A bar chart shows the seats each party won in a 100-seat legislature: Party A 45, Party B 35, Party C 20. Which statement does the chart support?Worked from the figures in the question. Interpreting information presented in charts and tables is listed in the test objectives. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0003
A poll of likely voters puts Candidate A at 48% and Candidate B at 46%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points. Which conclusion does the poll support?Wikipedia, "Margin of error". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0004
A pollster wants a simple random sample of a city's registered voters. Which method produces one?Wikipedia, "Simple random sample". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0002
A speaker says that the right to liberty belongs to every person and would exist even in a country whose laws denied it. Which kind of right is the speaker describing?Wikipedia, "Natural rights and legal rights". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0001
Show all 57 questions (53 more)
Concepts and skills, continued
A student is studying the 1787 and 1788 debate over ratifying the Constitution. Which item is a secondary source for that study?Wikipedia, "Secondary source" and "Primary source". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0003
A student starting a paper on state legislatures wants a systematic list of the books and journal articles already written on the subject. Which research tool is that?Wikipedia, "Bibliography". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0002
A woodcut printed in 1754 shows a snake cut into eight pieces, each labeled with the initials of a colony or region, over the words "JOIN, or DIE." What was the cartoon's message when it first appeared?Wikipedia, "Join, or Die". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0003
Before gathering any data, a researcher writes: "Counties that mail every voter a ballot will show higher turnout than counties that do not." What is this sentence?Wikipedia, "Hypothesis". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0002
Campaign volunteers notice that households with a candidate's yard sign are more likely to vote than households without one. The campaign concludes that handing out signs will make people vote. What is wrong with that conclusion?Wikipedia, "Correlation does not imply causation". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0004
Max Weber's 1919 essay Politics as a Vocation gave political science a much-used definition of the state. In that definition, what does the state lay claim to?Wikipedia, "Monopoly on violence". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0001
Which pair of ideas is central to classical republicanism?Wikipedia, "Classical republicanism". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0001
Which research question is normative, not descriptive?Wikipedia, "Normativity". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0004
Political thought, systems and diplomacy 12
A host government tells an embassy that one of its diplomats is no longer welcome and asks that the diplomat be called home. What has the host declared the diplomat?Wikipedia, "Persona non grata". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0007
Congress has a Senate and a House. Nebraska's state legislature has one chamber that debates and votes as a single body. What is a legislature of Nebraska's kind called?Wikipedia, "Unicameralism". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0006
The English Bill of Rights of 1689 declared that "the freedom of speech and debates or proceedings in Parliament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any court or place out of Parliament." Where does the U.S. Constitution give members of Congress the same protection?Avalon Project (Yale Law School), "English Bill of Rights 1689"; National Archives, Constitution transcript, Article I, Section 6. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0005
In most parliamentary systems the prime minister heads the government. What part does the monarch or president usually play there?Wikipedia, "Parliamentary system". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0006
In the Republic, whom did Plato want to rule the ideal city-state?Wikipedia, "Philosopher king". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0005
The International Court of Justice, often called the World Court, sits at The Hague as the United Nations' main judicial organ. Who may be a party in a case before it?Statute of the International Court of Justice, Articles 22 and 34; United Nations Charter, Article 92. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0007
Mahatma Gandhi coined the word satyagraha, often translated "truth force," for the method he used in South Africa and in India's independence movement. What kind of method is it?Wikipedia, "Satyagraha". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0005
Under Article 25 of the United Nations Charter, the member states undertake to accept the decisions of which body and carry them out?United Nations Charter, Chapter V, Articles 24 and 25. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0007
What was détente in relations between the United States and the Soviet Union from the late 1960s to the late 1970s?U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones, "Détente and Arms Control, 1969–1979". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0008
What were the Neutrality Acts that Congress passed in the 1930s designed to do?U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones, "The Neutrality Acts, 1930s". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0008
Which body, created by the National Security Act of 1947, brings the president together with the vice president and the secretaries of state and defense to weigh foreign policy and security problems?U.S. Department of State, Office of the Historian, Milestones, "National Security Act of 1947". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0008
Which feature marks a state as totalitarian, as political scientists use the word?Wikipedia, "Totalitarianism". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0006
