Online Social Studies League
A Division of AcademicLeagues.com
5th Grade Sample Contest
Student Name _________________________
Date ___________________
Rules: You have 30 minutes to complete this test. You must work independently,
and no reference tools may be used. Each question has exactly one right answer.
Part 1: History
1. When was the (U.S.) Civil War fought?
A. Before 1400
C. Between 1600 and 1800
B. Between 1400 and 1600
D. Between 1800 and 2000
2. In 1803, the United States nearly doubled in size by purchasing more than 529 million
acres of land from France for fifteen million dollars. What is the name of this famous
deal?
A. The Annexation of Texas
C. The Gadsden Purchase
B. The Louisiana Purchase
D. The Alaskan Purchase
3. Louis Braille was born in 1809, suffered a terrible accident at age three, and as a result
of that accident, he was later inspired to invent what?
A.
B.
C.
D.
Safety locks on guns, to prevent accidental misfires
Penicillin, a medication that would help people to recover from infections
Sign language, so that deaf people could more effectively communicate
A system of raised dots that enabled blind people to read and write
4. In 1848, James Wilson Marshall discovered gold, sparking a massive “Gold Rush” in
which tens of thousands of people flocked to which state?
A. California
C. Oregon
B. Nevada
D. New Mexico
5. Born in Kansas in 1897, I became famous for setting a variety of
flight records, such as becoming the first woman to fly solo non-stop
across the Atlantic and setting a world altitude record in 1931. In
1937, I mysteriously disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during an
attempt to fly around the world. Who am I?
A. Sally Ride
C. Bessie Coleman
B. Amelia Earhart
D. Christa McAuliffe
Part 2: Geography
6. What is the largest state by size in the United States?
A. California
C. Texas
B. Alaska
D. Montana
7. Which mountain chain is located in the Eastern United States?
A. The Appalachian Mountains
B. The Rocky Mountains
C. The Andes Mountains
D. The Himalaya Mountains
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8. In the map to the left, which U.S.
state is shaded in?
A. Virginia
C. Pennsylvania
B. Ohio
D. New Jersey
9. Visible on the map to the left is a lake
in northern Utah. This large lake is what
the state capital of Utah is named after.
What is the lake’s name?
A. Lake Erie
B. Great Salt Lake
C. Lake Huron D. Lake Victoria
10. What is the tallest mountain on earth?
A. Mount Kilimanjaro
C. Mount McKinley
B. Mount Rainier
D. Mount Everest
11. My capital city is Nashville, although my largest city is Memphis. My nickname is
the Volunteer State. I am one of only two states to share a border with eight other states;
states that I border are Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Missouri,
Mississippi, and Arkansas. What state am I?
A. Oklahoma
C. Nebraska
B. Kansas
D. Tennessee
Part 3: Government
12. Which famous actor and bodybuilder became the governor of California in 2003?
A. Hulk Hogan
C. Jesse Ventura
B. Arnold Schwarzenegger
D. Gray Davis
13. All fifty U.S. states get equal representation – no matter how big or small they are –
in which of the following ways?
A. All states have the same number of electoral votes in a presidential election
B. All states have the same number of Representatives in the House of
Representatives
C. All states have the same number of Senators in the Senate
D. All states get the same amount of money given to them in the federal budget
14. Which of the following is not one of the three branches of the U.S. government?
A. The executive branch
C. The federal branch
B. The judicial branch
D. The legislative branch
Part 4: Current Events
15. In November of 2006, two new video game systems were released: the Wii and the
PlayStation 3. In November, the Wii sold 476,000 units, while only about 197,000
PlayStation 3 units were sold. What company produces the Wii video game console?
A. Sony
C. Microsoft
B. Nintendo
D. Atari
© 2007 Academic Leagues
Online Social Studies League
A Division of AcademicLeagues.com
Answer Key – 5th Grade Sample Contest
1. D (The Civil War was fought from 1861-1865.)
2. B (The United States actually only intended to buy New Orleans, and was willing to
pay $10 million to do so, but American representatives were shocked when French ruler
Napoleon Bonaparte offered a much more expansive area for just $5 million more.)
3. D (The accident described occurred when Braille injured himself in the eye on a
stitching awl, and the accident left him blind. The Braille system of embossed dots used
to aid blind and visually-impaired people in reading and writing was invented by and
named after Louis Braille.)
4. A (The California Gold Rush was one of the most significant events in speeding up
Westward Expansion – read more about it at www.pbs.org/goldrush/discovery.html.)
5. B (There will be one “Who am I?” question on each fifth grade contest this year. A
superb Amelia Earhart biography can be found at ellensplace.net/eae_intr.html.)
6. B (It isn’t even close: Alaska covers over 650,000 square miles. The second-largest
state, Texas, covers just over 268,000 square miles. California and Montana are the 3rd
and 4th largest states in the U.S.)
7. A (Answer choice B, the Rocky Mountains, is the most commonly selected wrong
answer, but they are in the western United States.)
8. C
9. B (The Great Salt Lake lends its name to Salt Lake City, Utah.)
10. D (Mount McKinley is the highest point in North America, but Mount Everest, in
Nepal and Tibet, is the tallest mountain on Earth.)
11. D (There will be one “What location am I?” question on each fifth grade contest.)
12. B (If answers C or D ring a bell, it is because Gray Davis was the governor of
California who Schwarzenegger replaced, and Jesse Ventura was an actor and
professional wrestler who became the governor of Minnesota in 1998.)
13. C (All U.S. states have two senators.)
14. C (The executive branch, judicial branch, and legislative branch are the three
branches of the U.S. government.)
15. B
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