Sample Assessment Items
This is not meant to be printed off and given as a test…this document is to give you ideas
of how this standard might be assessed. Please use these as an example when you are
developing your own formative assessments. Remember formative assessment is to be
given throughout the teaching of a standard to help you guide your instruction based on
students needs. A good formative assessment should have a mix of multiple choice as
well as open ended.
SS4G2 The student will describe how physical systems affect human systems.
c. Explain how the physical geography of the New England, Mid-Atlantic, and Southern
colonies helped determine economic activities practiced therein.
Multiple Choice:
Which colonial region was best known for shipbuilding and shipping?
a. the Southern colonies
b. the Mid-Western colonies
c. the Mid-Atlantic colonies
d. the New England colonies
Answer: c
What economic activities were common in the New England colonies?
a. coal mining and oil drilling
b. rice, indigo, tobacco, and cotton production
c. shipbuilding, wheat production, imports, and exports
d. lumber production, fishing, whaling, and fur trapping
Answer: d
What economic activities were common in the Mid-Atlantic/Middle colonies?
a. coal mining and oil drilling
b. rice, indigo, tobacco, and cotton production
c. wheat production, shipbuilding, imports, and exports
d. lumber production, fishing, whaling, and fur trapping
Answer: c
Which statement BEST explains why the southern colonies used fewer types of natural
resources than other colonies?
a. Fewer natural resources were available in the southern colonies.
b. Most of the natural resources in the southern colonies were already used up.
c. Fertile plains and long summers allowed southern colonies to focus on agriculture.
d. Hot summers and disease-carrying insects kept populations in the southern
colonies low.
Answer: c
The wooded, mountainous geography of the New England colonies did NOT lend itself to
which of these industries?
a. fur-trading
b. woodworking
c. manufacturing
d. large scale farming
Answer: d
What geographic features helped make the Mid-Atlantic colonies the “breadbasket” of
the colonies?
A. rocky soil and cold climate
B. fertile soil and warm climate
C. many large, flat plains and a hot climate
D. steep rocky mountains located along the coast
Answer: b
What did early European colonists discover about the land in the southern region?
a. Transportation by river was difficult.
b. It had few natural sources of fresh water.
c. It was rocky and could not support cash crops.
d. The rich soil helped crops like tobacco, cotton, and rice grow.
Answer: d
What did the British government to punish the American colonies after the Boston Tea
Party?
a. passed the Intolerable Acts
b. passed the Townshend Revenue Act
c. sent troops to Lexington and Concord
d. threatened to imprison George Washington
Answer: a
Open ended:
How did the geography of each region impact the types of work each region
developed?
How did the geography and climate impact life in the New England colonies? MidAtlantic? Southern colonies?