United States and Arizona government 33
A city's elected council hires a professional administrator to run the city's departments and can replace that person by a majority vote. Which form of local government is this?Wikipedia, "Council–manager government". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0016
A company loses a case in a U.S. district court and believes the judge applied the law wrongly. Which court ordinarily decides that question next?United States Courts, "Court Role and Structure". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0011
A defendant in a federal criminal trial knows of a witness who could back up her account, but the witness will not come to court. Which Sixth Amendment right lets her have the court order the witness to appear?National Archives, "The Bill of Rights: A Transcription", Sixth Amendment. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0017
A House committee meets to debate a bill line by line, amend it and rewrite parts of it before sending it to the floor. What is this stage of the legislative process called?Wikipedia, "Markup (legislation)". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0011
A judge is asked to sign a warrant that lets officers search "any house on Elm Street they choose." Which requirement of the Fourth Amendment does the warrant fail?National Archives, "The Bill of Rights: A Transcription", Fourth Amendment. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0017
A state governor signs a treaty of alliance with a foreign country. Why does the treaty have no force under the U.S. Constitution?National Archives, Constitution transcript, Article I, Section 10 and Article II, Section 2. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0010
A survey tells half of its respondents that a plan "will save 200 of 600 jobs" and tells the other half that under the same plan "400 of 600 jobs will be lost." Support differs sharply between the halves. What explains the gap?Wikipedia, "Framing (social sciences)". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0015
After its 1968 convention the Democratic Party set up the McGovern–Fraser Commission to rewrite the rules for choosing convention delegates. What change followed in the way presidential nominees are picked?Wikipedia, "McGovern–Fraser Commission". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0014
Alexis de Tocqueville and John Stuart Mill both wrote about a danger in majority rule: the majority may use its power to sideline or repress minority groups. What is this danger called?Wikipedia, "Tyranny of the majority". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0018
Article 5, Section 1 of the Arizona Constitution places a secretary of state, an attorney general, a state treasurer and a superintendent of public instruction in the executive department beside the governor. How does each of these four officers get the post?Arizona Constitution, Article 5, Section 1 (Arizona State Legislature); National Archives, Constitution transcript, Article II, Section 2. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0019
Article V lets Congress send an amendment for ratification to the state legislatures or to conventions in the states. Which amendment's own text called for ratification by conventions?National Archives, "The Constitution: Amendments 11-27", Amendment XXI; Constitution transcript, Article V. Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0010
Bernard Cohen wrote in 1963 that the press may not succeed in telling people what to think but does very well at telling readers what to think about. Which media effect was he describing?Wikipedia, "Agenda-setting theory". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0015
Besides choosing its nominees for president and vice president, what does a party's national convention formally adopt?Wikipedia, "United States presidential nominating convention". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0013
Congress passes an act that names one former official, declares him guilty of disloyalty and orders his property seized, all without a trial. Which ban in Article I, Section 9 does the act break?National Archives, Constitution transcript, Article I, Section 9; Wikipedia, "Bill of attainder". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0010
In a royal colony of British North America, who appointed the governor?Wikipedia, "Colonial government in the Thirteen Colonies". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0009
In a state with a closed primary, who may vote in a party's primary election?USAGov, "Presidential primaries and caucuses". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0014
In an iron triangle, what do the members of a congressional committee chiefly gain from the interest group at another corner?Wikipedia, "Iron triangle (US politics)". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0011
In Article 20 of the Arizona Constitution the people of the state disclaim all right and title to lands owned or held by Indian tribes. Under whose jurisdiction and control does the article leave those lands?Arizona Constitution, Article 20, Fourth (Arizona State Legislature). Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0019
In one country several parties are legal and contest every election, yet the same party has won and governed for decades. What do political scientists call this arrangement?Wikipedia, "Dominant-party system" and "One-party state". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0013
In September 1786 delegates from five states met at Annapolis to talk about trade barriers among the states. What did their final report seek?Wikipedia, "Annapolis Convention (1786)". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0009
In the 1912 presidential election a third-party candidate finished second, ahead of the sitting Republican president. Who was he, and on which ticket did he run?Wikipedia, "1912 United States presidential election". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0013
The Indian Citizenship Act of 1924 declared Native Americans born in the United States to be citizens. Why could many of them still not vote for years afterward?Wikipedia, "Indian Citizenship Act". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0018
