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GED Social Studies · Drills

Social Studies Drills

Short sets of questions, one thing at a time, numbered in order.

← Social Studies · Civics, Chapter by Chapter · The Map of the Terrain

How the drills work

One small step at a time, in order

A drill practices one thing and nothing else. The drills are numbered in order, and they come in families. The families follow the groups of the Map of the Terrain, and inside each family the drills are listed under the Map’s numbered topics. You can work straight down the list, one drill after another.

Each drill starts with two worked examples, with every step shown, and links to the page where the subject is taught. Then come ten questions, or five if you are short of time. Some questions come with a short reading, a table or a chart, the way GED Social Studies questions do. Check your answers on the screen and read the reasoning for each one, or print the set, with its answer key on the last page. Press New set for different questions.

A drill is mastered when you get all ten right, or all five right twice in a row. A mastered drill gets a check mark on this page. The check marks are kept in this browser only; on another phone or computer they start fresh.

If two sets in a row go badly (fewer than 7 of 10 right, or fewer than 4 of 5), the drill will send you to the page that teaches the subject, to read it first.

Families I and II are here now, and Family III has begun. Drills for the other parts of the Map will follow, one family at a time.

The families

Jump to a family

Family I

The Toolkit

Thirty-three drills · Map of the Terrain, topics 1 to 10 · Kaplan Unit 3, Chapter 1

1Reading a passage

  1. I.01Central idea or detail?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 1
  2. I.02Choose the central idea of a passageKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 1
  3. I.03Find the detail: "According to the passage..."Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 1
  4. I.04What a word or phrase means in the passageKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 2
  5. I.05Draw a conclusion the passage supportsKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 1

2Primary and secondary sources

  1. I.06Primary or secondary source?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 3
  2. I.07Read the source line: who made it, when, and whyKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 3
  3. I.08What can this source tell us, and what can it not?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 4

3Reading maps

  1. I.09Title, legend, and compass: find it, and which directionKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  2. I.10Distance with the scale barKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  3. I.11Patterns on a map, and what a map does not showKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6

4Timelines and dates

  1. I.12Which came first? Reading a timelineKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  2. I.13How many years between? BCE, CE, and no year zeroKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  3. I.14Centuries and decadesKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6

5Tables, graphs, and charts

  1. I.15Read a table: units and "in thousands"Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  2. I.16Bar graphs: compareKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  3. I.17Line graphs: the trendKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  4. I.18Circle graphs: 100 percent of what?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  5. I.19Which conclusion does the graph support?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6

6Cartoons and pictures

  1. I.20What does the symbol stand for?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 3
  2. I.21What is the cartoonist's point?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 3

7Cause and effect

  1. I.22Find the cause and the effectKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 1
  2. I.23After is not becauseKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 4

8Point of view, purpose, and bias

  1. I.24Loaded words: whose side is the writer on?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 3
  2. I.25The author's purposeKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 3
  3. I.26Two accounts of the same eventKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 5

9Weighing evidence and reasoning

  1. I.27Fact or opinion?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 4
  2. I.28Does the evidence support the claim?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 4
  3. I.29Reasoning that does not holdKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 4

10Numbers: percents, rates, averages

  1. I.30Percents and percent changeKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  2. I.31Rates and per capitaKaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6
  3. I.32Mean, median, mode: which "typical"?Kaplan Ch. 1, Lesson 6

All of this family together

  1. I.33Mixed: readings, maps, and graphs like the testKaplan Ch. 1, all lessons

Family II

Foundations of American Government

Twenty-six drills · Map of the Terrain, topics 11 to 20 · Kaplan Unit 3, Chapter 3

11What government is for, and the kinds there are

  1. II.01Kinds of government: name it from a descriptionKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1
  2. II.02Direct or representative democracy; presidential or parliamentaryKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1

12The ideas behind the Constitution

  1. II.03Match the thinker to the idea: Hobbes, Locke, Montesquieu, RousseauKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1
  2. II.04Name the principle from an exampleKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1

13Founding documents I: Magna Carta, Mayflower Compact, Declaration of Independence

  1. II.05Which founding document? Magna Carta, English Bill of Rights, Mayflower Compact, DeclarationKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1
  2. II.06Reading the Declaration: which part of the argument is this?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1

14Founding documents II: Articles of Confederation, the Constitution, the Federalist debate

