Worked examples
Two examples
Example 1
- Ask: who is acting? Here it is a department of the national government.
- The departments, each headed by a secretary, are part of the executive branch, under the president.
- Ask what they are doing. Congress passed the laws and voted the money; the department is carrying out those laws. Carrying out the laws is the job of the executive branch.
Answer: Executive: carries out the laws
Example 2
- Ask: who is acting? The Senate.
- The Senate is one of the two houses of Congress, so it belongs to the legislative branch.
- The president made the treaty, and the president is the executive. But the one acting here is the Senate. Approving treaties is one of the places where the branches overlap: each branch has a small part in the work of the others.
Answer: Legislative: makes the laws
Where this is taught: Civics, Chapter 5: Separation of powers: three branches · Civics, Chapter 5: The three jobs in everyday life · Civics, Chapter 5: Separated, but not sealed off · The Civics Flyover, Question 2
In your Kaplan book: Unit 3, Chapter 3, Lesson 3: Levels and Branches of Government · Map of the Terrain, topic 15: The Constitution's principles: separation of powers, checks and balances, federalism
The drill
Ten questions
Tap your answer to each one. A few questions ask you to choose words from a drop-down instead, the way the GED test does. Then press Check my answers at the bottom.Circle your answer to each one; where there are brackets, circle the choice that fits. The answer key, with the reasoning, is on the last page.