Jury service is a duty of citizenship. By the federal courts' own list of qualifications, which of these must a federal juror be?United States Courts, "Juror Qualifications, Exemptions and Excuses". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0017
Members of a protest group openly refuse to obey a law they consider unjust, and they stay nonviolent while they do it. Which form of dissent is this?Wikipedia, "Civil disobedience". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0018
Most governors can strike single spending items from a bill and sign the rest. Why can the president not do the same?Wikipedia, "Line-item veto in the United States". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0016
The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 is also known as the Motor Voter Act. What does its Section 5 require of a state?U.S. Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, "The National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA)"; Wikipedia, "National Voter Registration Act of 1993". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0014
President William H. Taft at first vetoed Arizona's statehood because of one provision in its proposed constitution. Which provision?Wikipedia, "Constitution of Arizona". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0019
Researchers find that people who already favor a policy pick news stories that praise it and pass over stories that criticize it. Which term names this pattern of media use?Wikipedia, "Selective exposure theory". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0015
Under Dillon's Rule, which powers may a city government use?Wikipedia, "Home rule in the United States". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0016
What is the federal debt limit, often called the debt ceiling?U.S. Department of the Treasury, "Debt Limit". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0012
Which document, established by the Massachusetts General Court in 1641, was the first legal code set up in New England?Wikipedia, "Massachusetts Body of Liberties". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0009
Which independent agency did Congress create to maintain stability and public confidence in the nation's financial system, in part by insuring bank deposits?Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, "What We Do"; Wikipedia, "Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0012
Which law gave Congress an independent process of its own for preparing the federal budget, the process it still uses?Wikipedia, "United States federal appropriations process". Outline: AEPA Political Science/American Government (field 06) test objectives, objective 0012
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the test design and test objectives of Political Science/American Government, field 06 of the Arizona Educator Proficiency Assessments, read 2026-10-12 on the AEPA site (https://www.aepa.nesinc.com/Content/STUDYGUIDE/AZ_SG_obj_06.htm; test page https://www.aepa.nesinc.com/TestView.aspx?f=HTML_FRAG/AZ006_TestPage.html): Subarea I Concepts and Skills (objectives 0001 to 0004, 21%), Subarea II Political Thought, Comparative Government, and International Relations (0005 to 0008, 21%) and Subarea III United States and Arizona Government (0009 to 0019, 58%). The bank holds 3 questions for each of the 19 objectives. Every fact was read on 2026-10-12 in the public page the question names: the National Archives transcripts of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights and Amendments 11 to 27, the Arizona Constitution on the Arizona State Legislature site, the United Nations Charter, the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the Avalon Project of Yale Law School, the State Department Office of the Historian, the United States Courts, the Department of Justice, the Treasury, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, USAGov and Wikipedia. One question is worked from figures given in the question itself. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site.
How it works
This free American Government practice test has 57 questions of our own, written to the published objectives of AEPA field 06. It is unofficial and not affiliated with the Arizona Department of Education or Pearson.
Read the full guide
What the American Government test covers
By the test design on the AEPA site, read October 12, 2026, field 06 has three subareas: Concepts and Skills 21%, Political Thought, Comparative Government, and International Relations 21%, and United States and Arizona Government 58%. Together they hold 19 objectives.
How the 57 questions are spread
Three for each objective, so 12, 12 and 33, the published proportions. A timed run asks 50 in 75 minutes, the pace of the real test.
Where the answers come from
Constitution questions cite the National Archives transcripts; two Arizona questions cite the state constitution on the legislature's site. Most others cite a named Wikipedia article, and the rest a primary text such as the UN Charter or a federal court or agency page.
United States and Arizona Government holds 11 of the 19 objectives, so give it more than half of your study time.
Objective 0019 is Arizona alone: the initiative, referendum and recall, the plural executive, and the governments of American Indian nations.
Questions and answers
Is Political Science/American Government an NES test?
No. The AEPA site lists it, as field 06, among the tests custom-developed for use in Arizona. The National Evaluation Series tests that Arizona uses, such as Social Science, are listed on the same site.
How many questions are on the AEPA Political Science/American Government test?
100 selected-response questions, by the test page read October 12, 2026. Testing time is 2 hours 30 minutes after a 15-minute tutorial and nondisclosure agreement, at a test center or with online proctoring. No reference materials are provided.
What is the passing score for AEPA Political Science/American Government?
240. Raw scores are put on a 100 to 300 scale, and the Arizona Department of Education approves the minimum passing score.