A land company's 1885 pamphlet calls a prairie county "a garden where crops never fail." What should a student weigh first before using it as evidence of the county's climate?The answer rests on the text printed in the question and on the wording of the objective (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 002 (geographic investigations and information).
A lesson asks students to describe a town by its landforms, its plant life, its main industries and the languages spoken there. Which of the five themes of geography is the lesson built on?Wikipedia, Five themes of geography (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 001 (geographic terms, concepts and resources).
A researcher measures the growth of a wildfire burn scar from satellite images without visiting the site. Which geographic tool is this?NOAA National Ocean Service, What is remote sensing? (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 001 (geographic terms, concepts and resources).
Show all 54 questions (51 more)
Geographic concepts and skills, continued
A student wants one chart that shows how a city's average temperature and precipitation change month by month through the year. Which graphic is designed for this?Wikipedia, Climograph (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 002 (geographic investigations and information).
A world map on the Mercator projection shows Greenland about as large as Africa. What does this projection gain in exchange for that distortion of area?Wikipedia, Mercator projection (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 001 (geographic terms, concepts and resources).
The area tied together by one city's commuter trains, delivery routes and broadcast signal is an example of which kind of region?Wikipedia, Region (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 001 (geographic terms, concepts and resources).
Earth turns through 360 degrees of longitude in 24 hours. When it is noon by the sun at Greenwich, on the prime meridian, about what time is it by the sun at 90 degrees west?Wikipedia, Time zone (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 001 (geographic terms, concepts and resources).
Planners often answer a siting question by running a map overlay in a geographic information system. What does an overlay do?Wikipedia, Geographic information system (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 001 (geographic terms, concepts and resources).
Physical systems, natural resources and land use 8
Center-pivot irrigation spread across the High Plains after World War II. Which resource does it draw on, now at risk of over-extraction?Wikipedia, Ogallala Aquifer (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 004 (ecosystems, natural resources and land use).
The deserts of the inland American West lie east of the Cascade Range and the Sierra Nevada. What chiefly keeps them dry?Wikipedia, Rain shadow (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 003 (physical features and natural processes).
The Great Lakes began to form as retreating ice sheets exposed the basins they had carved and meltwater filled them. About how long ago was that?Wikipedia, Great Lakes (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 003 (physical features and natural processes).
South-central Lower Michigan is crossed by long, winding ridges of layered sand and gravel. What laid them down?Wikipedia, Esker (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 003 (physical features and natural processes).
Which biome, the world's largest on land, is a belt of pine, spruce and larch forest that covers most of inland Canada and Alaska?Wikipedia, Taiga (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 004 (ecosystems, natural resources and land use).
Which climate type, found mostly between 30 and 45 degrees of latitude, has dry summers and mild, wet winters?Wikipedia, Mediterranean climate (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 003 (physical features and natural processes).
Which of Earth's four major physical systems takes in the crust and the rigid uppermost part of the mantle?Wikipedia, Lithosphere (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 003 (physical features and natural processes).
Why do farm plots cleared from tropical rainforest often lose their fertility within a few seasons?Wikipedia, Tropical rainforest (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 004 (ecosystems, natural resources and land use).
Human systems and human-environment interaction 8
A country's largest city is disproportionately larger than any other in its urban hierarchy, as Bangkok is in Thailand. What do geographers call such a city?Wikipedia, Primate city (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 005 (culture, settlement and population).
A country's population pyramid is narrower at the bottom than in the middle. What does that shape indicate?Wikipedia, Population pyramid (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 005 (culture, settlement and population).
A mining town's new jobs and high wages draw workers from villages across the region. In migration theory, what are the jobs and wages?Wikipedia, Human migration (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 005 (culture, settlement and population).
In 1992 Canada declared a moratorium on the Northern cod fishery, which had shaped life in Newfoundland for centuries. What had happened to the stock?Wikipedia, Collapse of the Atlantic northwest cod fishery (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 006 (human interactions with the environment).
In a desert country nearly everyone lives on the small share of land that can be farmed, so population divided by total land area understates the crowding. Which measure divides the total population by the area of arable land?Wikipedia, Population density (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 005 (culture, settlement and population).
In which kind of diffusion does an idea or innovation migrate into new areas and leave its place of origin behind?Wikipedia, Cultural diffusion (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 005 (culture, settlement and population).
Indonesian is Indonesia's sole official language, yet it is the mother tongue of only about 7 percent of Indonesians. What is a language called that serves this way between groups with different native languages?Wikipedia, Lingua franca (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 005 (culture, settlement and population).
