China's Great Tang Code wrote down a system of punishments. What is one effect of writing laws down in a code?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.C.PR.1 and its disciplinary clarification
In ancient Egypt, how was the pharaoh's power connected to religion?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.C.CP.2 and its disciplinary clarification
In empires between 600 and 1600, a ruler's right to rule was usually said to come from divine sources. Where is the source of legitimacy seen to lie today?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.C.RR.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Most states between 600 and 1600 concentrated power in one person. Which one developed a government that was more democratic, though only some members of society took part?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.C.CV.1 and its disciplinary clarification
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Civics, continued
Rome's law code, the Twelve Tables, was written down and displayed in the forum. What did that do for the people considered citizens?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.C.PR.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Under federalism, which power is held by both the national government and the state governments?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.C.PR.1 and its disciplinary clarification
What is the purpose of the system of checks and balances in the United States government?Kentucky Department of Education, Terms for the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (glossary), read with standard 8.C.CP.3
Which ancient civilization is credited with creating the first limited democracy?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.C.CP.3 and its disciplinary clarification
Which document states the principles of equality, inalienable rights, government by consent and the right to change or abolish the government?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.C.CV.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Which Kentucky statesman guided the making of the Missouri Compromise of 1820 and the Compromise of 1850?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.C.KGO.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Which Supreme Court opinion established judicial review?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.C.PR.2 and its disciplinary clarification
Economics 11
A farmer has one field and plants tobacco in it instead of corn. What is the corn the farmer could have grown?Kentucky Department of Education, Terms for the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (glossary), read with standard 8.E.IC.1
A society has plenty of water, so most of its people fish, as custom has long directed. Which kind of economy is this?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.E.MA.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Before currency was established, how did civilizations exchange specialized goods and services?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.E.MA.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Farming gave early societies a surplus of food. How did the surplus lead to specialization?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.E.ST.2 and its disciplinary clarification
How did the North and the South specialize in the textile industry as the United States grew?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.E.MA.2 and its disciplinary clarification
In a market, buyers and sellers settle on a price at which the amount supplied equals the amount demanded. What is that price called?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.E.MI.1 and its disciplinary clarification
In ancient Egypt, reeds from the Nile were gathered and processed into papyrus and baskets. Which idea does this show?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.E.MI.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Late in the period 600 to 1600, Europe's population was growing and productive farmland was scarce. What did that scarcity provide?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.E.IC.1 and its disciplinary clarification
What are the four factors of production?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.E.MI.3 and its disciplinary clarification
What are the taxes collected at the local, state and federal levels used for?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.E.MA.3 and its disciplinary clarification
Why did Kentucky have economic ties to both the Union and the Confederacy?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.E.KE.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Geography 11
A family sails to the colonies in the hope of economic gain and a better life. In geography, what is that hope called?Kentucky Department of Education, Terms for the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (glossary), read with standard 8.G.MM.1
Ghana, Mali and Songhay, the West African empires, controlled much of the world's supply of which resource?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.G.HI.1 and its disciplinary clarification
How did the cotton gin, once invented, change the South?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.G.HE.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Metalworking in Classical Empires such as Rome and Han Dynasty China needed charcoal for smelting furnaces. What effect did this have on the environment?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.G.HE.2 and its disciplinary clarification
New England's colonial cities were centers of whaling and of importing goods. What did this trade shape?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.G.HI.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Through which passage in the mountains did settlers move into Kentucky?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.G.GR.1 and its disciplinary clarification
What was Kentucky identified as during the Civil War, because of its location and its reluctance to secede?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.G.KGE.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Which characteristics did the River Valley Civilizations have in common?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.G.GR.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Which is an example of forced migration between 600 and 1600?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.G.MM.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Which river connected the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Kush, so that ideas and goods like ivory and gold were exchanged?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.G.HI.2 and its disciplinary clarification
Why was Constantinople, the capital of the Byzantine Empire, built where it was?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.G.HE.1 and its disciplinary clarification
History 11
After 1450 the Atlantic System linked the two hemispheres. What was the Columbian Exchange?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.H.CH.1 and its disciplinary clarification
As sectional differences grew, which labor systems did the South and the North rely on?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.H.CO.4 and its disciplinary clarification
During the Scientific Revolution and the Enlightenment, what began to be prioritized over received wisdom?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.H.CE.1 and its disciplinary clarification
How did River Valley Civilizations change into empires?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.H.CH.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Indian Ocean traders dealt with city-states on the coast of East Africa. What did this interaction create?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 7.H.CO.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Kentucky's state government was influenced by the Athenian city-state and the Roman Republic. Which style did architects use to show that influence?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.H.KH.1 and its disciplinary clarification
On what date did Kentucky become a state?Kentucky Department of Education, Terms for the Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (glossary), read with standard 8.H.KH.1
What was the Neolithic Revolution?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 6.H.CE.1 and its disciplinary clarification
What were the Missouri Compromise, the Compromise of 1850 and the Kansas-Nebraska Act meant to do?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.H.CO.2 and its disciplinary clarification
Which event was part of the reform movements that grew as sectional differences increased between 1840 and 1860?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.H.CO.3 and its disciplinary clarification
Which of these was a British action that the American colonists resisted before the Revolutionary War?Kentucky Department of Education, Kentucky Academic Standards for Social Studies (December 2022), standard 8.H.CO.1 and its disciplinary clarification
Unofficial practice for Kentucky's 8th grade social studies test. The test is now the Kentucky Summative Assessment (KSA); it was called K-PREP before. Every question is our own, written from the state's standards. Not affiliated with the Kentucky Department of Education.
Read the full guide
What the 8th grade social studies test covers
Kentucky's blueprint gives civics, economics, geography and history 25 percent each, and half of the items in each also measure the inquiry practices. The grade 8 test is a grade-span test: it assesses the standards of grades 6, 7 and 8. So early civilizations to 600 CE and the world from 600 to 1600 are tested beside the grade 8 course, the United States from 1600 to 1877.
Kentucky in the questions
The grade 8 standards have Kentucky strands of their own: Henry Clay and the compromises, the Cumberland Gap, the border state, statehood in 1792. Each answer names its standard, such as 8.G.KGE.1.
The real test sets its questions to passages and sources; practice naming the claim a source supports before choosing.
Questions and answers
Is K-PREP the same as the KSA?
Kentucky's state tests are now the Kentucky Summative Assessments. The Kentucky Department of Education says they were previously called K-PREP, the Kentucky Performance Rating for Educational Progress. An 8th grader today takes the KSA.
How many questions are on the KSA 8th grade social studies test?
The state's 2025-26 items and times chart lists 40 to 42 questions in two parts, set to 15 passages. Most are multiple choice; the rest are multiple-select, technology-enhanced, short-answer and extended-response questions.
How long is the 8th grade social studies KSA?
The same chart lists 120 minutes for grade 8 social studies. Kentucky tests social studies once in each grade band, in grades 5, 8 and 11.
How is the KSA scored?
Students receive a scale score and one of four performance levels: Novice, Apprentice, Proficient or Distinguished. The department publishes performance level descriptors for each tested grade.