Sample Multiple-Choice Test Questions
Folks:
Let me begin with a warning: If you don’t have time to go through this document carefully then you surely don’t have time
to go through this course successfully. Anyhow, some of you asked me if I would be kind enough to provide examples of
the kinds of multiple-choice test questions I usually ask. This document is my response to that request. (Did I hear you
say “thank you”?) To begin with, it is assumed that you have already made the effort to study the item that provides you
with test instructions as well as guidelines on how to study assigned materials in this course, and the document titled
“Recipe for Success in my Courses” (both available via your class home page).
The sample test questions below give you an idea of what TYPES of questions I usually ask on my multiple-choice tests.
(The sample questions do NOT reflect all the different kinds of materials you will be tested on.) Following each question
below are additional comments (in red) to help you examine the “mechanics” of the question.
If you find the questions daunting then remember that you have not had the opportunity to study the materials on which
these questions are based. So, don’t panic. What this also tells you, by the way, is that the last-minute surface skimming
of assigned materials—instead of carefully studying them—will cause you much grief (on the assumption that passing
this course is one of your goals). My tests are almost always made up of short questions as well as long questions, and
easy questions combined with hard questions. At the very least, you must aim to get all the easy questions correct (but
that will still require, of course, that you studied all the easy assigned materials on which the tests are based).You may
further wish to note that my tests, as I have explained elsewhere, are also meant to further your learning by getting you to
pay closer attention to key issues, themes, concepts, etc. that together make up this course.
Some Important Reminders: (1) If your test is not processed by the scanner at the computing center because of (a)
erasures (causing the machine to think that you have indicated multiple answers for a single question) or (b) missing or
improper completion of such essential information as person number and/or your name (this is the correct order: last
name, followed by space, and then your first name) on the back of the scantron sheet, then a ZERO will be recorded for
your test.  Read this sentence again. You must be taught to follow instructions. (2) If your test scores turn out not as you
would want them to be, then change your strategy (e.g. come to class and pay attention, take notes, study the readings,
see the assigned audiovisual material Remember, doing the same thing over and over again with the aim of obtaining
different results is the surest sign that all is not well with your brain. (3) There are millions of kids throughout this world
(and in this country too) who cannot afford to go to school—or even worse, their societies are in such turmoil that there is
no way that they can go to school, even if they could afford it. Fate has placed you in better circumstances; show your
appreciation by, at the very minimum, doing your work. (I despise people who think they are entitled to an easy pass in life
compared to the rest of us.)
_____ The foods we eat today (whether plant-based or animal-based), more often than not, have their historical origins in geographic places
we may have never heard of. To that extent, we owe a great debt to those early human pioneers across the planet who, by means of trial and
error, have bequeathed to humanity a variety of food sources that are simply unimaginably awesome in their diversity and magnitude.
Hence, my obsession with a fruit to which we, in this country, hardly pay any attention, the ubiquitous apple and which is part of that
serendipitous macrohistorical phenomenon that historians have labeled the “Columbian Exchange.” Nabhan begins his article with the
words: “The Fragrance of the forest is unlike any I have ever known.” Where is this forest located? In (A) China. (B) Kazakhstan. (C)
Afghanistan. (D) Turkey. (E) None of the above. In this question, the “None of the above” option is not the correct answer. It is a distractor.
_____ Nabhan’s article is accompanied by several pictures. What is the first picture of? (A) A cut apple held up by a hand with the caption:
“Incredible, orchard‐like yields of lemon‐candy‐flavored fruit.” (B) A fruit stand attended by female seller. (C) Apples on a fruit tree, with the caption:
“Beautiful, supermarket‐quality fruit, with no pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides. (What are we doing in our orchards?!).” (D) A landscape view of the
forests. (E) None of the above. Always, always study all graphics that may accompany any assigned reading. Questions like these, by
the way, are not only meant to determine if you did study the relevant material but to also give you a way to score an easy point.