Once the third-largest lake in the world, the Aral Sea began shrinking in the 1960s. What caused it?Wikipedia, Aral Sea (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 006 (human interactions with the environment).
World regions and global issues 8
What do the countries of the euro area, also called the eurozone, have in common?European Union, Countries using the euro (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 007 (regions of the Eastern Hemisphere).
Which country of the Western Hemisphere was one of the five founding members of OPEC in 1960?Wikipedia, OPEC (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 008 (regions of the Western Hemisphere).
Which Indigenous language family of the Andes is the most widely spoken pre-Columbian language family of the Americas?Wikipedia, Quechuan languages (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 008 (regions of the Western Hemisphere).
Which mountain range forms part of the conventional boundary between Europe and Asia?Wikipedia, Ural Mountains (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 007 (regions of the Eastern Hemisphere).
Which narrow strait between the Malay Peninsula and the island of Sumatra links the Indian Ocean with the Pacific?Wikipedia, Strait of Malacca (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 007 (regions of the Eastern Hemisphere).
Which organization, whose charter was signed in Bogotá in 1948, brings together all 35 independent states of the Americas?Organization of American States, Who We Are (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 008 (regions of the Western Hemisphere).
Which system of locks, canals and channels lets oceangoing ships travel between the Atlantic Ocean and the Great Lakes?Wikipedia, St. Lawrence Seaway (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 008 (regions of the Western Hemisphere).
Which weather pattern affects the Indian subcontinent every year from June through September and is vital to its farm economy?Wikipedia, Monsoon of South Asia (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 007 (regions of the Eastern Hemisphere).
History and geography 11
A class records interviews with retired autoworkers about a strike sixty years ago. Which use of these oral histories is soundest?Wikipedia, Oral history (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 009 (basic historical concepts).
A historian's 2015 book weighs letters, diaries and census rolls from the 1930s to explain how Michigan farm families lived. What kind of source is the book?Wikipedia, Secondary source (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 009 (basic historical concepts).
After the Seven Years' War, Britain's Proclamation of 1763 forbade new colonial settlements beyond which physical feature?Wikipedia, Royal Proclamation of 1763 (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 010 (U.S. history and geography).
Before the Louisiana Purchase of 1803, why did control of New Orleans matter so much to the United States?U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Louisiana Purchase, 1803 (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 010 (U.S. history and geography).
Congress passed the Northwest Ordinance in 1787 for the lands northwest of the Ohio River. What future did it lay out for them?National Archives, Northwest Ordinance (1787) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 010 (U.S. history and geography).
European powers met in Berlin in 1884 and 1885 as they pressed their claims to African territory. What did the meeting produce?Wikipedia, Berlin Conference (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 011 (world history and geography).
In the 1930s, drought and years of deep plowing of the native grasses turned part of the Great Plains into the Dust Bowl. What movement of people followed?Wikipedia, Dust Bowl (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 010 (U.S. history and geography).
In which kind of political entity do the state, an organization ruling a territory, and the nation, a community with a common identity, coincide?Wikipedia, Nation state (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 009 (basic historical concepts).
Mesopotamia, the site of the earliest developments of the Neolithic Revolution, lies in the northern part of which larger region?Wikipedia, Mesopotamia (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 011 (world history and geography).
Since World War II, which part of the United States has seen substantial population growth as people sought a warm climate and new jobs?Wikipedia, Sun Belt (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 010 (U.S. history and geography).
When the Suez Canal opened in 1869, how did it change sea travel between Europe and Asia?Wikipedia, Suez Canal (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 011 (world history and geography).
Other interdisciplinary perspectives 11
A city's jobs shift from steel mills to hospitals, banks and universities. In the three-sector model of an economy, which shift is this?Wikipedia, Three-sector model (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 012 (economics and geography).
A class must take a position on whether the town should allow building on a wetland. In the order the test objectives give for reasoned decisions on public issues, what comes first?The answer rests on the text printed in the question and on the wording of the objective (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 014 (democratic values, citizenship and public policy).
A government adds a 25 percent duty to imported steel so that mills at home can hold their prices. Which trade policy is this?Wikipedia, Tariff (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 012 (economics and geography).
A legislature redraws its districts so that one party's voters are packed into a few of them and spread thin across the rest. What is this practice called?Wikipedia, Gerrymandering (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 013 (political science and geography).
