Practice Test 4 - AP World History

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

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1. A historian studying the decline of Songhai notes that Moroccan forces used firearms and exploited internal political divisions. Which lesson about state building and state weakness does this example best illustrate?
2. An 1870s inventor claims his new internal combustion engine can power smaller vehicles than steam engines because it does not require a large boiler and can run on refined petroleum. He predicts personal transport will become more common. Which later development most directly fulfills this prediction?
3. A European Union regulation requires companies to protect user data and allows large fines for violations, affecting firms in Asia and the Americas that serve EU residents. Companies worldwide revise privacy policies and create compliance offices. Which effect of globalization is best demonstrated?
4. A Hindu bhakti poet in early modern South Asia composes devotional songs in a regional language, emphasizing personal devotion over priestly mediation. Local rulers patronize these performances at court festivals to attract followers. Which effect on imperial or state society is most likely?
5. By the early twentieth century, Japan had industrialized rapidly, defeated China (1894–1895) and Russia (1904–1905), and gained influence in Korea and Manchuria. During World War I, Japan seized German holdings in Shandong and the Pacific and later issued the Twenty-One Demands to China. In the 1930s, Japan established Manchukuo and expanded further on the Asian mainland, arguing it needed resources and security. Which development most directly contributed to Japan's turn toward aggressive expansionism in this period?
6. A traveler in the 13th-century Indian Ocean world reports that sailors use a magnetic compass and improved ship designs to navigate open seas more confidently. Which change would most likely result from these maritime technologies?
7. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union emerged as superpowers with competing economic and political systems. The U.S. promoted containment through the Truman Doctrine and Marshall Plan; the USSR consolidated influence in Eastern Europe. Both sides built military alliances (NATO and the Warsaw Pact) and competed in nuclear arms and proxy wars. Which factor most directly caused the Cold War to become a global conflict rather than a purely European rivalry?
8. Allied strategic bombing campaigns targeted factories, transportation networks, and urban areas in Germany and Japanese-held territories. Supporters argued bombing would cripple production and break morale; critics noted civilian casualties and uneven effects on wartime output. Meanwhile, Axis states also bombed cities, including London and Chinese urban centers. Which statement best captures a key continuity in the conduct of WWII compared with World War I?
9. Which statement best evaluates the Non-Aligned Movement?
10. In the late 1700s and 1800s, the British East India Company expanded from coastal trading posts into territorial rule in South Asia. Company officials restructured taxation, promoted export crops, and relied on Indian intermediaries while claiming to bring "improvement" and legal order. Which consequence most directly resulted from these economic policies?
11. In the 1600s, the Dutch displaced the Portuguese in parts of the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia, capturing ports and pressuring producers to sell at Dutch-controlled prices. The VOC sometimes destroyed excess spice crops to maintain scarcity and raise profits in European markets. These actions reflected a broader pattern in early modern maritime empires. Which economic goal most directly motivated such coercive policies?
12. A 1910 Ottoman reformer argues that constitutionalism and Turkish national identity must replace decentralized imperial rule. He supports secular schools, centralized administration, and conscription to strengthen the state against European encroachment. Which group most closely matches this agenda?
13. In 1947–1949, Indonesian nationalists fought to secure independence after declaring it following Japan's surrender. The Dutch attempted to reassert colonial control through military actions, but Indonesian guerrilla resistance and international pressure, including from the United Nations and the United States, pushed negotiations toward sovereignty. Which factor most directly increased international support for Indonesian independence?
14. In a speech after the Latin American wars of independence, a leader warns that newly independent republics could fragment because regional elites distrust central authority, armies remain loyal to commanders, and foreign lenders demand repayment. The speaker proposes a strong executive and a unified state to prevent "anarchy." Which post-independence pattern most closely matches the concerns in the speech?
15. A plantation colony exports sugar to the metropole and imports enslaved laborers and manufactured goods. Colonial laws require ships to carry the metropole's flag and route trade through specified ports, with customs officials collecting duties. Which imperial goal is most directly served by these regulations?
16. In the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, global consumer demand for electronics increased mining of coltan, cobalt, and rare earth elements. In parts of Central Africa and China, mining expanded into sensitive habitats, and reports described polluted waterways and deforestation near extraction sites. Which of the following best explains the environmental consequence of this modern commodity chain?
17. In the 19th century, legal reforms in some countries standardized contracts and property rights, supporting capitalist investment. Yet legal inequality persisted for women, colonized peoples, and lower classes, and customary law remained influential in many regions. Which choice best captures a continuity and change in legal systems during 1750–1914?
18. In the interwar years, global commodity markets were volatile. When prices for coffee, sugar, rubber, and copper fell sharply after 1929, governments dependent on export taxes and foreign exchange struggled to import machinery and repay loans. Social unrest grew among workers and small farmers, and some leaders promoted economic nationalism. Which policy was most likely adopted by an export-dependent state seeking to reduce vulnerability to world price swings?
19. European states in the early modern era often justified overseas claims using legal and religious arguments, including papal bulls and doctrines asserting the right to rule non-Christian lands. These ideas interacted with military power and economic incentives. Which concept most directly reflects these justifications for imperial expansion during the Age of Exploration?
20. In the early 1990s, riots erupted in several countries after governments removed subsidies on bread and fuel as part of IMF-backed reforms. Protesters argued that austerity made basic necessities unaffordable while benefiting foreign creditors. Which of the following best explains the immediate cause of these riots?

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