_____ John Seabrook writes “The bursting of the cells fills your mouth with juice. Chunks of Sweet Tango snap off in your mouth with a
loud cracking sound. Although a crisp texture is the single-most prized quality in an apple, even more desirable than taste, according to one
study, crispness is more a matter of acoustics than mouth feel. Vibrations pass along the lower jaw and set the cochlea trembling.” So what is
the unique quality (among several) of the Sweet Tango? (A) It very sweet, but not in the sense of a candy but honey. (B) It is very juicy in the sense
that when you cut it juice sprays out. (C) Its flesh is softer than most apples. (D) It has much larger cells than other apples and, when you bite into it, the
cells shatter rather than cleaving along the cell walls, as is the case with most popular apples. Notice here that the correct answer can be deduced
from the preamble to this question. Always, always read the preamble to a test question (I do not write them for my own amusement.)
_____ In my own preamble to Domhoff’s article, I mention the “golden rule.” So, what is this golden rule? (A) History teaches us that never,
never trust the advocacy of any policy by the rich when they claim it will benefit everyone, including the working classes and the poor. (B) You must always
back up what you say when you challenge accepted or dominant thinking (otherwise you will be considered a fraud). (C) The first thing you must do is to
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locate (and explain) your own position to yourself on the left/right political spectrum before you start thinking about a particular political or economic policy
that is being proposed. (D) Always determine whether your support of or opposition to a policy is based on your objective interests or subjective interests.
(E) Always check the references an author cites in any work that you find controversial. (NOTE: being on the left of the political spectrum means
believing in the need to change existing power relations (between classes or races or sexes, etc.) in support of social justice for all; while being on the right
implies believing that the status quo, in terms of power relations, is already fair and just, and therefore, does not need to be changed or challenged. Another
way to comprehend what the left/right political spectrum means is to consider those who are on the left to be, usually, people who may be labeled
“liberals,” or “progressives,” or “radicals,” or “revolutionaries”; while those who are on the right are usually termed “conservatives,” or “traditionalists,” or
“reactionaries,” or “counterrevolutionaries.” Needless to say, and whether you like it or not, all meaningful progress of any kind—political, economic,
social, scientific, etc.—in human societies has been the work of those on the left.) In some questions, where necessary, I will provider a further
explanation of a term or phrase in parenthesis at the end of the question. Reminder: where I have written a preamble to an assigned
material consider it as an extension of class lectures (meaning do not neglect it when you study the material).
_____ (Continuation of above) I state “the fundamental issue here is not that wealth and income inequality can ever be eliminated in a
capitalist society (even if one wanted to for reasons of social justice) but rather (A) how Republicans are willing to hijack Congress, if necessary, in order
to protect the wealthy from paying their fair share of taxes. (B) how the concept of the “American Dream,” is a bogus concept foisted by the power elite
on the masses. (C) how the wealthy and the powerful unfairly bend the rules of the game to produce an ever-widening gap between the rich and the poor
in wealth and income. (D) how class divisions undermine democracy. This is an example of a question that you simply can’t guess the correct
answer by just relying on the question itself (you have to have studied the material).
______ Strayer states that of all the modern currents of liberation and protest movements of global significance none can compare to the
globalization of feminism (an anti-patriarchal ideology). However, there was a major difference in how the feminist agenda was viewed in
the West—defined usually as Europe and North America—compared to countries such as those in Africa, Asia, and elsewhere. What was
this difference? Unlike in the West, the principal concern of women elsewhere was (A) women’s oppression in the home. (B) poverty and
political oppression. (C) the objectification of women as sexual objects (by means of patriarchal violence, using women’s bodies as props for
commercials, etc.). (D) access to abortion and the right to seek work outside the home. (Note: patriarchy refers to the domination of women by men,
usually through the use of actual and potential terror—ranging from sexual harassment and rape to enslavement and murder—in order to control
women’s bodies, labor, and time.) Like many of the questions you will face on my tests, the opportunity to merely regurgitate memorized
information will simply not work. This question requires you to have studied the assigned material really carefully.