  1. II.07What Congress could and could not do under the ArticlesKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 1
  2. II.08The Articles or the Constitution?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  3. II.09The Convention's compromisesKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  4. II.10Federalist or Anti-Federalist?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  5. II.11Find it in the Constitution: the Preamble and the seven articlesKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  6. II.12Read a clause: what does it say in plain words?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2

15The Constitution's principles: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism

  1. II.13Which branch? Makes the laws, carries them out, or decides what they meanKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  2. II.14Checks and balances: name the checkKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  3. II.15Delegated, reserved, or concurrent power?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  4. II.16The elastic clause and the supremacy clause: McCulloch v. MarylandKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2

16Congress, and how a bill becomes law

  1. II.17House or Senate?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  2. II.18How a bill becomes law: the steps in orderKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3

17The president and the executive branch

  1. II.19The president and the cabinet: qualifications, roles, powers, limitsKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3

18The courts and judicial review

  1. II.20The federal courts, and how a case reaches the Supreme CourtKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  2. II.21Judicial review: Marbury v. MadisonKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3

19Federalism in practice: Washington, Albany, City Hall

  1. II.22Federal, state, or city? Washington, Albany, City HallKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  2. II.23Who holds this job at each level of governmentKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3

20Amending the Constitution

  1. II.24How an amendment is made: the steps in orderKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  2. II.25The amendments that changed how government worksKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2

All of this family together

  1. II.26Mixed: documents and charts, with questions like the test’sKaplan Ch. 3, all lessons

Family III

Rights, Citizens, and Politics

Twenty-eight drills · eight ready now; the rest, in grey, are being written · Map of the Terrain, topics 21 to 30 · Kaplan Unit 3, Chapter 3

21The First Amendment

  1. III.01The five freedoms of the First Amendment: which one is it?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  2. III.02The two religion clauses: no established church, and free exercise (Engel v. Vitale)Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  3. III.03Speech and press cases: Tinker, New York Times v. Sullivan, the Pentagon Papers, Texas v. JohnsonKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2

22Amendments 2 to 10

  1. III.04Which amendment protects this right? The Second through the TenthKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  2. III.05Rights of a person accused of a crime: which amendment is at stake?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  3. III.06Cases on the rights of the accused: Mapp, Gideon, MirandaKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2

23The Fourteenth Amendment

  1. III.07The Thirteenth, Fourteenth, or Fifteenth Amendment: which one?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  2. III.08Inside the Fourteenth Amendment: citizenship, due process, or equal protection?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  3. III.09How the Bill of Rights came to limit the statesKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  4. III.10Race and equal protection, part one: Dred Scott, Plessy, BrownKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  5. III.11Race and equal protection, part two: Korematsu, and Students for Fair Admissions v. HarvardKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2
  6. III.12Privacy and marriage: Loving, Roe, Obergefell, DobbsKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2

24Citizenship

  1. III.13How a person becomes a citizen: by birth or by naturalizationKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 5
  2. III.14Citizenship and voting cases: Wong Kim Ark, Shelby County, Trump v. BarbaraKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 5
  3. III.15A right or a responsibility?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 5

25Voting: who could, and when

  1. III.16The amendments that widened the vote, in orderKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4
  2. III.17Barriers to voting, and what ended eachKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4

26Presidential elections and the Electoral College

  1. III.18The Electoral College: counting electors, and 270 to winKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4
  2. III.19An election year in order: primaries, conventions, the general election, the electors' voteKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4
  3. III.20The census, House seats, and district linesKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4

27Parties, interest groups, campaigns, and money

  1. III.21A party, an interest group, or a PAC?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4
  2. III.22Campaign money: who may give, and Citizens UnitedKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4

28Media and public opinion

  1. III.23A news report, an opinion column, or a political ad?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4
  2. III.24Reading a poll: the sample, the margin of error, and what a poll can showKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 4

29Public policy: housing in New York

  1. III.25How a public policy is made, step by stepKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  2. III.26Who decides about housing in New York: the city, the state, or the nation?Kaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3

30Landmark Supreme Court cases

  1. III.27The power of the national government: Marbury, McCulloch, Gibbons, U.S. v. NixonKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 3
  2. III.28Mixed: "Which case?", every case in the familyKaplan Ch. 3, Lesson 2