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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 "3.0 Geography," Indicator "EPD.1 …"

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Expand All Official Practice Test

This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select several options.

Study the political cartoon.

"Does Not Such a Meeting Make Amends?" 1869

Newspaper print showing the linking of the Trans-Continental Railroad in Utah. American Indians and buffalo are fleeing in the foreground as two trains with large hands extending from the locomotives, labeled San Francisco and New York approach each other to connect the railroad.
Select the three phrases most associated with the event shown in the cartoon.
  1. A.
    Manifest Destiny
  2. B.
    abolition
  3. C.
    Black Codes
  4. D.
    suffrage
  5. E.
    industrialization
  6. F.
    American Indian removal
  7. G.
    Freedmen's Bureau

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

Information about the paper booklet.

This question is based on a figure. If you are using a paper supplement, you may refer to it now.

Information about the question.

Multiple-choice question with one correct answer choice. Additional information needed to answer the question is provided.

Study the diagram.

Diagram. The figure shows a cause-and-effect diagram with three steps, flowing from left to right, as follows. Statement 1: The Erie Canal opens. Statement 2: blank. Statement 3: Trade between the East and West increases. End figure description.

Which statement completes this cause-and-effect diagram?

  1. A.
    The cost of shipping goods decreases.
  2. B.
    Steamboats are invented.
  3. C.
    The National Road opens.
  4. D.
    Interchangeable parts are invented.

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

Information about the Question.

Which invention had the most direct impact on business communication during the 19th century?

  1. A.
    sewing machine
  2. B.
    barbed wire
  3. C.
    light bulb
  4. D.
    telegraph

This is a question with 2 parts, including a drag and drop question that allows you to select objects and place them in an appropriate answer space.

Select two results of the technological development described to complete the diagram.

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

Information about the Question.

Read the lyrics.

I’m a simple Irish girl, and I’m looking for a place,
I’ve felt the grip of poverty, but sure that’s no disgrace,
‘Twill* be long before I get one, tho’** indeed its hard I try.
For I read in each advertisement, “No Irish Need Apply.”
Alas!*** for my poor country, which I never will deny,
How they insult us when they write, “No Irish Need Apply.”

—Kathleen O’Neil, 1862

* ‘Twill: It will
** tho’: though
*** Alas!: Oh!
 * ‘Twill: It will
** tho’: though
*** Alas!: Oh!

These lyrics are a response to actions taken by which group in the United States in the 1800s?

  1. A.
    abolitionists
  2. B.
    temperance reformers
  3. C.
    women suffragists
  4. D.
    nativists

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

Which diagram accurately shows how new technologies unified the United States geographically during the early industrial period?

  1. A.
    interchangeable parts, arrow, jobs for new immigrants in southern cotton fields
  2. B.
    steamboats, arrow, increased tobacco exports to Great Britain
  3. C.
    railroads in the West, arrow, jobs for farmers in northeastern cities
  4. D.
    New England textile mills, arrow, increased cotton production in the South

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

Information about the question.

Multiple-choice question with one correct answer choice.

Which of the following was an accomplishment of the construction of the Erie Canal?

  1. A.
    It increased the nation’s reliance on railroads to transport goods from the North to the South.
  2. B.
    It strengthened economic interactions between eastern cities and western farms.
  3. C.
    It increased the South’s advantage over the North in clothing and textile manufacturing.
  4. D.
    It helped improve agricultural production in eastern farms and western ranches.

This is a drag and drop question that allows you to select text and place it in an appropriate answer space.

Select three impacts of technological changes on the United States during the 1800s and move them to complete the table.

lower taxes increased migration decline of the factory system increase in national unity economic growth introduction of popular sovereignty increased travel time
Impacts of Technological Changes on the
United States during the 1800s

This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.

Information about the question.

Writing prompt. Additional information needed to answer the question is provided.

Use your knowledge of U.S. history to answer the constructed response question.

  • Identify two countries of origin for European immigrants to the United States in the 1800s.
  • Explain how nativism impacted the lives of these immigrants in the United States.
  • Use details and examples to support your response.

Enter your answer in the space provided.