Sample Questions: Western Civilization II: 1648 to the Present

The following Western Civilization II sample questions aren't used in actual CLEP exams and aren’t presented here as they will be on the test. Use them to get a sense of question format and difficulty level.

Directions

Each of the questions or incomplete statements below is followed by five suggested answers or completions. Select the one that is best in each case.

Questions

1. Which of the following best describes the Ottoman Empire at its height?
   1. It controlled territory on three continents, including Africa, Asia, and Europe.
   2. It incorporated the core of the old Habsburg Empire.
   3. It controlled several colonies in the East Indies.
   4. It stretched as far as the Indus River valley.
   5. It was the largest Shi‘ite state in the Muslim world.
2. Which of the following best describes Peter the Great’s Table of Ranks?
   1. The elaborate system of court protocol required of nobles
   2. A reform to introduce a service nobility based on merit
   3. The restructuring of the Russian government along Swedish lines
   4. The introduction of peasant conscripts into the Russian military
   5. A universal system of taxation
3. Which of the following is most representative of the position Mary Wollstonecraft took in her writings?
   1. The liberating promise of the French Revolution must be extended to women.
   2. The revolutionary chaos in France threatened the British way of life.
   3. Inherited privilege must be defended against revolutionary ideas.
   4. Women should devote themselves to education, not politics.
   5. Women should confine themselves to supporting a husband and raising children.
4. The work of Isaac Newton is best viewed as the culmination of the work of which of the following scientists?
   1. Vesalius and Paracelsus
   2. Kepler and Galileo
   3. Bacon and Boyle
   4. Descartes and Leibniz
   5. Cardano and Pascal
5. Which of the following was a significant factor in the growth and rise to power of the Nazi Party in Germany?
   1. Muslim immigration into Germany after the First World War
   2. Concern about the growth of the British and French economies
   3. The expansion of industrialization throughout Germany
   4. Disenchantment with liberalism as weak and ineffective
   5. The party’s support of labor and trade unions

6. Map referenced in Question 6 showing post–World War II Europe.

   The map shown above portrays which of the following?

   1. Europe during the Second World War
   2. Berlin during the Cold War
   3. Occupied Germany in 1918
   4. The Iron Curtain in Eastern Europe
   5. German reunification in 1990
7. The quotation above represents the viewpoint of which of the following?
   1. René Descartes
   2. Voltaire
   3. Edmund Burke
   4. Isaac Newton
   5. John Locke
8. Which of the following statements best reflects the significance of the quotation?
   1. It represents the traditional Judeo-Christian answer to the question of how humans know.
   2. It teaches that human beings are born with knowledge inherently imprinted in the mind.
   3. It furthers the idea that knowledge is gained through practical contact with and observation of events.
   4. It suggests that the human mind is fixed and limited and cannot be shaped by education.
   5. It represents extreme philosophical skepticism and casts doubt on humanity’s ability to acquire any knowledge.

Answers

1) A   2) B   3) A   4) B   5) D   6) B   7) E   8) C