• 48 questions

NES Middle Grades Social Science Practice Test

Unofficial practice for NES Middle Grades Social Science, test 202: half history, then geography, government and economics.

Which Reconstruction amendment, ratified in 1870, barred denying a citizen the vote on account of race?

Pick an answer, then press Check answer. Then you see Correct or Not quite, with the reason. Keys: A to D pick, Enter checks.

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Exam mode: 48 questions, 58 minutes.

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Unofficial practice questions, not affiliated with Pearson, which owns the National Evaluation Series. Bank checked October 15, 2026.

Next step More history: NES HistoryNES Social Science (303) practice

All 48 questions

History 24

  • A student starting a project on the Dust Bowl wants a list of the books and articles already written about it. Which reference source supplies this? Wikipedia, "Bibliography". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0001
  • After apartheid ended, South Africa set up the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 1996. What could people who had committed political violence do before it? Wikipedia, "Truth and Reconciliation Commission (South Africa)". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0004
  • After the Persian invasions were beaten back, Greek city-states formed the Delian League in 478 BC to keep fighting Persia. Which city led it? Wikipedia, "Delian League". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0002
  • Between 264 and 146 BCE the Roman Republic fought the three Punic Wars against which rival power? Wikipedia, "Punic Wars". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0002
  • From the 1630s the Tokugawa shogunate of Japan followed the policy called sakoku. What did it do? Wikipedia, "Sakoku". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0003
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History, continued

  • The Hanseatic League grew from Lübeck and a few other North German towns in the late 1100s. What kind of network was it? Wikipedia, "Hanseatic League". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0002
  • Horace Mann, who served as secretary of the Massachusetts Board of Education, is best known as a leader of which reform movement? Wikipedia, "Horace Mann". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0006
  • In 1930 Mohandas Gandhi led followers on a march to the sea to make salt. What kind of protest was the Salt March? Wikipedia, "Salt March". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0004
  • In a certain state, priests rule in the name of a god and religious law is the law of the land. Which term describes this form of government? Wikipedia, "Theocracy". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0001
  • In the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, Pueblo people rose against which colonial power, whose settlers then stayed out of New Mexico for twelve years? Wikipedia, "Pueblo Revolt". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0005
  • The Sherman Act of 1890 was a federal law aimed at what? Wikipedia, "Sherman Antitrust Act". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0007
  • The Teapot Dome scandal of the 1920s centered on a cabinet secretary who took bribes. What had he leased to private companies? Wikipedia, "Teapot Dome scandal". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0007
  • Under the Bracero Program of 1942 to 1964, workers from which country were allowed to take jobs on farms and railroads in the United States? Wikipedia, "Bracero Program". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0008
  • Under the headright system of colonial Virginia, who received a grant of land? Wikipedia, "Headright". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0005
  • What did the committees of correspondence do in the years before American independence? Wikipedia, "Committees of correspondence". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0005
  • What did the federal response to the Whiskey Rebellion of 1791 to 1794 demonstrate? Wikipedia, "Whiskey Rebellion". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0006
  • What did the Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975 authorize federal agencies to do? Wikipedia, "Indian Self-Determination and Education Assistance Act of 1975". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0008
  • Which 1919 treaty required Germany to accept responsibility for the losses of the First World War and to pay reparations? Wikipedia, "Treaty of Versailles". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0004
  • Which agency, created in 1933, insures deposits so that savers do not lose their money when a bank fails? Wikipedia, "Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0008
  • Which constitutional amendment, in effect from 1920, established the prohibition of alcohol in the United States? Wikipedia, "Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0007
  • Which fifteenth-century invention let the ideas of the Renaissance and the Reformation spread quickly across Europe? Wikipedia, "Johannes Gutenberg". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0003
  • Which idea did Nicolaus Copernicus publish in 1543? Wikipedia, "Nicolaus Copernicus". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0003
  • Which Reconstruction amendment, ratified in 1870, barred denying a citizen the vote on account of race? Wikipedia, "Fifteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0006
  • Which term names a state whose borders largely match the homeland of one people with a shared identity? Wikipedia, "Nation state". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0001

Geography and culture 9

  • About how many people must a very large city hold before geographers call it a megacity? Wikipedia, "Megacity". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0011
  • The Dutch have long enclosed low-lying land with dikes and drained it for farms and towns. What is such a tract of land called? Wikipedia, "Polder". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0010
  • Families, schools and religious bodies teach each new generation the norms and values of its society. What is this process called? Wikipedia, "Socialization". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0011
  • Moist winds blow from the ocean in the west toward a high mountain range. Why is the land just east of the range often dry? Wikipedia, "Rain shadow". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0010
  • On a world map, India is drawn far larger than Canada, because each country's size on the page stands for its population and not its land area. What kind of map is this? Wikipedia, "Cartogram". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0009
  • On which continent do about six of every ten people in the world live? Wikipedia, "World population". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0011
  • "The town lies at 40 degrees north latitude and 100 degrees west longitude." Which of the five themes of geography does this statement express? Wikipedia, "Five themes of geography". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0009
  • Which landform is a ring-shaped island whose coral rim encircles a lagoon? Wikipedia, "Atoll". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0010
  • Which of these maps has the largest scale and so shows the most detail of a small area? Wikipedia, "Scale (map)". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0009

