Practice Test 47 - 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 75–125 word secondary-source excerpt notes that a police department mapped reported thefts and found "hot spots," but the author cautions that reporting rates vary by neighborhood and that enforcement patterns can shape the dataset itself. Which choice best identifies the limitation highlighted?
2. A secondary source excerpt describes how spatial organization of governance affects service delivery: centralized states may standardize policies nationwide, while decentralized states may tailor policies to local needs but risk uneven outcomes. The excerpt provides an example where wealthy regions fund better schools than poorer regions under local control. Which inference best aligns with the excerpt?
3. A nonprofit maps food insecurity using a dataset of grocery store locations and assumes each store provides affordable, healthy options. Community members report that some stores are high-priced or lack fresh produce, and that cultural food preferences vary by neighborhood. Which option best identifies the key limitation of the mapped data for representing food access?
4. A secondary source applies central place theory to agricultural markets, explaining that higher-order market towns offer specialized services (processors, veterinarians, equipment dealers) that support commercial farming. Farmers with bulky or time-sensitive products tend to sell to nearer lower-order towns, while specialized inputs and processing cluster in fewer, larger centers. Which of the following best explains the spatial pattern of agriculture described in the excerpt?
5. A historian writes that a colonial-era boundary was "imposed as a neat rectangle," with long straight segments that meet at right angles, creating corners defined by coordinate intersections rather than by local terrain. What type of boundary is being described?
6. A comparative geography text notes that in some parts of Southeast Asia, women commonly manage wet-rice transplantation and local market sales, while in parts of North Africa women's field labor may be less visible but women play major roles in processing and managing household food stores. The text emphasizes that "women's agricultural work varies by region, crop system, and social norms." Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
7. Secondary-source excerpt: In many low-income rural regions, women provide much of the day-to-day farm labor—planting, weeding, harvesting, processing, and caring for small livestock—while also managing household tasks. Yet extension agents and credit programs often target men as the "farmers," so women's work is treated as informal help rather than recognized employment. Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
8. Secondary source excerpt (for context): Political power is often exercised territorially: states do not simply govern people, they govern space. By defining borders, passing laws that apply within them, and using police and militaries to enforce those rules, governments make territory legible and controllable. Borders also sort movement—deciding where taxes are collected, which courts have authority, and who may enter or work. Because borders are maintained through institutions and coercion, they can be contested, monitored, and renegotiated rather than treated as permanent lines. Which statement best reflects the excerpt's explanation of how states control territory?
9. A secondary source excerpt summarizes Christaller's central place theory, explaining that settlements form an urban hierarchy in which higher-order centers provide specialized goods and services to larger hinterlands, while lower-order centers provide everyday goods to smaller market areas. In a region, Town X has a hospital, university, and major shopping mall; Town Y has a clinic and grocery stores; Town Z has only convenience stores. Which interpretation best matches central place theory?
10. A secondary-source excerpt discusses hexagonal trade areas in central place theory: hexagons are used to represent market areas that efficiently cover space without gaps or overlaps, assuming uniform terrain and equal travel cost in all directions. Which statement best reflects the excerpt's explanation of why hexagons are used?
11. A secondary source on smallholder farming in parts of sub-Saharan Africa notes that women provide much of the day-to-day labor—planting, weeding, harvesting, and post-harvest processing—while men more often control cash-crop sales and farm income decisions. In this system, women's agricultural work is essential but less visible in market transactions. Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
12. An environmental geography excerpt summarizes agriculture's footprint by highlighting land conversion, irrigation withdrawals, nutrient runoff, and greenhouse gas emissions from livestock and fertilized soils. It also notes that impacts vary by commodity, management practice, and ecosystem context; for example, the same crop can have different water or carbon implications depending on climate, soil, and technology. The author frames agriculture as a major driver of landscape change whose effects are mediated by policy, markets, and local knowledge. The excerpt best illustrates which of the following concepts in agriculture?
13. A city's transportation office overlays crash reports, road design (number of lanes, crosswalk locations), and nighttime lighting data in a GIS. The resulting map shows clusters of pedestrian injuries near wide arterials lacking marked crossings—patterns that were not obvious from reading the crash spreadsheet alone. Which claim best captures how mapping can reveal otherwise invisible patterns?
14. A population of 10 million has 300,000 births, 100,000 deaths, and 50,000 net migrants. Growth rate?
15. City-State R reports the following annual rates: crude birth rate (CBR) 9 per 1,000, crude death rate (CDR) 11 per 1,000, and net migration +7 per 1,000. A secondary source reminds students that a population can still grow even with negative natural increase if in-migration is large enough. Based on these values, which conclusion is most accurate about City-State R's overall population change?
16. A secondary source on language change describes how memes and hashtags spread new vocabulary across countries within hours, often originating from a small set of influential accounts. The source adds that corporate moderation policies and state internet controls can amplify or suppress certain phrases. Which contemporary cause of cultural diffusion is being highlighted?​
17. Secondary-source excerpt (Region/type: subsistence agriculture—intensive wet rice). In lowland river deltas of South and Southeast Asia, households cultivate rice on small plots using bunded fields that retain water and allow careful nutrient management. Community-built irrigation and drainage systems, along with labor-intensive transplanting and multiple annual harvests, raise output per hectare. Farmers increasingly incorporate purchased fertilizer, improved rice varieties, and off-farm income to stabilize livelihoods, while land fragmentation and tenure arrangements influence investment decisions. Production is closely tied to local food security, yet surplus rice may enter nearby urban markets when transport and prices are favorable. The excerpt best illustrates which of the following types of agriculture?
18. A planning department observes that a city's high-rent residential areas cluster in a wedge extending from downtown toward higher elevation and a waterfront, while lower-income housing follows older industrial rail corridors in another wedge. A secondary-source summary says this is consistent with a model where land uses form sectors rather than rings. Which model is being described?
19. Secondary source excerpt (about 90–120 words): Governments frequently use political boundaries to manage security risks by controlling movement. For example, a state may require biometric passports at airports, inspect cargo at seaports, and increase patrols at specific land crossings after a security incident. These practices do not necessarily aim to stop all cross-border interaction; instead, they sort and filter flows by risk category, allowing some travelers and shipments to pass quickly while delaying others. This illustrates how boundaries operate as regulatory systems that can be intensified or relaxed in response to events. Which choice best identifies the function emphasized?
20. A public health and agronomy review reports that reliance on broad-spectrum pesticides can suppress pests initially but may contribute to resistance, secondary pest outbreaks, and chronic exposure risks for farmworkers and nearby residents. The review emphasizes that growers face economic pressure to meet cosmetic standards and avoid crop losses, while regulatory capacity and access to integrated pest management vary widely. As a result, the costs of chemical control are distributed unevenly across supply chains and communities. Which of the following is the most significant consequence of the agricultural practice described?

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