The 15th Amendment barred denying the vote on account of race in 1870. The Voting Rights Act enforced it in 1965. What does that gap of 95 years best illustrate?National Archives, Milestone Documents, Voting Rights Act (1965). Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator k
The 26th Amendment was ratified in 1971, during the Vietnam War. What did it change?National Archives, The Constitution: Amendments 11-27 (Amendment XXVI). Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator j
Congress passed the Federal-Aid Highway Act in 1956. What did the act set up?National Archives, Milestone Documents, National Interstate and Defense Highways Act (1956). Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator i
The Emancipation Proclamation of 1863 did not reach the loyal border states. Which other areas did it expressly exempt?National Archives, Milestone Documents, Emancipation Proclamation (1863). Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator e
Five nations in what is now New York joined a confederacy under the Great Law of Peace. Which nation acceded later, in 1722, as the sixth?Wikipedia, "Great Law of Peace". Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator a
Show all 60 questions (55 more)
United States history, continued
In 1735 a New York jury acquitted the printer John Peter Zenger of libel against the royal governor. Which argument did his lawyers win with?Wikipedia, "John Peter Zenger". Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator b
In 1911 a fire at the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory in New York City killed 146 garment workers. What followed from it?Wikipedia, "Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire". Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator g
In June 1941, as defense plants hired millions, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 8802. What did it ban?National Archives, Milestone Documents, Executive Order 8802: Prohibition of Discrimination in the Defense Industry (1941). Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator h
In the fall of 1777 a British army surrendered after two battles near Saratoga, New York. How did the outcome change the Revolutionary War?Wikipedia, "Battles of Saratoga". Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator c
What did the Dawes Act of 1887 do with the land of American Indian reservations?National Archives, Milestone Documents, Dawes Act (1887). Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator f
Which governor of New York was the person most responsible for getting the Erie Canal built?Wikipedia, "DeWitt Clinton"; Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, "History and Culture". Framework section: Competency 0001, performance indicator d
Global history 11
Between 1405 and 1433 the admiral Zheng He commanded seven treasure voyages across Asia. Which Chinese dynasty sent them?Wikipedia, "Zheng He". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator c
The First Opium War ended in 1842. Which territory did China cede to Britain as a result?Wikipedia, "Opium Wars". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator e
From the second century BCE to the middle of the 15th century, a network of routes linked the Eastern and Western worlds in trade, religion and ideas. What is it called?Wikipedia, "Silk Road". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator a
In imperial China a great flood or famine could shake a dynasty. Under the Mandate of Heaven, what were such disasters commonly believed to be?Wikipedia, "Mandate of Heaven". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator a
In Rome in the year 800, Pope Leo III crowned a Frankish king as emperor, the West's first emperor in more than 300 years. Who was he?Wikipedia, "Charlemagne". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator b
Into which two independent dominions was British India divided in August 1947?Wikipedia, "Partition of India". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator g
Magna Carta was sealed at Runnymede on 15 June 1215. Between which parties did it try to make peace?Wikipedia, "Magna Carta". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator c
Maize and potatoes reached Europe, and wheat, cattle and smallpox reached the Americas, from the late 15th century on. What is this transfer called?Wikipedia, "Columbian exchange". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator d
The Russian Revolution began in 1917. Which change did that period bring to Russia?Wikipedia, "Russian Revolution". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator f
What did the colonial powers that met at the Berlin Conference of 1884 to 1885 agree on?Wikipedia, "Berlin Conference". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator e
What were the Ninety-five Theses that Martin Luther wrote in 1517?Wikipedia, "Ninety-five Theses". Framework section: Competency 0002, performance indicator d
Geography 9
A map shades each New York county darker as its population density rises. What kind of map is it?Wikipedia, "Choropleth map". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator a
A town plan drawn at 1:10,000 is set beside a world map. Which statement about map scale is correct?Wikipedia, "Scale (map)". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator a
According to the U.S. Geological Survey, what does the Himalayan mountain range demonstrate?U.S. Geological Survey, This Dynamic Earth, "Understanding plate motions". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator d
Between 1910 and 1970 about six million Black Americans left the rural South for cities of the Northeast, Midwest and West. What substantially drove this Great Migration?Wikipedia, "Great Migration (African American)". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator e
Fertile land at the edge of a desert slowly turns arid after years of drought, overgrazing and the cutting of trees for fuel. What is this process called?Wikipedia, "Desertification". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator g