______ The cost of your textbook would have been considerably lower if the publisher had not included visual material (pictures, maps,
and so on). So, since you have paid for this material too, it behooves me to ask you a question about a picture of a color painting titled
“The Industrial Middle Class.” What does that late nineteenth-century painting show? (A) A family doing something really unusual for the
time period: out shopping. (B) A family strolling in a park on a Sunday afternoon. (C) A wedding of an obviously wealthy couple. (D) A family
gathered around a table and being attended by a female servant. (E) None of the above. This is another easy question. In other words, not all
my test questions are hard to answer.
______ In the West, a major weakness of the early feminist agenda was that it (A) did not consider issues of racism and classism. (B) did not
pay sufficient attention to the problem of patriarchal violence. (C) failed to address the role of the entertainment industry in the dehumanization of
women (through their objectification as sexual objects). (D) was dominated (to the exclusion of other important concerns) with the effort to get
women elected to political office at the national level.
______ Map 24.3 is titled Two Faces of an “American Empire.” What does the map show? The global distribution of (A) U.S.-based transnational
capitalist monopoly conglomerates. (B) Walmart stores and the listenership of Voice of America radio broadcasts. (C) the internet (a U.S. invention).
(D) U.S. embassies and CIA stations. (E) U.S. military bases and McDonald’s restaurants. (Note: the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency), is a U.S.
international spy agency that also engages in activities that most U.S. Americans would consider as terrorist if they were perpetrated within U.S.
borders. Voice of America is a radio/television propaganda broadcasting service run by the U.S. government for listeners abroad.) Another example
of a no-brainer (easy points) question.
______ Although the Industrial Revolution began later in the United States, within about a hundred years, the United States was the
world’s leading industrial power. Strayer mentions a number of factors explaining this development; which among the following,
however, is NOT one of them: (A) In its initial phase, it received critically important investment capital from overseas Europe (which itself had
some of its origins in the slave-based economies of the Caribbean and South America). (B) The Civil War helped to accelerate the industrialization of
the United States (as demand grew for weapons and logistics). (C) The U.S. government actively worked to help industrial capitalists (e.g. gave them
large tax breaks, gave them land grants they did not have to pay for, imposed protective tariffs, etc.). (D) The accident of geography created conducive
factors (e.g. the large land size of the country, a large domestic market (itself an outcome of economic refugees escaping from the depredations of
European industrial capitalism), access to a plentiful supply of cheap raw materials, and so on). (E) The establishment of procedural democracy based
on separation of powers and two-term presidencies helped to eliminate corruption (which, where it occurs, constitutes a form of hidden tax on
businesses imposed by corrupt politicians and bureaucrats for personal gain.) This is a difficult question because it requires you to have
thoroughly summarized several sections of the reading spanning, perhaps, several pages.
______ There is one overarching thesis that Strayer lays before us in his Big Picture essay of the twentieth century, and that is (A) the
presence of historical continuity within the new (including that deemed revolutionary). (B) the fallacy of historical permanence (of empires)—as
exemplified by the demise of all the great empires (the Ottoman, the British, the French, the Russian, the Austro-Hungarian, the Chinese, the Japanese,
etc., were all swept into the dustbin of history). (C) the pursuit of freedom and democracy is intrinsic to all human societies. (D) in tracing the roots
of all great civilizations we discover that civilization is simply another name for barbarity and savagery.
_____ To serve as an antidote to civilizational hubris, one of the main theses I want to advance in this course is that no civilization is an
entirely autarkic creation. That is all civilizations owe something to other civilizations, past and present, near and far. Now, I had
mentioned in class a number of technological inventions that truly revolutionized the world—including Europe of course—and which
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came out of Asia via the Muslim intermediary. Which among the following was NOT one of them. (A) Gunpowder. (B) Compass. (C)
Paper. (D) The mathematical concept of zero. (E) The printing press.
