Practice Test 70 - AP Human Geography

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

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1. Secondary-source excerpt: Ethical debates over population policy often center on whether the state should influence reproductive decisions. Voluntary programs that expand access to contraception and education are generally viewed differently from coercive measures such as forced sterilization, punitive fines, or intrusive surveillance of pregnancies. Which policy is most likely to raise the ethical concerns highlighted in the excerpt?
2. A 115-word secondary source compares Russia and Mexico. It argues that Moscow's political and economic dominance over other Russian cities is extreme, producing a steep drop from the largest to the next ranks, while Mexico's hierarchy—though still centered on Mexico City—includes several sizable secondary metros (e.g., Guadalajara, Monterrey) that partially diffuse economic activity. The author's focus is on whether the largest city is disproportionately large and influential relative to the rest of the urban system. Which analytical frame is most appropriate for this comparison?
3. Secondary source excerpt (about 115 words): Political boundaries are frequently used to sort mobility by status. Citizens may cross with minimal checks, permanent residents may face documentation requirements, and visitors may need visas, proof of funds, or return tickets. Meanwhile, some categories of goods (such as agricultural products) may be subject to stricter inspections than manufactured items due to biosecurity concerns. These differentiated rules demonstrate that border control is a policy system that assigns varying levels of access, cost, and scrutiny. The experience of the boundary therefore depends on legal category, perceived risk, and state capacity rather than geography alone. Which option best identifies the function of boundaries described?
4. Secondary-source excerpt (Market gardening and truck farming): On the fringe of a large metropolitan area, producers intensively cultivate high-value vegetables, berries, and cut flowers on relatively small parcels. Greenhouses, drip irrigation, and seasonal labor enable multiple harvests, while refrigerated trucks and just-in-time contracts with supermarkets and restaurants shape planting decisions. Because land rents are high, growers prioritize crops with rapid turnover and reliable demand, and they often diversify varieties to meet shifting consumer preferences and food-safety standards. Which of the following best explains the agricultural specialization in the region described?
5. Secondary-source excerpt: After male out-migration for wage work, many villages experience a "feminization of agriculture." Women take on managing plots, hiring labor, and deciding planting schedules, but they still face obstacles accessing extension services and formal land documentation because officials expect male farm managers. Which of the following best describes women's role in the agricultural system described?
6. Secondary source excerpt (embedded): Many countries are multinational states, meaning they contain more than one nation within a single sovereign government. Meanwhile, stateless nations are nations that lack their own sovereign state, often living across multiple states or within one that does not grant full autonomy. Which option correctly identifies a stateless nation scenario?
7. Why do actual farm belts near a city rarely match Von Thünen's rings?
8. Secondary-source excerpt (about 85–110 words): In many real-world cases, forced and voluntary migration are difficult to separate. Consider a coastal farming household facing repeated storm surges and soil salinization that reduce crop yields. The family may not be directly persecuted, yet their ability to remain is steadily undermined by environmental change and rising debt. They might migrate to a city or abroad for work, framing the move as a choice, while also experiencing it as necessary for survival. Such cases challenge policies that assume a strict forced/voluntary divide. Which classification best fits the excerpt's point?
9. A historian summarizes the Green Revolution by noting that cereal production rose dramatically in several countries after the introduction of improved wheat and rice varieties, expanded irrigation, and increased fertilizer use. The source adds that higher yields helped reduce the risk of famine in some places even as population continued to grow. Which of the following best explains the Green Revolution pattern described in the excerpt?
10. In a classroom simulation of the von Thünen model, students calculate net profit as market price minus production costs minus transport costs, then decide what rent they can afford to pay for land at different distances. A secondary source excerpt summarizes that this logic produces predictable land-use zones because different products have different transport sensitivity. According to the von Thünen model, which of the following best explains the agricultural pattern described?
11. A secondary source explains that rapid urbanization concentrates people in cities, often creating dense coastal megacity regions, while some rural interiors experience slower growth or out-migration. The source argues that this process reshapes population distribution within countries and across world regions. Which statement best reflects the role of urbanization in population distribution?
12. A secondary source uses a core-periphery lens to describe how high-income urban regions concentrate food processing, branding, and consumption, while peripheral rural regions specialize in bulk commodity production for export with lower wages and less infrastructure investment. The author highlights unequal exchange and value-added activities clustering in the core. The agricultural land use described most directly results from which of the following?
13. A planning handbook describes how bid-rent and accessibility can create distinct urban zones: the CBD tends to host high-intensity commercial uses, while residential uses often occupy less accessible, lower-rent areas farther out (with variation by city). Which statement incorrectly conflates zones in a way that contradicts this general model?
14. A secondary source emphasizes that regions are constructed for particular purposes (political, economic, cultural) rather than being purely "natural" divisions of Earth. A government redraws "development regions" to qualify more districts for infrastructure funding, using new criteria and names. Which statement best reflects the source's point?
15. Secondary-source excerpt (boundary disputes and conflicts, 75–125 words): Boundary disputes are often described by what is being contested. Definitional disputes involve disagreement about the meaning of the boundary description in a legal document; locational disputes involve disagreement about the boundary's position on the landscape; operational disputes involve disagreement about how the boundary is managed; and allocational disputes involve disagreement about who controls resources tied to the boundary. Because these categories can overlap, analysts look for the central claim driving the conflict. A treaty defines the boundary using clear coordinates, and both states accept the line. Conflict erupts only after a mineral deposit is found straddling the border, and each state claims the ore body. What is the primary dispute type?
16. Secondary-source excerpt (embedded): Democracies generally feature competitive elections, protections for civil liberties, and multiple centers of political influence (parties, media, courts). Authoritarian regimes restrict political competition and often limit speech, assembly, and press, using coercion or legal constraints to maintain power. Many states combine elements of both, so classification depends on how power is accessed and checked in practice. Question: Which scenario most strongly indicates authoritarian governance as described?
17. Secondary source excerpt (embedded): Voluntary (often economic) migrants typically move to improve livelihoods through employment, remittances, or education. They may face constraints—like visa rules or limited savings—but the defining feature is that movement is more planned and based on perceived opportunity rather than immediate threats to safety. Which scenario best represents voluntary economic migration?
18. Secondary-source excerpt (boundary disputes and conflicts, 75–125 words): In political geography, disputes are classified by the object of disagreement. Locational disputes occur when states contest the precise placement of a boundary, such as when old maps conflict with new GPS surveys or when a river changes course. Definitional disputes concern ambiguous wording in the documents that define the boundary. Operational disputes involve the rules and procedures used to manage the border, and allocational disputes focus on who controls resources in a border region. Two countries accept the treaty text but disagree because new satellite measurements place the boundary several kilometers away from where older maps showed it. Which dispute type is this?
19. A city compares two neighborhoods using 311 complaint data to decide where to increase sanitation services. One neighborhood has fewer complaints but also lower internet access and less trust in government. Which conclusion best accounts for limitations and bias in urban data?
20. In a textbook summary, physical/physiographic boundaries are described as borders that use rivers, deserts, or mountain ranges as reference points. A newly independent state proposes using the centerline of a large river (the thalweg) as its international boundary with a neighbor. Which statement best identifies the boundary type?

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