AP World History Practice Test Chapter 2 [UPDATED]

Last Updated on May 23, 2024

AP World History Practice Test Chapter 2: You can also download the Advanced Placement exam 2024 full-length review practice test in printable pdf.

The AP World History Prep Practice Test for Chapter 2 is an advanced, meticulously crafted study tool that aims to test your understanding of the pivotal transformations that shaped the early stages of human civilizations. This chapter revolves around the development and interactions of early societies, with an emphasis on the River Valley Civilizations and their significant contributions.

This practice test adheres to the standards and structure of the actual AP exam, providing an accurate reflection of what you can expect in the real test. The content of the test includes a blend of multiple-choice questions, short answer prompts, and essay-style questions, each focusing on diverse aspects of your comprehension of the Chapter 2 content.

The multiple-choice questions in this test evaluate your factual recall and interpretation of major historical developments, cultural shifts, and advancements. You may encounter questions that ask about the evolution of political systems, technological innovations, or the cultural and religious practices in these early societies.

AP World History Practice Test Chapter 2

Chapter 2

AP World History Practice Test Chapter 2

AP World History Practice Test

Chapter 2: The Neolithic Revolution and Early Agricultural Societies
Total Items: 15 MCQs
Time Limit: N/A

1 / 15

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION, C. 10,000 B.C.E. TO C. 2000 B.C.E.

Which of the following most likely contributed to the adoption of agriculture throughout the world as depicted on the map?

Increasing contacts throughout the period between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia

Development of new agricultural tools, such as the heavy plow

Climatic changes that allowed for agricultural production and created a need to find alternate food sources

Increases in public works provided by the state, including irrigation

2 / 15

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION, C. 10,000 B.C.E. TO C. 2000 B.C.E.

Cultivation of crops depicted on the map had all of the following effects EXCEPT

decreased reliance on cooperation among community members

technological innovations, such as the plow and pottery

patriarchal societies developing as gender roles changed

increased population density and the rise of early villages

3 / 15

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION, C. 10,000 B.C.E. TO C. 2000 B.C.E.

Which of the following conclusions is best supported by the information on the map?

Knowledge of agriculture spread mainly as a result of interregional contacts.

People in each region domesticated what was locally available in their environments.

The vast majority of the world’s population adopted agriculture by 6000 B.C.E.

Agriculture was first adopted in Southeast Asia.

4 / 15

THE NEOLITHIC REVOLUTION, C. 10,000 B.C.E. TO C. 2000 B.C.E.

Based on your knowledge of world history, which of the following best describes the lifestyle of human communities in the areas on the map that did not adopt agriculture?

Sedentary cultivators settled in mountainous areas.

Foraging clans settled in river valleys.

Sedentary herders occupied the plains of Europe.

Pastoralism developed on the Eurasian steppe.

5 / 15

Questions refer to the following two images.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE AT CATALHÖYÜK, TURKEY, CIRCA 7500 B.C.E

RE-CREATION OF A TYPICAL HOME OF CATALHÖYÜK, TURKEY, CIRCA 7000 B.C.

Which of the following contributed most directly to the rise of Neolithic settlements as shown in the images?

Surpluses of grain and domesticated animals

Development of iron metallurgy

A diminished reliance on the natural environment

The growth of specialized labor

6 / 15

Questions refer to the following two images.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE AT CATALHÖYÜK, TURKEY, CIRCA 7500 B.C.E

RE-CREATION OF A TYPICAL HOME OF CATALHÖYÜK, TURKEY, CIRCA 7000 B.C.

The architectural style depicted in Image 1 best supports which of the following conclusions?

Early cities were constructed communally by a strong central government

Cities of the Neolithic era reflected the egalitarian nature of society.

Job specialization led to social stratification.

Technologies, such as sewers and running water, were common in early cities.

7 / 15

Questions refer to the following two images.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITE AT CATALHÖYÜK, TURKEY, CIRCA 7500 B.C.E

RE-CREATION OF A TYPICAL HOME OF CATALHÖYÜK, TURKEY, CIRCA 7000 B.C.

The objects in Image 2 best illustrate which of the following developments in the period before 600 B.C.E.?

Agriculture led to more reliable and abundant food supplies.

Agricultural communities worked cooperatively to create water control systems.

Technological innovations led to improvements in agricultural production and trade.

Clearing of land for agriculture drastically affected environmental diversity.

8 / 15

Questions refer to the passage below.

“The agriculture practiced by these first women farmers and
their children, producing enough food for subsistence only,
must be distinguished from that agriculture which developed
out of subsistence farming and which produced surpluses and
fed nonfarming populations in towns. The first type is
commonly called horticulture and is carried out with hand
tools only. The second is agriculture proper, and involves
intensive cultivation with the use of the plow and (where
necessary) irrigation. In areas like the hilly flanks of the
fertile crescent in the Middle East, horticulture moved fairly
rapidly into agriculture as it spread to the fertile plains. As we
shall see, trading centers grew into towns and cities needing
food from the countryside. Women and children could not
unaided produce the necessary surpluses, and by the time the
digging stick had turned into an animal-drawn plow, they
were no longer the primary workers of the fields.

