APHG Unit 1 MCQ Practice Test

Front

Which of the following is the primary assumption of environmental determinism?

Back

The physical environment controls human culture.

Front

Based on the types of information collected in the census survey form, which of the following could be mapped using census data?
The number of voting-age residents per household, The political party affiliation of the average resident, How residents voted in the last election, How voters might vote in the next national election, How voters stand on current issues

Back

The number of voting-age residents per household

Answer explanation

A census collects data on the number of residents per household and the ages of those residents. Those data can be averaged and shown on a per-neighborhood basis.

Front

Which of the following scales of analysis would provide demographic data that could be used to compare one urban neighborhood to other urban neighborhoods across a country? State or province, Metropolitan area or urban region, County or parish, City or municipality, Census tract or enumeration area

Back

Census tract or enumeration area

Answer explanation

Depending on the country, census tracts and enumeration areas vary in size from 1,000 to 8,000 people in an urban area. Data from this smallest scale of analysis would be best for comparing neighborhoods across a country.

Front

Which of the following describes the perspective of environmental determinism?

Back

A former scientific viewpoint stating that factors within the physical geography of a region shape the local population’s culture and behaviors

Answer explanation

The environmental determinist perspective held that the physical environment directly shaped local culture and behaviors.

Front

According to the theory of environmental determinism, which of the following areas would have the most productive settlements? Tropical regions, Temperate regions, Mountainous regions, Arctic regions, Arid regions

Back

Temperate regions

Answer explanation

Temperate regions have mild summers and cold winters, such as most of Europe.

Front

Which of the following terms best describes regions that make up the political geographic divisions within a country? Options: Cultural, Perceptual, Vernacular, Physical, Formal

Back

Formal

Answer explanation

Political divisions such as states or provinces are types of formal regions.

Front

Why are the topographic map and GIS representation of Mount Shasta geometrically distorted representations of Earth’s surface?

Back

The three dimensions of Earth’s surface are displayed on a two-dimensional page.

Answer explanation

A globe must be projected to become a two-dimensional printed map. These projections alter the geometry of Earth’s surface by flattening elevated features and bending linear features, like latitude and longitude lines, to adapt the curved surface to a two-dimensional geometry. This is why in some world map projections, areas near the poles are disproportionately large or significantly deformed.

Front

Every map projection has some degree of distortion because

Back

a curved surface cannot be represented on a flat surface without distortion

Front

Which of the following best identifies the scale of analysis for each of the maps shown? Options: Global and regional, Regional and urban, Continental and country, Global and local, Country and local

Back

Continental and country

Answer explanation

The first map shows the continent of Europe and the second map shows the country-scale map of the former Yugoslavia.

Front

Why would a town planner use a map at the 1:24,000 scale rather than a map at the 1:250,000 scale?

Back

The map at the 1:24,000 scale shows the town close-up in more detail.

Answer explanation

The larger the scale of the map, the greater the detail shown. Mathematically the 1:24,000 ratio is a fraction of a number, but it is a larger fraction than the 1:250,000 ratio. Therefore, 1:24,000 ratio is a larger number and at a larger scale than the 1:250,000 map.