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Practice Test 38 - AP Human Geography

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

  1. A case study contrasts two development paths: (1) a coastal city builds energy-efficient housing near transit and protects wetlands; (2) a similar city expands car-dependent suburbs into flood-prone marshes and relies on coal power. Based on this comparison, which option best identifies the more sustainable approach?
  2. A secondary-source excerpt describes the Human Development Index (HDI) as a composite indicator combining health (life expectancy), education (years of schooling), and income (GNI per capita) to provide a broader picture than economic output alone. It cautions that HDI summarizes multiple dimensions but can still hide internal inequality. Which choice best matches the excerpt's definition of HDI?
  3. Secondary source excerpt (about 85 words): A technology firm keeps its research campus and executive offices in a high-wage metropolitan area, but contracts customer support to a call center abroad and hires overseas programmers through a third-party vendor. Managers describe the strategy as focusing on "core competencies" while purchasing routine tasks from specialized providers. The arrangement reduces labor costs and enables 24-hour service, yet it can weaken job security for workers in both places as contracts shift between suppliers. Which change from the global economy is best represented?
  4. A secondary source evaluating microcredit for rural agriculture notes that loans targeted to women sometimes increased women's responsibility for repayment without increasing their control over land or crop income, especially when male relatives decided how to use the loan. The author calls this a "gendered burden" of development. Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
  5. A geographer studies food access in a city by downloading a commercial list of grocery stores (secondary data) and then conducting short interviews with residents about where they actually shop (primary qualitative data). The geographer notices the store list includes several businesses that closed last year and misses informal street vendors. Which action best addresses limitations and biases in the secondary dataset?
  6. A scholar argues that early urbanization was most likely in regions where predictable harvests allowed elites or institutions to collect, store, and redistribute grain, supporting non-agricultural workers and enabling larger settlements. Which factor is the best example of what the scholar considers essential for early city growth?
  7. A secondary source on urban utilities describes how piped water, sewers, and storm drains reduce waterborne disease but also require continuous maintenance and revenue. The author explains that when cities expand faster than utility networks, households turn to wells, septic pits, or water vendors, often paying more per liter than connected neighborhoods. The excerpt emphasizes that utility systems can reproduce spatial inequality when extension schedules and pricing favor already-served districts. Which option best captures the author's argument?
  8. A historian notes that after World War II, Polish communities relocated to parts of the United Kingdom and Australia, where they founded Polish schools, churches, and cultural clubs that preserved language and traditions in the new settlements. Which diffusion type best matches this description?
  9. A secondary-source excerpt describing Ravenstein's laws of migration notes that most migrants move short distances and that long-distance migrants tend to head toward major centers of commerce and industry. Which scenario best illustrates these ideas?
  10. 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?​
  11. In a peri-urban vegetable belt, households increasingly produce for supermarkets that require standardized grading and delivery schedules. Men often take over negotiations with buyers and control payments, while women continue intensive harvesting and sorting labor but report less say over how income is spent. The shift also increases women's unpaid time due to stricter sorting requirements. Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
  12. Secondary source excerpt (about 105 words): Language boundaries are often transition zones rather than sharp lines. In many border regions, bilingualism is common, and speakers may shift languages depending on context (home, school, government, or work). Over time, state education policies, media markets, and economic opportunity can encourage language shift toward a prestige language, even if a minority language remains important in family and community life. This creates a spatial gradient: stronger minority-language use in rural areas and older generations, and greater prestige-language use in urban centers and among younger residents. Question: Which option best describes the excerpt's idea of a language boundary?
  13. Secondary source excerpt: A historical linguist explains that Latin diversified after the Roman Empire as communities became politically separated and local speech evolved. Over centuries, distinct Romance languages emerged (e.g., Spanish, French, Italian), each with its own standardized form and regional dialects. Which concept best explains this process?
  14. Secondary-source excerpt (Independent invention vs diffusion debate; Sub-Saharan Africa focus): Linguistic and archaeobotanical data from West Africa indicate early domestication of yams and oil palm within forest–savanna mosaics, while later arrivals of Asian crops (such as banana) were incorporated through Indian Ocean connections. Scholars argue that this record reflects both independent domestication and subsequent borrowing: local crops emerged from long-term human–plant interactions, yet trade and migration introduced additional species that were selectively adopted or rejected depending on labor demands and ecology. Which of the following best explains the spatial pattern of agricultural origins described in the excerpt?
  15. A secondary source excerpt notes that some countries use immigration to respond to aging by adding working-age residents, potentially slowing increases in the old-age dependency ratio. Which statement best captures how immigration can affect aging societies?
  16. A historian writing about early cities notes that large, permanent urban settlements were most likely to form where river-valley agriculture produced reliable surpluses, enabling food storage, trade, and the rise of governing institutions. Based on this excerpt, which factor is most directly linked to the origin of the earliest cities?
  17. A secondary source describes the Harris–Ullman multiple nuclei model: as cities expand, specialized districts (e.g., a port, university, airport, medical center) become separate nodes that attract compatible land uses, producing multiple centers rather than a single dominant CBD. Which scenario best matches this model?
  18. A secondary-source atlas summary notes that the Indo-European language family includes Germanic, Romance, and Indo-Iranian branches and is widely spoken from Europe to South Asia due to long-term migration, conquest, and later European colonial expansion. It adds that linguistic boundaries are often fuzzy in borderlands where bilingualism and code-switching are common. Which statement best explains the global distribution of Indo-European languages described here?
  19. Secondary-source excerpt (population dynamics—focus on RNI vs PGR): Population change is often described with two related measures: the rate of natural increase (RNI), driven by births minus deaths, and the population growth rate (PGR), which also includes net migration. In Metro B, the crude birth rate is 14 per 1,000 and the crude death rate is 10 per 1,000, but the city gains many workers from abroad. In one year, net migration adds 9 people per 1,000. Which statement best describes Metro B's RNI and PGR (as percent per year)?
  20. Secondary source excerpt (embedded): Even when a boundary is internationally recognized, its enforcement can differ by location and time. A remote mountain pass may be lightly monitored, while nearby highways have frequent inspections and advanced surveillance. Seasonal labor programs can temporarily increase legal crossings for certain workers while restrictions remain for others. Such patterns show that borders can be unevenly porous. Which choice best captures the concept emphasized in the excerpt?

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