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This page shows a list of test questions in the 8th Grade Social Studies public release collection at MSDE. 8th Grade Social Studies
Standard "2.0 Peoples of the Nations and World," Indicator "EPD.2 …"

Select a question from the following list. The content of that question will be shown, and you can interact with it here.

Expand All Official Practice Test

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Marriage was important to many enslaved African Americans because it

  1. A.
    was a form of legal protection.
  2. B.
    guaranteed they would remain with one slave owner.
  3. C.
    reduced the likelihood of punishment.
  4. D.
    was an opportunity to have control over life choices.

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Read the list.

underlined question mark

  • Running away
  • Destroying property
  • Engaging in sabotage
  • Working slowly

Which title best completes this list?

  1. A.
    Ways Enslaved African Americans Resisted Enslavement
  2. B.
    Ways Colonists Protested British Taxes
  3. C.
    Ways American Indians Responded to White Settlement in the West
  4. D.
    Ways Women Worked to Achieve Suffrage

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Study the diagram.

The diagram has a circle at the top and two boxes below the circle, connected to the circle by lines. The circle at the top has a question mark, indicating missing information. The two boxes read as follows: slowing work production and coordinating destruction of property.

What is the best title for this diagram?

  1. A.
    Forms of Economic Protest Used by Colonists
  2. B.
    Forms of Social Protest Used by Women Suffragettes
  3. C.
    Forms of Sabotage Used by Enslaved African Americans
  4. D.
    Forms of Resistance Used by Sharecroppers

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Read the excerpt.

[Nat Turner’s men] said Captain Harris and his family had escaped, the property in the house they destroyed, robbing [Captain Harris] of money and other valuables  . . . I proceeded to Mr. Levi Waller’s, two or three miles distant. I took my station in the rear, and as [it was] my object to carry terror and devastation wherever we went, I placed fifteen or twenty of the best armed and most to be relied on, in front, who generally approached the houses as fast as their horses could run; this was for two purposes, to prevent their escape and strike terror to the inhabitants . . . 

— The Confessions of Nat Turner, 1831


Why were actions such as these alarming to owners of enslaved African Americans?

  1. A.
    They allowed enslaved African Americans to show how easy it was to run away.
  2. B.
    They reinforced the idea of enslaved African Americans using the Underground Railroad.
  3. C.
    They demonstrated the possibility of enslaved African Americans rebelling.
  4. D.
    They demonstrated the desire among enslaved African Americans to join the military.

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Read the list.

Examples of Resistance Used by Enslaved African Americans

  • breaking tools
  • disabling machinery
  • setting fires

Why were these forms of resistance used by many enslaved African Americans?

  1. A.
    to assist slave owners in modernizing plantations
  2. B.
    to warn other enslaved African Americans against misbehaving
  3. C.
    to indirectly protest treatment by slave owners
  4. D.
    to encourage other enslaved African Americans to run away

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Read the list.

mathematics expression or equation

  • viewed as property
  • families often separated
  • received harsh punishments for disobedience

Which title completes this list?

  1. A.
    Treatment of American Indians by White Settlers
  2. B.
    Life for Enslaved African Americans
  3. C.
    Experiences of Women Suffragists
  4. D.
    Management of Workers by Factory Owners

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.

Read the excerpt.

In 1860, Elizabeth Burkett  . . .  with her husband, Henry Burkett  . . .  and  . . .  fellow slaves Thomas Sipple, his wife Mary Ann Sipple, John Purnell, and Hale Burton, holding a total of thirty dollars and looking to cross the Delaware Bay into freedom  . . .  purchased a small vessel for six dollars and began their journey up the coast on their way to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. En route, they encountered a group of white men who attempted to overtake the slaves' boat. The fugitives, however, defended their vessel and continued on, despite injury to the passengers.

Archives of Maryland

What form of resistance to slavery is described in this excerpt?

  1. A.
    running away
  2. B.
    sabotage
  3. C.
    faking illness
  4. D.
    working slowly