At a hearing on a proposed landfill, a speaker says: "Ignore the engineer's report. He doesn't even live in this county." Which flaw in reasoning is this?Wikipedia, Ad hominem (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 014 (democratic values, citizenship and public policy).
The Canadian dollar falls in value against the U.S. dollar. What does this mean for a Michigan family shopping across the border in Ontario?Wikipedia, Exchange rate (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 012 (economics and geography).
The Constitution does not delegate a certain power to the United States and does not prohibit it to the states. Under the Tenth Amendment, who holds that power?National Archives, The Bill of Rights: A Transcription (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 013 (political science and geography).
From Minnesota west to Washington, most of the border between the United States and Canada ignores rivers and ridges and follows a line of latitude. Which one?Wikipedia, 49th parallel north (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 013 (political science and geography).
In Brown v. Board of Education (1954) the Supreme Court held that separate educational facilities are inherently unequal. Which core democratic value does the ruling most directly uphold?National Archives, Brown v. Board of Education (1954) (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 014 (democratic values, citizenship and public policy).
What did Thomas Paine's pamphlet Common Sense, published in January 1776, urge the people of the Thirteen Colonies to do?Wikipedia, Common Sense (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 013 (political science and geography).
Which name is given to the region around the Great Lakes, Michigan included, that underwent substantial industrial decline in the late twentieth century?Wikipedia, Rust Belt (read 2026-10-16). Outline: MTTC Geography (008) test objectives, objective 012 (economics and geography).
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test objectives of the Michigan Test for Teacher Certification (MTTC) field 008, Geography, as the MTTC site prints them (https://www.mttc.nesinc.com/Content/STUDYGUIDE/MI_SG_obj_008.htm and the test page https://www.mttc.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/MI008_TestPage.html, read 2026-10-16): Geographic concepts and skills, 15%; Physical systems, natural resources and land use, 15%; Human systems and human-environment interaction, 15%; World regions and global issues, 15%; History and geography, 20%; Other interdisciplinary perspectives, 20%; 100 multiple-choice questions, 2 hours 30 minutes of testing time, passing score 220. This bank holds 54 questions, spread 8, 8, 8, 8, 11, 11 over those subareas. Every fact was read on 2026-10-16 in the public page named under its question: NOAA's National Ocean Service, the National Archives, the Office of the Historian of the U.S. Department of State, the Organization of American States, the European Union, and the Wikipedia article named for each remaining question. 2 questions rest on a text printed in the question and on the wording of the objective. Licence: Questions, passages, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This free MTTC Geography practice test asks 54 questions of our own on field 008, as practice or a timed exam. Unofficial: not affiliated with the Michigan Department of Education or Pearson; no question is from the real test.
Read the full guide
What MTTC Geography (008) covers
By the test objectives read October 16, 2026, the first four subareas (concepts and skills, physical systems, human systems, world regions) take 15% each and the last two 20% each. This bank holds 8, 8, 8, 8, 11 and 11; the timed exam asks 50 in 75 minutes, the real test's pace.
Two fifths of it is not geography alone
Subareas V and VI ask for history, economics, political science and civics: eras of U.S. and world history, trade, political boundaries, core democratic values. Objective 009 names Michigan history; the Northwest Ordinance and Michigan's eskers are here.
Where the answers come from
Each explanation names its page: NOAA, the National Archives, the State Department's Office of the Historian, the Organization of American States, the European Union or a named Wikipedia article.
Objectives 003 to 008 each add a teaching task: instructional strategies, assessing student understanding, professional standards and technology in geography instruction.
Objective 001 expects both frameworks: the five themes of geography and the six essential elements, from the world in spatial terms to geography's uses.
Questions and answers
How many questions are on the MTTC Geography test?
The test page lists 100 multiple-choice questions on a computer and 2 hours 30 minutes to answer them. A 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement make the appointment 2 hours 45 minutes.
What is the passing score for MTTC Geography?
220, on a scale that runs from 100 to 300. The Michigan Department of Education sets it, and a numeric total score goes only to examinees who do not pass. Geography carries endorsement code CB.
Is there an official MTTC Geography practice test?
Yes. The MTTC preparation page for Geography lists an online practice test that comes with registration and a full-length interactive practice test, sold separately, with the same questions. Those belong to the test's owner; the questions here are our own.
How soon can you retake MTTC Geography?
After 30 days. The retake policy puts no limit on attempts at a test you have not passed, but the score report for your last attempt has to be posted before you can register again.