Government 9

  • A governor signs a budget bill but cancels two of its spending provisions, leaving the rest in force. Which power, held by governors in many states, is this? Wikipedia, "Line-item veto in the United States". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0014
  • At a New England town meeting, residents themselves vote on the budget and the bylaws. Which form of government does this show? Wikipedia, "Direct democracy". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0012
  • By which procedure can voters themselves remove an elected official from office before the official's term has ended? Wikipedia, "Recall election". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0013
  • The Constitution does not list a power to charter a bank, yet in McCulloch v. Maryland (1819) the Supreme Court upheld the national bank as a means of carrying out listed powers. What kind of power is this? Wikipedia, "McCulloch v. Maryland". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0012
  • In a city with the council-manager form of government, who serves as chief executive? Wikipedia, "Council–manager government". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0014
  • Residents of the District of Columbia had no part in choosing the president until an amendment ratified in 1961 gave the district electors. Which amendment was it? Wikipedia, "Twenty-third Amendment to the United States Constitution". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0013
  • Thomas Jefferson drafted a Virginia law, enacted in 1786, that ended the official status of the Church of England in the state. Which part of the Constitution did it anticipate? Wikipedia, "Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0013
  • Which kind of local government is formed to perform a single function, or a few related ones, and exists separately from county, municipal and township governments? Wikipedia, "Special district (United States)". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0014
  • Which term means the supreme authority of a state to govern itself within its own territory? Wikipedia, "Sovereignty". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0012

Economics 6

  • A baker rents a shop, hires two workers and risks her savings on a new product. Which factor of production does she herself supply? Wikipedia, "Factors of production". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0015
  • A minimum wage law is an example of which kind of price control? Wikipedia, "Price floor". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0015
  • An account pays 8% interest a year, compounded. A student divides 72 by 8 and gets 9. What has she estimated? Wikipedia, "Rule of 72". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0015
  • In a recession, sales fall across the whole economy and many firms lay off workers. Which type of unemployment is this? Wikipedia, "Unemployment". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0016
  • In the 1970s several economies had fast-rising prices, little growth and many people out of work, all at once. What is this combination called? Wikipedia, "Stagflation". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0016
  • What is deflation? Wikipedia, "Deflation". Outline: NES Middle Grades Social Science (202) framework, competency 0016

How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test framework for NES Middle Grades Social Science, test 202, read 2026-10-15 on the National Evaluation Series site (https://www.nestest.com/static/docs/NES_Framework_202.pdf; test page https://www.nestest.com/test/202): History (competencies 0001 to 0008, 50%), Geography and Culture (0009 to 0011, 19%), Government (0012 to 0014, 19%) and Economics (0015 to 0016, 12%). The bank holds 3 questions for each of the 16 competencies. Every fact was read on 2026-10-15 in the named Wikipedia article: its opening section or, for some checks, the body of the article. Two questions work a figure from a sourced rule (map scale, the rule of 72). Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.

How it works

Try 48 questions of our own, three for each of the 16 competencies, in this free NES Middle Grades Social Science 202 practice test. Unofficial: the page has no tie to Pearson, owner of the National Evaluation Series.

Read the full guide

NES Middle Grades Social Science 202 study guide: what is tested

The framework, read October 15, 2026, gives history half the score across eight competencies: historical method, three eras of world history and four of U.S. history. Geography and culture and government weigh 19% each, and economics 12%.

The practice questions

Twenty-four on history, nine on geography, nine on government and six on economics. Against the clock the set gets 58 minutes, the real 72 seconds a question.

Sources

Every explanation names the Wikipedia article in which its date, term or ruling was read, so any answer can be checked where it came from.

  • World history is cut at 1350 and 1850 and U.S. history at 1789, 1877 and 1929, so study by era, as the framework does.
  • The framework names its terms: nation-state, theocracy, the five themes of geography, enumerated and implied powers, the factors of production. Know each one.

Questions and answers

Is there a free NES Middle Grades Social Science study guide?

The outline on this page and its 48 questions serve as one. Each question was written for this site from a competency of test 202 and a named public article; nothing was taken from the real test, its sample questions or a paid practice test.

How many questions are on the NES Middle Grades Social Science test?

150, all multiple choice. The 202 test page allows 3 hours of testing after a 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement, and lists no reference materials. The test is given at test centers and with an online proctor.

What is the passing score for NES Middle Grades Social Science?

220 is the National Benchmark score on the test page, which links state passing scores for Arizona, New Hampshire, Oklahoma, Oregon and Tennessee. A count of right answers here is not that scaled score.

What does the NES Middle Grades Social Science test cover?

History is half the test. The other half: geographic terms and sources, physical systems and human systems; political science concepts, the foundations of U.S. government and citizenship, and government at each level; microeconomics with personal finance, and macroeconomics with international economics.

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