Bronislaw Malinowski's fieldwork in the Trobriand Islands pioneered which research method?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology". DSST outline area I (10%), b. Cultural Anthropology
In linguistics, what is a morpheme?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Language". DSST outline area I (10%), c. Linguistics
What do archaeologists chiefly study in order to understand people of the past?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 1, Introduction to Biological Anthropology. DSST outline area I (10%), d. Archaeology
What does applied anthropology involve?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 1, Introduction to Biological Anthropology. DSST outline area I (10%), e. Applied anthropology
Which list names the four subdisciplines of anthropology?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 1, Introduction to Biological Anthropology. DSST outline area I (10%), a. Physical anthropology
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History and theory 5
An ethnographer describes a ritual in the terms that are meaningful to the people who practice it. Which perspective is this?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Doing Fieldwork: Methods in Cultural Anthropology". DSST outline area II (10%), a. Ethnographies and perspectives
The Hijra of India are a well-known example of what?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Gender and Sexuality". DSST outline area II (10%), b. Sex and Gender
What do anthropologists mean when they call race a socially constructed concept?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Race and Ethnicity". DSST outline area II (10%), c. Race and ethnicity
Which idea did Franz Boas steer American anthropology toward, and away from cultural evolutionism?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "The Culture Concept". DSST outline area II (10%), a. Ethnographies and perspectives
Who coined the term cultural ecology for the ways cultures use and understand their environments?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Culture and Sustainability: Environmental Anthropology in the Anthropocene". DSST outline area II (10%), d. Cultural ecology
Physical anthropology 7
Gregor Mendel explained why some traits vanish in one generation and reappear in the next. Which pair of terms did he introduce?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 3, Molecular Biology and Genetics. DSST outline area III (13%), a. Genetic principles
In which year did Charles Darwin propose the concept of natural selection in print?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 2, A History of Evolutionary Thought. DSST outline area III (13%), b. Evolutionary principles
The partial skeleton nicknamed Lucy, found at Hadar in Ethiopia, belongs to which species?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 9, Early Hominins. DSST outline area III (13%), d. Paleontology: fossil hominids
What is gene flow?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 4, Forces of Evolution. DSST outline area III (13%), b. Evolutionary principles
Which force of evolution is random change in allele frequencies between generations?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 4, Forces of Evolution. DSST outline area III (13%), b. Evolutionary principles
Which stone tool tradition did the Neanderthals make, with tools smaller and lighter than the earlier Acheulean handaxes?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 11, Archaic Homo. DSST outline area III (13%), d. Paleontology: fossil hominids
Which suite of traits sets the primates apart from other mammals?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 5, Meet the Living Primates. DSST outline area III (13%), c. Primatology
Archaeology 5
Archaeologists also call the Neolithic Revolution the First Agricultural Revolution. What changed in it?Wikipedia, "Neolithic Revolution". DSST outline area IV (10%), c. Neolithic
How do archaeologists define an artifact?LibreTexts, Archaeology (Ruth), section 1.2 Down to Earth. DSST outline area IV (10%), e. Material culture
The Oldowan stone tool industry is named after which site?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 10, Early Members of the Genus Homo. DSST outline area IV (10%), b. Paleolithic and Mesolithic
The wedge-shaped script of southern Mesopotamia, the earliest writing known, was devised for which language?Wikipedia, "Cuneiform". DSST outline area IV (10%), d. Development of civilization and urban societies
What does the Principle of Superposition state about undisturbed layers of soil or rock?LibreTexts, Archaeology (Ruth), section 1.2 Down to Earth. DSST outline area IV (10%), a. Methodology
Cultural systems and processes 7
E. B. Tylor gave a classic definition of culture as "that complex whole". What did he say it includes?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "The Culture Concept". DSST outline area V (14%), a. Components of culture
Human language is said to have arbitrariness. What does that mean?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Language". DSST outline area V (14%), b. Symbolic Systems
Ideas, styles, religions and technologies pass between individuals and from one culture to another. What is this spreading called?Wikipedia, "Cultural diffusion". DSST outline area V (14%), d. Cultural diffusion
What did Benjamin Whorf propose about language and thought?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Language". DSST outline area V (14%), c. Language and communication
What do media anthropologists study?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Media Anthropology". DSST outline area V (14%), g. Arts and Media
What is enculturation?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "The Culture Concept". DSST outline area V (14%), a. Components of culture
What is ethnocentrism?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "The Culture Concept". DSST outline area V (14%), a. Components of culture
Social organization 5
A rule that people must marry outside their own kinship group is an example of what?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Family and Marriage". DSST outline area VI (10%), a. Marriage and family patterns
Chiefdoms are described as ranked societies. What does that mean?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Political Anthropology: A Cross-Cultural Comparison". DSST outline area VI (10%), c. Social and economic stratification
How does bridewealth differ from dowry?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Family and Marriage". DSST outline area VI (10%), a. Marriage and family patterns
