Government, history, and reading sources

The social studies test covers U.S. government and civics, U.S. history, economics, and geography. Like science, most questions give you a passage, map, or chart to reason about.

Tips

• Know the three branches of the U.S. government: legislative (Congress makes laws), executive (the President carries out laws), and judicial (courts interpret laws).
• Checks and balances let each branch limit the others.
• A primary source was created at the time, like a letter or treaty. A secondary source is written later about it.
• Tribal nations are sovereign governments with a government-to-government relationship with the United States.