Geographers map the area from which commuters travel into one city each day. What kind of region is defined this way, by flows and interactions?Wikipedia, "Region". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator c
How does the U.S. Geological Survey describe a geographic information system (GIS)?U.S. Geological Survey, "What is a geographic information system (GIS)?". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator a
Moist winds from the sea rise over a mountain range and drop their rain on the windward slope. What forms on the leeward side?Wikipedia, "Rain shadow". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator g
On a world map drawn on the Mercator projection, Greenland looks about as large as Africa. Why?Wikipedia, "Mercator projection". Framework section: Competency 0003, performance indicator a
Economics 9
A government places a tax on steel brought in from abroad. Which kind of trade barrier is this?Wikipedia, "Trade barrier". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator g
A saver leaves $1,000 in an account and the interest is added to the balance each year. What is the interest earned on earlier interest called?U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Investor.gov glossary, "Compound Interest". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator h
A state law says that no landlord may charge more than a set monthly rent for certain apartments. Which kind of price control is this?Wikipedia, "Price ceiling". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator c
A town has spent $40,000 on a bridge study that cannot be reused. As it decides whether to spend more, what is the $40,000 in economic terms?Wikipedia, "Sunk cost". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator a
Congress gave the Federal Reserve macroeconomic objectives known as the dual mandate. What are they?Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, "Monetary Policy: What Are Its Goals? How Does It Work?". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator e
Economists list four basic factors of production. Land, labor and capital are three. Which is the fourth, also called the entrepreneur?Wikipedia, "Factors of production". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator d
Using the same hours of labor, one country produces more cloth than any of its trading partners. What does that country have in cloth?Wikipedia, "Absolute advantage". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator b
What does gross domestic product measure, as the Bureau of Economic Analysis describes it?Bureau of Economic Analysis, Learning Center, "Gross Domestic Product". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator f
Which body of the Federal Reserve System sets the nation's monetary policy at meetings held at least eight times a year?Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, "Structure of the Federal Reserve System". Framework section: Competency 0004, performance indicator e
Civics, citizenship and government 10
"A Law repugnant to the Constitution is void." In which case did Chief Justice John Marshall write these words, establishing judicial review?National Archives, Milestone Documents, Marbury v. Madison (1803). Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator h
A state claims the power to set its own rules for marriage licenses, a power the Constitution does not give to Congress. Which amendment supports the claim?National Archives, The Bill of Rights: A Transcription (Amendment X). Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator e
In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), which right did the Supreme Court hold a state must honor for a defendant too poor to hire a lawyer?Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), Legal Information Institute copy. Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator h
In McCulloch v. Maryland (1819), on what ground did the Supreme Court hold that Congress could charter a national bank?National Archives, Milestone Documents, McCulloch v. Maryland (1819). Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator e
In The Federalist No. 10, James Madison writes: "Extend the sphere, and you take in a greater variety of parties and interests." What is he arguing?The Federalist No. 10 (James Madison, 1787), Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator d
In the Second Treatise of Government, on what does John Locke say a government's authority rests?Wikipedia, "Two Treatises of Government". Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator b
New York's constitution sends one question to the voters automatically at a fixed interval. What is the question, and how often is it asked?Wikipedia, "Constitution of New York". Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator d
On the United Nations Security Council, which members can block a substantive decision by voting against it?United Nations Security Council, "Voting System". Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator i
The President signs a treaty with another nation. What does Article II, Section 2 require before it is made?National Archives, The Constitution of the United States: A Transcription (Article II, Section 2). Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator i
Which barrier to voting in federal elections did the 24th Amendment remove in 1964?National Archives, The Constitution: Amendments 11-27 (Amendment XXIV). Framework section: Competency 0005, performance indicator k
Social studies literacy 10
A student has a map of New York State and needs the location, population and physical features of each town named on it. Which reference work is made for that?Wikipedia, "Gazetteer" and "Almanac". Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator m
A student writing on the Triangle Shirtwaist fire of 1911 has a news photograph taken that day and a history of the fire published in 2003. How does the framework classify the two?NYSTCE Field 115: Social Studies Test Design and Framework (New York State Education Department, 2015), Competency 0006. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator a