In a society with matrilineal descent, how is membership in the kinship group traced?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Family and Marriage". DSST outline area VI (10%), b. Kinship and descent groups
What is polygyny?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Family and Marriage". DSST outline area VI (10%), a. Marriage and family patterns
Economic and political organization 5
Giving with no tally of the gift's exact worth and no set return expected is which form of exchange?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Economics". DSST outline area VII (10%), c. Trade, reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange
The Kula ring of the Trobriand Islands is an example of which form of exchange?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Economics". DSST outline area VII (10%), c. Trade, reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange
What characterizes a state, the most complex kind of political organization?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Political Anthropology: A Cross-Cultural Comparison". DSST outline area VII (10%), d. Modern political systems
Which are the four levels of socio-cultural integration used to compare political systems?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Political Anthropology: A Cross-Cultural Comparison". DSST outline area VII (10%), a. Political systems
Which mode of subsistence is growing crops on a small scale, mainly for the growers' own use?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Subsistence". DSST outline area VII (10%), b. Subsistence and settlement patterns
Religion 5
Arnold van Gennep found that rites of passage are carried out in which three stages?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Religion". DSST outline area VIII (11%), e. Rituals
The term cargo cult describes rituals of what kind?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Religion". DSST outline area VIII (11%), c. Informal organizations
What are rites of revitalization?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Religion". DSST outline area VIII (11%), e. Rituals
What is animism?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Religion". DSST outline area VIII (11%), a. Belief Systems
Which religious practitioners work full time and appear only in societies with substantial occupational specialization?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Religion". DSST outline area VIII (11%), d. Religious practices and practitioners
Anthropology in the global age 6
Acculturation is best described as what kind of process?Wikipedia, "Acculturation". DSST outline area IX (12%), c. Directed and spontaneous cultural change
Most archaeologists work at conserving and managing sites, for example by assessing them before a building project goes ahead. What is this profession called?LibreTexts, Archaeology (Ruth), section 1.2 Down to Earth. DSST outline area IX (12%), d. Future Directions: cultural resource management
What does glocalization refer to?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Globalization". DSST outline area IX (12%), d. Future Directions: indigenous survival and global culture
What does the term Anthropocene describe?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Culture and Sustainability: Environmental Anthropology in the Anthropocene". DSST outline area IX (12%), d. Future Directions: environment
Which of these is an example of applied cultural anthropology?Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, 2nd edition, chapter 1, Introduction to Biological Anthropology. DSST outline area IX (12%), a. Applied anthropology
Why do linguistic anthropologists treat the loss of a language as a loss of culture?Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition), chapter "Language". DSST outline area IX (12%), b. Cultural preservation
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the exam content outline in the DSST fact sheet for General Anthropology (Prometric, Rev 1/2021, https://getcollegecredit.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/General-Anthropology.pdf, read 2026-10-12): Anthropology: Methodologies and Disciplines 10%, History and Theory 10%, Physical Anthropology 13%, Archaeology 10%, Cultural Systems and Processes 14%, Social Organization 10%, Economic and Political Organization 10%, Religion 11%, Anthropology in the Global Age 12%. This bank holds 50: 5, 5, 7, 5, 7, 5, 5, 5 and 6. Every fact was read on 2026-10-12 on the public page named under its question: the open textbooks Perspectives: An Open Invitation to Cultural Anthropology (Lumen Learning edition) and Explorations: An Open Invitation to Biological Anthropology, the LibreTexts open textbook Archaeology, and Wikipedia. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
These General Anthropology DSST practice tests draw on 50 questions of our own in the fact sheet's nine areas. The page is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by Prometric, the owner of the DSST exams.
Read the full guide
What the exam covers
The fact sheet (Rev 1/2021) lists nine areas: methodologies and disciplines 10%, history and theory 10%, physical anthropology 13%, archaeology 10%, cultural systems and processes 14%, social organization 10%, economic and political organization 10%, religion 11%, and anthropology in the global age 12%. The bank holds 5, 5, 7, 5, 7, 5, 5, 5 and 6.
Where the answers come from
Cultural questions were checked in the open textbook Perspectives, physical anthropology in Explorations, archaeology in a LibreTexts textbook, and four in Wikipedia.
Cultural systems and physical anthropology are the two largest areas, 27% between them, so start there.
Terms come in pairs: emic and etic, polygyny and polyandry, bridewealth and dowry, generalized and balanced reciprocity.
Questions and answers
Is there a DSST General Anthropology study guide?
The free one is Prometric's fact sheet: the content outline with its percentages and five reference textbooks. A missed question here names the open textbook chapter to read.
How many questions are on the DSST General Anthropology exam?
The fact sheet says the exam has 100 questions and allows 2 hours. Exam mode here keeps that pace: 50 questions in 60 minutes.
What score do you need on the DSST General Anthropology exam?
There is no percent to aim for. The American Council on Education recommends 3 semester hours of lower-level baccalaureate credit at a minimum score of 400, and your school decides whether it accepts that.
Are these real DSST General Anthropology questions?
No. Every question was written for this site from the lines of the published outline. None is copied or reworded from a real exam or from the fact sheet's samples, and a score here does not predict a score there.