FINAL EXAM STUDY GUIDE
Legislative Branch Questions:
1. What does bicameral mean?
2. Explain the difference between equal representation and fair/proportional representation
3. What are the two houses of Congress? How many members are in each house? Who presides
over each house?
4. What is the minimum age required for becoming a US Representative? Minimum residency in
the US? How long is their term length?
5. What is the minimum age required for becoming a US Senator? Minimum residency in the US?
How long is their term length?
6. How is placement in congressional committees determined?
7. What four types of powers does Congress have? Give an example of each.
8. Name at least six privileges granted to members of Congress.
9. What two main types of legislation can Congress pass?
10. Explain the process of how a bill becomes a law.
Executive Branch Questions:
11. What is the minimum age required for becoming President of the United States (PotUS)?
Minimum residency in the US? How long is the term length?
12. Who are the first four officers in the line of succession to the presidency?
13. What role does PotUS have with the military?
14. What is the role of the president’s Cabinet?
15. Explain the president’s powers as chief diplomat.
16. What is the speech called that PotUS must give to Congress every year? What is purpose of this
speech?
17. What is the group called that elects PotUS? What is meant by a “winner-take-all” system?
Judicial Branch Questions:
18. What is the term length for a federal judge? What is the logic behind this?
19. What is the highest court in the US?
20. How many Supreme Court justices are there?
21. Write a brief summary of each of the landmark SCotUS cases we covered:
a. Marbury v. Madison (1803)
g. Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)
b. McCulloch v. Maryland (1819)
h. Miranda v. Arizona (1966)
c. Gibbons v. Ogden (1824)
i. Roe v. Wade (1973)
d. Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857)
j. Tinker v. Des Moines (1974)
e. Plessy v. Ferguson (1896)
k. New Jersey v. T.L.O. (1985)
f. Brown v. Board of Education
l. Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier (1988)
(1954)
m. Texas v. Johnson (1989)
Miscellaneous Questions:
22. From whom does the Constitution derive its power and authority?
23. For what six reasons was the Constitution ordained and established?
24. What five rights are guaranteed by the First Amendment?
25. What is the primary job of a grand jury? How does this differ from a petit jury?