The Declaration of Independence charges the King with seeking "an absolute Tyranny over these States" and continues: "To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world." What does that sentence do in the structure of the text?National Archives, Declaration of Independence: A Transcription. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator f
The first of President Wilson's Fourteen Points (1918) calls for "Open covenants of peace, openly arrived at, after which there shall be no private international understandings of any kind". As used here, what are "covenants"?National Archives, Milestone Documents, President Woodrow Wilson's 14 Points (1918). Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator e
From Lincoln's Second Inaugural Address (1865): "Both parties deprecated war, but one of them would make war rather than let the nation survive, and the other would accept war rather than let it perish, and the war came." Which reading does the sentence support?Abraham Lincoln, Second Inaugural Address (1865), Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator d
From The Federalist No. 51: "If men were angels, no government would be necessary." On which assumption does the argument rest?The Federalist No. 51 (1788), Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator j
From Washington's Farewell Address (1796): "It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world". What is the central idea of the sentence?Washington's Farewell Address (1796), Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator b
The Gettysburg Address calls the nation "dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal" and says the war is "testing whether that nation ... can long endure." As used here, what is a "proposition"?Gettysburg Address (1863), Avalon Project, Yale Law School. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator e
In 1893 the historian Frederick Jackson Turner offered an interpretation of American history known as the Frontier Thesis. What did it claim?Wikipedia, "Frontier Thesis". Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator k
In Plessy v. Ferguson (1896) the majority wrote that if one race be inferior to the other socially, the Constitution "cannot put them upon the same plane." Justice Harlan's dissent said, "Our constitution is color-blind." How do the two views differ?Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896), opinion and dissent, Legal Information Institute copy. Framework section: Competency 0006, performance indicator g
How this list was compiled: Our own questions, written to the six selected-response competencies of the NYSTCE Field 115: Social Studies Test Design and Framework, October 2015, authorized for distribution by the New York State Education Department (https://www.nystce.nesinc.com/content/docs/NY115_OBJ_FINAL.pdf, read 2026-10-10): United States History about 16 selected-response items, Global History 16, Geography 13, Economics 13, Civics, Citizenship, and Government 15, Social Studies Literacy 17. The bank holds 60, close to those proportions: 11, 11, 9, 9, 10 and 10. Every fact was read on 2026-10-10 in the public document the question names: the National Archives' transcripts of the founding documents and its Milestone Documents pages (archives.gov), opinions of the U.S. Supreme Court in the Legal Information Institute's copies (law.cornell.edu), The Federalist and presidential addresses at the Avalon Project (avalon.law.yale.edu), pages of the U.S. Geological Survey, the Federal Reserve Board, the Bureau of Economic Analysis, the Securities and Exchange Commission's Investor.gov, the United Nations and the Erie Canalway National Heritage Corridor, the framework itself, and Wikipedia articles for New York and global history, geography and economics. A question on a document prints a short excerpt of it, and every document excerpted is in the public domain. Licence: Questions, choices and explanations are original work of this site. The excerpts are from public-domain documents.
How it works
This NYSTCE Social Studies practice test has 60 questions of our own on New York's six selected-response competencies. It is unofficial and not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by the New York State Education Department or Pearson.
Read the full guide
What the real test asks
The framework of October 2015 plans 90 selected-response items: about 16 each on United States and global history, 13 each on geography and economics, 15 on civics and 17 on social studies literacy. They carry 80% of the score. One written response on teaching carries 20%, and this page does not mark writing.
Timing here
Exam mode asks all 60 questions in 90 minutes, the pace of 90 in 135.
Documents inside the questions
Seven literacy questions print a line from a public-domain text, among them Washington's Farewell Address, Lincoln's Second Inaugural, the Declaration of Independence and The Federalist No. 51, and ask what it says, assumes or means.
New York history is in the bank: the Great Law of Peace, the Zenger trial, Saratoga, the Erie Canal and the Triangle fire.
Questions and answers
What is on the NYSTCE Social Studies practice test?
Eleven questions each on United States history and global history, nine each on geography and economics, and ten each on civics and government and on social studies literacy. That is close to the split in New York's framework.
What score do you need to pass the NYSTCE Social Studies CST?
The test's own page gives a passing score of 520. That is a scaled score and not a count of right answers, so this page shows your number right and no pass verdict.
Does the NYSTCE Social Studies CST have an essay?
Yes. The framework lists one constructed-response item on pedagogical content knowledge, designed for up to 60 minutes. It asks for an instructional strategy or intervention and the reason for it.
Are NYSTCE Social Studies practice tests like this one made of real questions?
No. Every question is our own, written to New York's Test Design and Framework of October 2015. None is copied or reworded from the real test or from the sample questions in its preparation materials.