As Arctic sea ice melts, darker ocean water is exposed. The water absorbs more solar radiation than the reflective ice did, which warms the region further and causes still more ice to melt. Which of the following BEST describes this process?

A positive feedback loop that amplifies the initial change

A closed system that exchanges no energy with its surroundings

A negative feedback loop that restores the original state

A dynamic equilibrium in which inputs equal outputs

A country reports the following indicators: crude birth rate 37 per 1,000, crude death rate 8 per 1,000, total fertility rate 5.0, and infant mortality falling quickly over the past two decades. Based on these data, the country is MOST likely in which stage of the demographic transition model?

Stage 2, with high births and sharply reduced deaths

Stage 3, with falling births and already low deaths

Stage 4, with low births and low, stable deaths

Stage 1, with high births and equally high deaths

An early-twentieth-century British geographer argued that whoever controlled Eastern Europe would command the vast interior of Eurasia, and that control of this interior would eventually lead to control of the world. This argument is known as

Wallerstein's world-systems theory

After a large dam was completed on a major river in an arid region, farmers on the downstream floodplain began applying much more chemical fertilizer, and the river's delta coastline started to retreat. Which of the following BEST explains both changes?

The reservoir traps silt that once renewed floodplain soils and built up the delta.

Reservoir releases raise the downstream water table and leach nutrients from fields.

Evaporation from the reservoir lowers rainfall over the floodplain and the delta.

Hydroelectric turbines warm the river water, speeding soil and coastal erosion.

One map has a representative fraction of 1:24,000, and a second map of the same printed size has a representative fraction of 1:1,000,000. Which statement correctly compares the two maps?

The 1:24,000 map is larger scale and shows a small area in more detail

The 1:24,000 map is smaller scale and shows a large area in less detail

The 1:1,000,000 map shows a smaller area in greater detail than the other

The 1:1,000,000 map is larger scale because its denominator is greater

Scientists often describe Earth as a closed system with respect to one kind of input and an open system with respect to another. Which of the following correctly applies this distinction?

Earth exchanges energy with space but keeps nearly all its matter

Earth exchanges neither matter nor energy with outer space

Earth exchanges matter with space but keeps nearly all its energy

Earth exchanges both matter and energy freely with space

A narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula is regarded as one of the most strategically important places on Earth. Which of the following BEST explains the geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz?

Much of the oil exported from Persian Gulf states must pass through it

It joins the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through a canal

It controls all shipping between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean

It is the only sea link between the Mediterranean and Black seas

Praxis Geography (5921)

Free Praxis Geography (5921) Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the Praxis Geography (5921), with the correct answer and an explanation for each. No account needed. Try each one before you open the answer.

Sections covered on the exam: Geography Literacy and Tools, Physical Geography, Human Geography, Regional Geography, Environment and Society.