______ Folks: This documentary, which is part of our exploration of some of the historical antecedents of the Columbian Project, by
historian Bettany Hughes, which originally aired on television in November 2005, reminds one of another titled “In the Light of the Above”
(part of the series The Day the Universe Changed) by James Burke, which aired on television two decades earlier in 1985, because one of the
themes that Burke developed in that episode—the revolutionary impact on Western intellect of the knowledge that poured out of Muslim
Spain (al-Andalus) after the city of Toledo passed into the hands of the Spanish Christians in 1085, as the process of Reconquista
(reconquest) that would eventually drive the Spanish Muslims (and the Spanish Jews) into the sea, began in earnest—is continued in this
particular documentary by means of the exploration of the Spanish Muslim architecture that survives to the present day. Be that as it may, I
hope that this documentary, together with the one by Burke, helped you to underline one of my themes in this course that history (as a
discipline) is also “political,” meaning that history is written by conquerors and, therefore, they get to determine what is historical “truth” by
either leaving out parts of the history of the conquered not to their liking (selective history) or by simply rewriting history not as it happened
but as they would have liked it to happen (fictionalized history). Spanish historians, with the exception of a few, have foolishly spent the past
500 years or so doing everything they can to erase the preceding 700 years of Islamic presence in Spain from their history. (Never assume
that just because someone is a professor he/she can be trusted to teach the truth.) By the way, after Islam was eventually proscribed
following the completion of the Reconquista, it would be centuries—until 1975—before it was legal once more for a person to be a Muslim in
Spain. Here is something else for you to mull over: whose history are you usually taught in schools in this country for the most part? That of
English Americans? Or Italian Americans? Or Polish Americans? Or African Americans? Or Latino/a Americans? Or Asian Americans? Or
German Americans? You get my point? O.K. Let’s proceed. It is perhaps fitting that any documentary that looks at the seven centuries of
Islamic presence in Europe (besides Spain, Muslims also ruled Portugal and parts of Italy for a while), should begin or end with
Columbus—as this documentary does—and his quest for a sea route to Asia by sailing West (sometimes referred to as the “Columbian
Project.”). Why? Because (A) Columbus learned a great deal from Muslim ocean navigators while employed by the Portuguese. (B) the motivation
behind Columbus’s quest for a sea route to the East was motivated by the need to bypass the Muslims who controlled the land routes. (C) Columbus
was a guest of honor of the Spanish sovereigns who had engineered the conquest of Granada at Alhambra palace shortly before he set sail. (D) the
Spanish sovereigns Isabella and Ferdinand who assumed control over the last Muslim stronghold in Spain (Granada) were also the ones who issued
Columbus the commission for his voyage—in the same year, in fact, that their forces captured Granada: 1492. (E) None of the above. This question
and the next question are connected.
______ This documentary explores a subject that was the topic of another documentary produced some twenty years earlier by James
Burke. What exactly did James Burke tackle in his documentary on this subject? (A) The role of Arabic numerals in the development of
modern math in the West. (B) The Islamic influence on the rise of the Industrial Revolution in Europe. (C) How the Spanish Inquisition helped to
turn the clock back in terms of the development of Western science by persecuting anyone who dared to advocate the heliocentric view of the
universe first promulgated by the Polish astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. (D) The revolutionary impact on Western intellect of the knowledge that
poured out of Muslim Spain (al-Andalus) after the city of Toledo passed into the hands of the Spanish Christians in 1085. Sometimes, I will ask
you a question or two, within the same test, on a preamble to another question that may either immediately precede it or be a few
questions further up. This question is one such example. The preamble to the preceding question provides you with the correct
answer. In other words, always, always, read the preamble to a question wherever I have provided one.
_______ This film begins in (A) black and white and then fades into color. (B) color and then fades into black and white. (C) color and remains in
color throughout. (D) I wasn't paying attention; so I don't know the answer to this question--I will have to settle for a zero on this one. When you view
audiovisual material in this course you must give it the same level of seriousness as if you are studying printed text.
_______ At one point in this film we are given a taste of how humor has been an important ideological mechanism for the racist oppression
of people of color in this country. What was the general thrust of this particular piece of humor? The EuroAmerican stereotypical view that
blacks are (A) lazy. (B) unintelligent. (C) dirty and unhygienic. (D) licentious.