The simpler form of farming continued in areas where the
soil was less fertile, and particularly in the tropical forest
areas of Africa. Here soils were quickly exhausted, and each
year the village women would enlist the men in helping clear
the fields which were then burned over in the slash-and-burn
pattern which helped reconstitute the soils for planting
again.... Where the simple horticultural methods continued to
be used, women continued as the primary farmers, always
with their children as helpers. In a few of these societies
women continued also in the positions of power; these are
usually the tribes labeled by ethnologists as matrilocal.”

Elise Boulding, historian, The Underside of History: A View of
Women Through Time, 1976

Based on Boulding’s argument, the rise of patriarchal societies were most clearly influenced by which of the following?

The religious beliefs regarding the role of women in Mesopotamia

The characteristics of the physical environment in which the societies developed

The type of political system that dominated the region

The rise of strong militaries that were male dominated

9 / 15

Questions refer to the passage below.

Elise Boulding, historian, The Underside of History: A View of
Women Through Time, 1976

The agricultural methods of tropical areas described in the passage best illustrate which of the following continuities in world history?

The negative impact of human activity on the environment

The persistence of patriarchy through the twentieth century

The primitive technologies used for cultivation in tropical climates

The negative effects of overpopulation on the environment

10 / 15

Questions refer to the passage below.

Elise Boulding, historian, The Underside of History: A View of
Women Through Time, 1976

Based on the passage, it can be inferred that patriarchal societies were more likely to develop in which of the following?

Berber nomads of the Sahara region

Pastoralists on the Eurasian steppe

Foragers of sub-Saharan Africa

Sedentary cultivators of East Asia

11 / 15

Questions refer to the excerpt below.

“Hail to thee, O Nile! Who manifests thyself over this land,
and comes to give life to Egypt! Mysterious is thy issuing
forth from the darkness, on this day whereon it is celebrated!
Watering the orchards created by Re, to cause all the cattle to
live, you give the earth to drink, inexhaustible one! Path that
descends from the sky, loving the bread of Seb and the first-
fruits of Nepera, You cause the workshops of Ptah to prosper!
Lord of the fish, during the inundation, no bird alights on the
crops. You create the grain, you bring forth the barley,
assuring perpetuity to the temples. If you cease your toil and
your work, then all that exists is in anguish. If the gods suffer
in heaven, then the faces of men waste away.”
Excerpt from Hymn to the Nile, c. 2100 B.C.E

The power of the deities described in the passage most strongly supports which of the following statements about the Nile River civilization?

The inhabitants mainly practiced monotheism.

The religious beliefs were closely tied to agriculture.

The inhabitants viewed gods as punitive rather than beneficial.

Government had a role in overseeing cultivation.

12 / 15

Questions refer to the excerpt below.

A historian would most likely use this passage to illustrate which of the following?

The emergence of social hierarchies based on wealth

The negative effect of flooding on bird populations

The precarious nature of early civilizations’ relationship to their physical environment

The rise of record keeping in early civilizations

13 / 15

Questions refer to the excerpt below.

Which of the following was an important similarity between agricultural communities, such as those along the Nile, and pastoral societies in this era?

The populations grew due to more reliable food sources.

Centralized governments formed bureaucracies.

Specialization of labor led to more egalitarian societies.

Poor sanitation in urban areas led to disease.

14 / 15

Questions refer to the passage below.

“In Mesopotamia, the flood was the enemy. The
Mesopotamian deities who ruled the waters, Nin-Gursu and
Tiamat, were feared. The forces of nature were often evil.
Life was a struggle. In Egypt, on the other hand, life was
viewed as a cooperation with nature. Even the Egyptian god
of the flood, Hapi, was a helpful deity, who provided the
people’s daily bread. Egyptian priests and priestesses were
much more at ease with their world than were their
Mesopotamia counterparts. And, partly because of their
different experiences with the rivers, the Mesopotamians
developed a civilization based on cities, while the Egyptians
did not. From the first Sumerian city-states on the lower
Euphrates to the later northern Mesopotamian capital of
Babylon, civilization was the product and expression of city
life. Egyptian civilization, in contrast, was the creation of the
pharaoh’s court rather than of cities. Beyond the court, which
was moved from one location to another, Egypt remained a
country of peasant villages.”

Kevin Reilly, world historian, The West and the World: A
History of Civilization, 1989

Based on Reilly’s argument, belief systems of Mesopotamia and Egypt were most clearly influenced by which of the following?

The differing levels of urbanization in the two civilizations

The emergence of social hierarchies in both due to unequal distribution of surplus food

Dependence on agriculture for survival that led to a view of gods as malevolent in both civilizations

Environmental factors that determined the relationship with deities in their respective civilizations

15 / 15

Questions refer to the passage below.

Kevin Reilly, world historian, The West and the World: A
History of Civilization, 1989

The passage best illustrates which of the following processes in the period before 600 B.C.E.?

The development of pastoral societies on the Eurasian steppe as animals were domesticated

The rise of long-distance trade networks as agricultural settlements producing a variety of goods

Agricultural communities working cooperatively to clear land

Rulers of early states often claiming divine connections to power

Your score is

See also:

AP World History Practice Test 2024 with Study Guide