AP Government Final Exam Study Guide (100 Questions)
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What are reserved powers?
What type of commerce does the federal government not regulate?
What was established in Marbury v. Madison?
What is the “wall of separation” doctrine?
What principle of the Constitution does the amendment process represent?
According to James Madison, how is political liberty best protected?
What is the difference between the elite and pluralist theories of government?
Know that the election of the HoR best represents a majoritarian democracy.
Know that the Senate must ratify treaties.
What is federalism?
What is the incorporation doctrine?
What is the exclusionary rule?
What is a concurrent power? Example.
What is the interstate commerce clause?
Define bill of attainder.
Know that economic equality is not a part of political culture.
Define political efficacy.
What is an important change in political culture since 1950?
Who plays the most important role in political socialization?
What is a concept that is closely aligned with “critical elections”?
Know that African American Dems tend to support more liberal candidates.
If you have a high socioeconomic status, what is your level of participation in politics?
Describe split ticket voting.
Know that there has been a decline in party competition in the South in the last 25 years.
Define cross cutting cleavages.
What is a closed primary? Blanket? Open?
What types of office are directly elected by registered voters?
Describe frontloading.
How have direct primaries affected the selection of presidential candidates?
What type of electoral system do single-member districts cause?
What is the difference between US elections and other Western democracies?
What is the primary function of PACs?
NASA is classified as what type of agency in the Executive Branch?
Know that the President’s role as Chief Diplomat is derived from expressed powers.
What are the advantages of incumbency in elections?
Buckley v. Valeo did what?
What has happened to party ID since the 1970s?
Know that network news coverage of elections tends to be dominated by “sound bites.”
What is a party machine?
Define “horse-race journalism.”
What formal and informal sources of power does the President have?
What major decisions did the Warren court make?
How does the media affect public opinion?
Know that the largest amount of political coverage during pres. campaigns is day to day activities.
Who decides the winner if no one gets a majority of votes in the Electoral College?
What makes up an “iron triangle?”
What is the primary function of the White House staff?
Know that executive orders don’t have to be passed by Congress.
What does the OMB do?
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Describe the impeachment process.
Can the President fire the heads of cabinet-level agencies?
Know that the President can deploy troops without congressional approval.
Explain the United States v. Nixon ruling.
What do independent regulatory agencies do?
Describe the different aspects of the Presidential veto power.
What can Congress do if they are displeased with a federal agency?
What would the line item veto help a President to do?
The line item veto challenges which principle of the Constitution?
What does the Federal Reserve directly influence?
What is an executive agreement? Does it require Senate approval?
Can the President dismiss cabinet officers?
How can the President change the direction of the federal judiciary?
What is the fundamental source of power of the bureaucracy?
Know that the Electoral College system is primarily a winner-take-all system.
What are the parts of the War Powers Resolution?
Why do most SC nominees have previous political experience?
Who sets the number of justices on the SC?
What are the checks on judicial power?
Why do cabinet members have little influence on presidential decisions?
Who chooses which cases the SC will hear?
Define “original intent.”
What are amicus curiae briefs?
Define judicial restraint and judicial activism.
What is the relationship between the SC and public opinion?
Define public policy.
Why did the framers give SC justices lifetime appointments?
What book caused the passage of the Meat Inspection Act?
Define fiscal policies.
Know that the perception of costs and benefits most affects politics.
What three Congressional acts have helped to protect the legal rights of women?
Know that a corporate lobbyist would not likely have a discussion with a judge that is deciding on a case important to the
corporation that they work for.
What is a literacy test?
What has caused diverse public policy?
Congress inaction on the AIDS crisis is an example of public policymaking.
What right is the Griswold v. Connecticut and Roe v. Wade decisions based on?
Why do the courts play an important role in policy making?
What does the clear and present danger limit?
The passage of what law helped the eliminate segregation in stores and hotels?
What did Gideon v. Wainwright do?
What right was the decision in Texas v. Johnson based on?
Define de facto segregation and de jure segregation.
What was the ruling in District of Columbia v. Heller?
What was the ruling in the Bakke case?
What case established the principle of “one person, one vote?”
What was the ruling in Miranda v. Arizona?