______ This film begins with several short intercut scenes that introduce us to most of the dramatis personae within the first few
minutes. Which one among the following is from my imagination: A scene (A) of Samantha Booke in a bus. (B) of an altercation between
James Farmer, Jr. and his dad (the college chaplain and professor) at the dinner table. (C) of a knife fight at a bar where we meet Henry Lowe and
Professor Tolson. (D) A speech to a college audience by Professor Dr. James Farmer, Sr. (E) The correct option is not here (meaning all these scenes
were in the film). Some questions on audiovisual material will require you to identify a scene that I have made up in my head. If you did
not see the material you will not be able to answer them correctly.
______ If you took notes the way I had suggested (by means of one or two key words that can help you remember a scene) then this
question should be a piece of cake (or sweet potato pie). Which one of the following sequences of scenes is correct: (A) A knife fight, pig
encounter, vicious breakup of a meeting of sharecroppers, arrest of Professor Tolson, lynching. (B) A knife fight, vicious breakup of a meeting, arrest
of Professor Tolson, pig encounter, lynching. (C) A knife fight, pig encounter, vicious breakup of a meeting, lynching, arrest of Professor Tolson. (D)
A knife fight, vicious breakup of a meeting, lynching, arrest of Professor Tolson, pig encounter.
______ What was the purpose of the scene featuring the pig? (A) To show what life was like in Jim Crow South. (B) To provide an example of
the ideology of “whiteness” at work. (C) To show how race reduced all African Americans to one class. (D) All of the above. (E) None of the above.
In a question like this one, if there are at least two correct options then you can assume that the correct answer is “All of the above.”
________ This film was nominated for an 'Oscar' for best sound (excludes dialogue and the film score). The sound mixers were David
Parker III and Randy Thom. Identify in the film the scenes where sound is absolutely crucial for authenticity: (A) sounds inside the aircraft as
the engine stalls. (B) sounds in the hotel bar. (C) sounds associated with the aircraft taking off. (D) sounds associated with the train ride. So, you will
notice that many of the questions on audiovisual material are short and sweet. But you will only be able to answer them correctly if you
bothered to see the material in the first place.
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________ The composer of the film score had to write a score that could evoke in the film audience critical emotions associated with a deep
appreciation of a number of elements in the story. Which among the following is NOT (repeat, NOT) one of these elements: (A) a landscape
that combines immense beauty and deathly danger. (B) The grandeur of nature so powerful, that it evokes a spiritual communion with it, even in the
skeptic. (C) a lonely and fearful journey into the unknown, but on which is overlaid the excitement of adventure. (D) a pristine environment that is also
bone-chillingly cold (puts Buffalo winters to shame). (E) the pleasure of falling in love with someone in a place where you would least expect to meet your
future spouse. You must pay attention to everything in a film/documentary/music, etc. you are assigned.
________ Which one of the following statements is false: (A) You are allowed to come and interrupt any class I am teaching at any time. (B) You are
allowed bring an escort (classmate, friend, spouse, parent, grandparent, etc.) with you when you visit me at my office. (C) You are NOT allowed to come
and see me at my office outside my office hours. (D) When you visit me at my office, you must always bring your own paper and pen. Example of an
easy no-brainer question.
______ One of the following statements from the syllabus is NOT true. Which One? (A) Class participation is an important requirement of this
course because this course is based on a student-centered pedagogic approach; however, class participation does not include being a class clown and/or a class
jerk (defined as someone who is so insecure that he/she thinks that he/she can build self-confidence by frequently interrupting class proceedings with
frivolous questions and comments aimed solely at trying to show off to other class members that he/she knows more than the teacher). (B) You are NOT
allowed to send me e-mails that do not have a proper salutation (Dear Dr….) and closure (Sincerely, ….); otherwise I may not respond to your e-mails. (C)
You are required to keep up with current affairs by visiting these three websites on a regular basis: www.npr.org; www.pbs.org/newshour; and
www.bbc.com (D) You are always allowed to come and interrupt the other classes I teach if you feel it is urgent for you to talk to me about some matter
by just walking into the classroom. (E) The correct option is not here (that is all these statements are true). Example of another easy no-brainer
question.
_________
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