread to players across continents. The reading notes that platform rules, server access, and language options can privilege some groups and restrict others. Which contemporary cause of cultural diffusion is most directly involved?
16. A world-systems account of core countries consuming and periphery producing notes that high-income states import coffee, bananas, and winter vegetables, while low-income regions devote prime land and labor to export agriculture. Processing, branding, and finance often occur in core economies, capturing more value than primary production. Which of the following best explains the global agricultural pattern described in the excerpt?
17. A mountainous-country case study describes terracing, where farmers cut level steps into steep slopes to grow grains and vegetables. The study reports that terraces can slow runoff, reduce gully formation, and retain soil moisture by shortening slope length. However, constructing and maintaining terrace walls requires substantial labor and coordinated upkeep; failures after intense storms can trigger localized landslides and rapid soil loss. Outcomes differ with rainfall intensity, engineering quality, and access to labor or machinery. The agricultural method described most directly results in which of the following?
18. Secondary source excerpt: Federal internal boundaries can stabilize governance by distributing authority, but they can also complicate national policymaking. When subnational units have constitutionally protected powers, national reforms may require negotiation across multiple governments. This can slow responses to crises yet also prevent rapid centralization of power. Federal boundaries therefore shape political debates over autonomy, standardization, and the balance between regional and national priorities. Which statement best reflects a tradeoff created by federal internal boundaries?
19. Secondary-source excerpt (unitary vs. federal): In a unitary system, the national government holds ultimate authority and can create, alter, or abolish local governments; local units mainly administer policies set at the center. In a federal system, sovereignty is constitutionally divided between a national government and subnational units (states/provinces), each with legally protected powers. Both types can be democratic or authoritarian; the key distinction is where lawmaking authority is anchored and how easily subnational boundaries and powers can be changed. Which statement best reflects a unitary system as described?
20. Secondary-source excerpt embedded for context (air pollution, 99 words): Urban environmental health studies emphasize that city air pollution is shaped by both emissions and exposure. Traffic corridors, ports, and industrial zones concentrate nitrogen oxides and fine particulates, while temperature inversions can trap pollutants near the surface. Because lower-income households are often located near major roads or industrial land uses, the health burden is uneven even when citywide averages improve. Scholars argue that effective policy pairs emissions reductions (transport, fuels, industry) with land-use planning and monitoring that identifies hotspots and protects vulnerable populations. Which policy response aligns most closely with the excerpt?

Practice tests