Skip to main content
Sign in Create a free account
Varsity Tutors
Sign in Sign up

Practice Test 3 - AP World History

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

  1. In the 1880s and 1890s, the Canadian government negotiated and imposed numbered treaties and created the reserve system, while expanding the North-West Mounted Police and encouraging railway construction. These policies facilitated agricultural settlement and resource extraction, but also restricted Indigenous mobility and undermined Indigenous political autonomy. Which broader goal most directly explains these Canadian state-building policies in the West?
  2. A chronicle from Java praises Majapahit for uniting surrounding islands through naval expeditions and tribute, while also describing Hindu-Buddhist court rituals and patronage of temples. Which inference best connects politics and culture in Majapahit?
  3. European maritime empires frequently fought wars over access to profitable trade, including conflicts in the Caribbean and in Asian waters. Privateers and pirates sometimes received state backing to attack rival shipping. Which term best describes state-authorized private attacks on enemy commerce?
  4. In the late 1980s, Soviet foreign policy shifted toward negotiation with the United States, including arms control agreements and reduced confrontation. At the same time, the Soviet Union withdrew its forces from Afghanistan, ending a long and costly war. Which broader Cold War pattern does the Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan most closely resemble?
  5. In medieval Europe after the Black Death, labor shortages increased peasants' bargaining power in some regions. Landlords attempted to cap wages and restrict mobility, while some peasants migrated to towns or negotiated better terms. Which outcome best reflects changing social hierarchies in this period?
  6. A short excerpt about the Enlightenment notes that Diderot's Encyclopédie aimed to compile practical and scientific knowledge, challenge superstition, and make information more widely accessible through print networks. Which factor most directly enabled the broader circulation of such Enlightenment works across Europe and the Atlantic world?
  7. In 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations. During the Cold War, both blocs invoked "rights," but emphasized different priorities—civil and political rights versus social and economic rights. Which statement best explains how human rights discourse functioned in the Cold War?
  8. A novelist in 1850 describes an industrial city where soot covers buildings, rivers run black, and workers cough constantly. The story contrasts this with an idealized countryside and criticizes factory owners' indifference. Which literary movement most influenced such critiques of industrial society?
  9. The Non-Aligned Movement emerged as newly independent states, including India, Egypt, and Yugoslavia, sought to avoid formal alignment with either the United States or the Soviet Union. Leaders emphasized sovereignty, anti-imperialism, and development. Which factor most directly explains why many decolonizing states pursued nonalignment?
  10. A 1928 Soviet poster slogan urges citizens to "fulfill the plan" by increasing steel output and building new factories, claiming that rapid industrialization will secure socialism against hostile capitalist encirclement. Which policy most directly corresponds to the poster's message?
  11. Gorbachev's reforms caused the Soviet system to collapse mainly by
  12. A 14th-century European farmer adopts a heavy plow and horse collar, allowing deeper cultivation of northern soils and more effective use of animal power. Which broader change is most closely associated with these innovations?
  13. In a 1956 statement, protesters in a Soviet-aligned Eastern European country demand free elections, withdrawal of foreign troops, and the right to form independent unions. They criticize forced collectivization and censorship, while still claiming to support "socialism with national characteristics." Which event most closely matches the scenario described?
  14. In the 1900s, European colonial states in Africa faced growing nationalist parties, labor strikes, and veterans returning from world wars demanding rights. Colonial governments also confronted international criticism and economic pressures to reform. Which development most directly represents an internal challenge to colonial state power?
  15. A 1600s artisan guild complains that imported cotton textiles from South Asia are cheaper and more colorful than local woolens. European consumers increasingly prefer the imports. Which response is most historically consistent with this situation?
  16. In Cambodia (1975–1979), the Khmer Rouge sought to create an agrarian utopia by evacuating cities, abolishing markets, and targeting perceived enemies; mass executions, starvation, and forced labor killed a large share of the population. Which factor most directly shaped this atrocity after 1900?
  17. In a colonial Peruvian village, Spanish authorities require Indigenous communities to supply laborers for silver mines for part of each year, causing local hardship. Which labor draft system is most closely associated with this practice in the Columbian Exchange era?
  18. A 75–125 word excerpt written in 1792 describes French revolutionaries abolishing feudal dues, declaring citizens equal before the law, and mobilizing volunteers to defend the nation. The author links sovereignty to the "people" rather than a dynasty, while opponents warn that upheaval will spread across borders. Which broader European trend does the excerpt most directly demonstrate?
  19. In the 1500s, Portuguese traders established fortified factories along African and Asian coasts to control maritime commerce, while in the 1800s European powers often imposed formal colonial rule, building railways to extract raw materials and restructure local economies. Both involved European expansion and exchange. Which comparison best describes a change in the methods used to secure economic exchange?
  20. Merchants in trans-Saharan trade often relied on credit, partnerships, and written contracts, frequently using Arabic. Islamic legal traditions provided a shared framework for commercial disputes across long distances. Which similarity does this reveal with other Afro-Eurasian trade networks of the same era?

Practice tests