Practice Test 37 - AP Human Geography

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

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1. A secondary-source excerpt discusses Spanish colonization in the Andes, noting that state schooling and wage labor pressured Indigenous communities to use Spanish for advancement. Over time, some families stopped teaching Quechua to children, and younger generations increasingly identified primarily with national Spanish-speaking culture. Which effect of cultural diffusion does this illustrate?​
2. Secondary source excerpt (geographic perspective, 75–125 words): The Industrial Revolution spread unevenly across the world. While Britain, parts of Western Europe, and later the northeastern United States developed dense manufacturing regions, many areas in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America remained oriented toward exporting raw materials and importing finished goods. This uneven diffusion reflected differences in access to capital, energy sources, state policy, and connectivity to global trade networks. A geographic lens highlights how industrialization intensified a core–periphery pattern, with industrial cores accumulating infrastructure and wealth faster than most regions. Which option best summarizes the excerpt's key spatial conclusion?
3. Secondary source excerpt (regional analysis): Functional regions are often identified using thresholds, such as "counties where at least 15% of workers commute to the core city." Such thresholds make the concept measurable, but they also reveal that boundaries are partly a methodological choice: a 10% cutoff yields a larger region than a 20% cutoff. This illustrates that nodal regions are constructed from data and criteria rather than discovered as fixed entities. The underlying idea remains the same: a central node organizes surrounding areas through repeated interactions. Which option best shows how an analyst's threshold affects a functional region's boundary?
4. A 110-word excerpt compares France and South Korea. It explains that Paris concentrates political power, cultural institutions, and high-order services to a much greater degree than other French cities, whereas South Korea's urban system is still dominated by Seoul but with a stronger secondary city presence (e.g., Busan, Incheon) than France's. The author argues the key difference is the degree of dominance by the largest city. Which concept is the best fit for identifying the pattern in France described here?
5. Two equal-size counties each have 20 clinics, one clustered in a town and one scattered. Which is true?
6. Secondary-source excerpt (about 80–120 words): Refugee crises often show strong spatial patterns. Most refugees do not travel to distant continents; instead, they frequently flee to nearby states because proximity lowers cost and risk and allows faster escape. This can create heavy burdens on border regions, where camps and informal settlements may form and where host governments must provide security, health care, and schooling with limited resources. International aid can be uneven, and political debates in wealthier countries may focus on smaller numbers of arrivals compared with the much larger populations hosted in neighboring countries. Which statement best reflects the spatial pattern described?
7. Secondary source excerpt (about 90 words): In sparsely populated rural districts, providing public services can be difficult because residents are widely dispersed. A single hospital, fire station, or secondary school may need to cover a large service area, increasing response times and transportation costs for households. Governments often face trade-offs: either fund more facilities with higher per-capita costs or centralize services and require longer travel. These challenges can contribute to out-migration of young adults who seek easier access to education, healthcare, and employment. Which consequence is most directly supported by the excerpt?
8. Secondary source excerpt (about 95 words): In the late nineteenth century, European powers formalized control over African territories through treaties, military campaigns, and administrative districts. Colonial officials often prioritized access to ports, mines, and cash-crop zones, drawing boundaries that cut across existing polities and ethnolinguistic regions. These borders later became the framework for many internationally recognized states, even after independence, because changing them risked conflict and diplomatic isolation. The modern political map in several regions therefore reflects imperial bargaining and the logistical needs of colonial rule more than precolonial territorial organization. Which political process most directly shaped the state boundaries described?
9. A travel writer notes that airports, chain hotels, and identical fast-food corridors make many cities look increasingly similar, even across different countries. The writer argues this produces "placelessness" in cultural landscapes. Which process best matches the writer's claim?
10. A development studies monograph on monoculture in smallholder regions describes farmers encouraged to replace diverse food plots with a single cash crop for export. The monograph reports that household incomes can rise in favorable market years, but reliance on one crop can increase vulnerability to pests and price swings; it also notes that repeated cultivation without rotations may degrade soils unless nutrients are replenished. The author stresses that cooperative marketing and crop insurance can reduce, but not erase, these risks. Which of the following best explains why the consequence described occurs?
11. A regional mobility study on sustainable transportation states that shifting trips from cars to transit can cut emissions, but fare increases can reduce ridership among low-income riders and push them toward longer commutes. The study suggests that pricing policy is part of sustainability. Which fare policy best fits the study's argument?
12. Secondary source excerpt (embedded): A state is defined by territory, population, government, and sovereignty. Recognition by other states often supports sovereignty, but the key geographic idea is the capacity to govern and enforce rules within a defined space. Which option is the most accurate definition of a state in political geography?
13. A secondary-source study of colonial-era cultural diffusion in the Caribbean notes that enslaved Africans and Europeans interacted under unequal power relations. Over time, communities combined West African spiritual practices with Catholic saints and rituals, producing new religious traditions that were neither purely African nor purely European. Which effect of cultural diffusion is the best match for this description?
14. Secondary source excerpt (global economy change—global commodity chains/spatial division of labor, 75–125 words): Coffee sold in a supermarket often reflects a chain of linked activities: farmers grow beans, intermediaries transport and process them, exporters ship them, and roasters and retailers in wealthier markets brand and sell the final product. Price negotiations and quality standards are frequently set by powerful buyers downstream, shaping what producers earn and how land is used. Even when farming occurs in one region, the highest value-added steps—branding, specialty roasting, and retail—are often located elsewhere. Which concept best captures the organization described?​
15. A student creates definitions for economic sectors: primary (extracting raw materials), secondary (manufacturing), tertiary (services), quaternary (information/knowledge services), and quinary (high-level decision-making and top leadership). Which example best represents a quaternary-sector activity?
16. A demographic overview notes that countries can be placed in different DTM stages using birth and death rates: Stage 2 features high birth rates with rapidly falling death rates; Stage 3 features falling birth rates with already-low death rates; Stage 4 features both low birth and low death rates. Country X has a crude birth rate of 36 per 1,000 and a crude death rate of 8 per 1,000, and its population is growing quickly. Which DTM stage best fits Country X?
17. Secondary source excerpt (embedded): Research on son preference finds that when families strongly prefer sons for inheritance or old-age support, they may continue childbearing until a desired number of boys is reached, slowing fertility decline. In some settings, access to prenatal sex determination has contributed to skewed sex ratios at birth. Analysts caution that these outcomes reflect policy, enforcement, and social norms, and they vary across regions and classes. Which option best captures the demographic implications described?
18. A class compares two "regions." One is a government-defined school district with clear boundaries and official authority. The other is an area locals call "Little Saigon," recognized by Vietnamese restaurants, language on signs, and community festivals, but with no legal border. In cultural landscape terms, which pairing best fits?
19. A secondary source explains that a country imports grapes and berries from distant hemispheres during its winter because those suppliers can produce at lower cost and ship efficiently through coordinated logistics, while the importing country focuses on grains and processed foods where it is more competitive. The excerpt emphasizes specialization across regions connected by trade and containerized transport. Which of the following best explains the spatial pattern of agriculture described in the excerpt?
20. Secondary-source excerpt (internal city structure): The Hoyt sector model suggests that once a high-income residential corridor forms, it tends to persist as the city expands because new high-status development seeks proximity to existing prestige, amenities, and efficient routes. Conversely, industrial corridors often follow freight routes, and adjacent lower-income housing may cluster nearby due to employment access and environmental disamenities. A student claims: "Because Hoyt's model is a sector model, all cities will always have exactly five wedges with identical angles." Which critique best aligns with how geographers use the model?

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