Question 1 · Geography Literacy and Tools
A television weather map shows a set of smooth lines, each labeled with a value such as 50, 60, or 70 degrees Fahrenheit, that connect places reporting the same air temperature at the same time. These lines are called which of the following?
- A.Isobars
- B.Isohyets
- C.Contour lines
- D.Isotherms
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Isotherms
Isotherms are isolines that connect points of equal temperature, which is exactly what the labeled lines show. Isobars connect points of equal atmospheric pressure and isohyets connect points of equal precipitation, while contour lines connect points of equal elevation on a topographic map.
Question 2 · Physical Geography
As Arctic sea ice melts, darker ocean water is exposed. The water absorbs more solar radiation than the reflective ice did, which warms the region further and causes still more ice to melt. Which of the following BEST describes this process?
- A.A closed system that exchanges no energy with its surroundings
- B.A negative feedback loop that restores the original state
- C.A positive feedback loop that amplifies the initial change
- D.A dynamic equilibrium in which inputs equal outputs
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. A positive feedback loop that amplifies the initial change
Each round of melting lowers albedo and produces more warming, so the response reinforces the original change; that is a positive feedback loop that amplifies the initial change. A negative feedback loop that restores the original state would dampen the warming instead of intensifying it, and no part of Earth's surface is a closed system that exchanges no energy with its surroundings.
Question 3 · Human Geography
A country reports the following indicators: crude birth rate 37 per 1,000, crude death rate 8 per 1,000, total fertility rate 5.0, and infant mortality falling quickly over the past two decades. Based on these data, the country is MOST likely in which stage of the demographic transition model?
- A.Stage 3, with falling births and already low deaths
- B.Stage 2, with high births and sharply reduced deaths
- C.Stage 4, with low births and low, stable deaths
- D.Stage 1, with high births and equally high deaths
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Stage 2, with high births and sharply reduced deaths
A high crude birth rate combined with a crude death rate that has already dropped to a low level produces a wide gap and rapid natural increase, the signature of Stage 2, with high births and sharply reduced deaths. Stage 1 would show a death rate nearly as high as the birth rate, and Stage 3 would show a birth rate already declining well below the figure given.
Question 4 · Human Geography
An early-twentieth-century British geographer argued that whoever controlled Eastern Europe would command the vast interior of Eurasia, and that control of this interior would eventually lead to control of the world. This argument is known as
- A.Wallerstein's world-systems theory
- B.Spykman's rimland theory
- C.Ratzel's organic state theory
- D.Mackinder's heartland theory
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Mackinder's heartland theory
Halford Mackinder's heartland theory held that the Eurasian interior, protected from sea power, was the pivot of world politics and that Eastern Europe was the gateway to it. Spykman's rimland theory countered that the coastal fringe of Eurasia mattered more, and Ratzel compared states to living organisms that needed room to grow.
Question 5 · Environment and Society
After a large dam was completed on a major river in an arid region, farmers on the downstream floodplain began applying much more chemical fertilizer, and the river's delta coastline started to retreat. Which of the following BEST explains both changes?
- A.Reservoir releases raise the downstream water table and leach nutrients from fields.
- B.Evaporation from the reservoir lowers rainfall over the floodplain and the delta.
- C.The reservoir traps silt that once renewed floodplain soils and built up the delta.
- D.Hydroelectric turbines warm the river water, speeding soil and coastal erosion.
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. The reservoir traps silt that once renewed floodplain soils and built up the delta.
A dam's reservoir slows the river so that suspended sediment settles behind the wall; the reservoir traps silt that once renewed floodplain soils and built up the delta, so fields lose natural fertilization and the delta, starved of sediment, is eroded by waves. Evaporation losses are real but do not measurably reduce regional rainfall, and turbines do not heat water enough to drive erosion.
Question 6 · Geography Literacy and Tools
One map has a representative fraction of 1:24,000, and a second map of the same printed size has a representative fraction of 1:1,000,000. Which statement correctly compares the two maps?
- A.The 1:24,000 map is smaller scale and shows a large area in less detail
- B.The 1:24,000 map is larger scale and shows a small area in more detail
- C.The 1:1,000,000 map shows a smaller area in greater detail than the other
- D.The 1:1,000,000 map is larger scale because its denominator is greater
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. The 1:24,000 map is larger scale and shows a small area in more detail
A representative fraction with a smaller denominator is a larger fraction, so the 1:24,000 map is larger scale and shows a small area in more detail. The 1:1,000,000 map is small scale; a large denominator means each map unit represents more ground distance, so it covers a larger area with less detail.
Question 7 · Physical Geography
Scientists often describe Earth as a closed system with respect to one kind of input and an open system with respect to another. Which of the following correctly applies this distinction?
- A.Earth exchanges energy with space but keeps nearly all its matter
- B.Earth exchanges neither matter nor energy with outer space
- C.Earth exchanges matter with space but keeps nearly all its energy
- D.Earth exchanges both matter and energy freely with space
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Earth exchanges energy with space but keeps nearly all its matter
Earth receives solar radiation and radiates heat back to space, making it open to energy, while almost all of its matter, such as water and carbon, is recycled within the planet. The statement that Earth exchanges matter with space but keeps nearly all its energy reverses the relationship, since the planet constantly gains and loses energy.
Question 8 · Human Geography
A country has 12 million people aged 0 to 14, 50 million aged 15 to 64, and 13 million aged 65 and older. What is the country's total dependency ratio, expressed as dependents per 100 people of working age?
- A.33
- B.26
- C.50
- D.24
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. 50
The dependency ratio divides the young and elderly dependents (12 million plus 13 million, or 25 million) by the working-age population of 50 million and multiplies by 100, giving 50. The figure 24 is the youth dependency ratio alone, 26 is the elderly dependency ratio alone, and 33 incorrectly divides dependents by the total population.
Question 9 · Human Geography
A narrow waterway between Iran and the Arabian Peninsula is regarded as one of the most strategically important places on Earth. Which of the following BEST explains the geopolitical significance of the Strait of Hormuz?
- A.It joins the Red Sea to the Mediterranean through a canal
- B.It controls all shipping between the Indian Ocean and the Pacific Ocean
- C.Much of the oil exported from Persian Gulf states must pass through it
- D.It is the only sea link between the Mediterranean and Black seas
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Much of the oil exported from Persian Gulf states must pass through it
The Strait of Hormuz is a chokepoint at the mouth of the Persian Gulf through which much of the oil exported from Persian Gulf states must pass, so any disruption affects world energy markets. The link between the Mediterranean and Black seas is the Turkish Straits, the Suez Canal joins the Red Sea to the Mediterranean, and the Strait of Malacca links the Indian and Pacific oceans.
Question 10 · Environment and Society
Once the fourth-largest lake in the world, this Central Asian water body shrank dramatically after its two feeder rivers, the Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were diverted to irrigate cotton. Its fishing industry collapsed, and salty, chemical-laden dust now blows from its exposed bed. This water body is the
- A.Aral Sea
- B.Caspian Sea
- C.Lake Balkhash
- D.Dead Sea
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Aral Sea
The Aral Sea, on the border of Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, shrank after Soviet planners diverted the Amu Darya and Syr Darya for cotton irrigation, causing fishery collapse, toxic dust storms, and local climate change. The Caspian Sea is fed mainly by the Volga, and the Dead Sea lies in Southwest Asia.

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