Which factor best explains why the Caddo of East Texas lived in permanent farming villages while many groups on the South Texas plains moved frequently in small bands?

Dependable rainfall and fertile river-valley soils that supported corn, beans and squash

Year-round bison herds in the Piney Woods that made seasonal travel unnecessary

Spanish missions that required the Caddo to settle near presidios before 1600

Coastal bays that supplied fish and shellfish to the same villages in every season

“If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. … If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.” — Code of Hammurabi, laws 196, 198 and 199 (L. W. King translation) The excerpt best supports which conclusion about Babylonian society?

Penalties depended on the social rank of the injured person

Laws were kept secret by priests to protect the authority of the temples

Judges set penalties case by case without reference to written rules

Slaves and free persons held equal standing before the king's courts

A furniture shop's eight workers made 640 chairs in 1,280 hours of work in March. After the owner bought power lathes, the same eight workers made 800 chairs in 1,280 hours in June. Which conclusion is best supported?

Capital investment raised output per hour of labor worked

Division of labor reduced the hours each worker needed

Hiring more labor raised the shop's total output

Total output rose while labor productivity held steady

Citizenship brings rights, voluntary responsibilities, and duties that the law requires. Which pair lists a legal duty followed by a voluntary responsibility?

Serving on a jury when summoned; voting in an election

Voting in an election; paying federal income taxes

Obeying traffic laws; paying local property taxes

Attending a city council meeting; working on a campaign

Students in a Grade 7 Texas history class are beginning research projects on the early oil industry. Which research question is best formulated to guide an inquiry based on evidence?

How did the discovery of oil change the growth of nearby Texas towns?

In what year did drillers first strike oil at the Spindletop field?

What is the entire history of oil production around the world?

Why was the oil boom the best thing ever to happen to Texas towns?

A museum exhibit describes the Karankawa of the Texas Gulf Coast before Spanish settlement as a people who moved with the seasons between the barrier islands and the mainland, crossed the shallow bays in dugout canoes, and lived in small bands in portable shelters made of poles covered with mats or hides. The pattern of movement described is best explained by which characteristic of the Karankawa environment?

Fish, shellfish and plant foods that were plentiful in different places at different seasons

Bison herds that had to be followed across the open grasslands of the High Plains

Irrigated fields along the Rio Grande that needed a settled labor force all year long

River-bottom soils that produced surplus corn for trade with neighboring farming villages

Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa revealed streets laid out in grids, standardized baked bricks, covered drains and uniform weights. Which inference about the Indus Valley civilization do these findings best support?

Some form of central authority planned and regulated city life

Cities grew without planning as nomadic herders settled along the river

Monumental royal tombs were the main focus of public construction

Rulers recorded their conquests in texts that scholars have translated

Five employees of a boot shop once each built a complete pair of boots from start to finish. The owner reorganizes the shop so that one employee cuts leather, one stitches uppers, one attaches soles, one finishes the boots and one inspects them. Daily output rises. Besides higher output, which result of this change should the owner expect?

Greater reliance of each worker on the others' steps

More time lost as workers move between different tasks

Less need for workers to coordinate with one another

Broader craft skills for each worker in the shop

In 1846 Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail rather than pay a Massachusetts poll tax, as a protest against slavery and the war with Mexico. Which later action reflects the same form of civic participation?

Rosa Parks refusing to obey a city bus segregation ordinance

Minnie Fisher Cunningham lobbying Texas legislators for woman suffrage

Jane Addams opening Hull House to serve immigrant families

Barbara Jordan speaking during congressional impeachment hearings

Students in a Grade 8 class want to find out what residents of their town think about a proposed park. Which method would produce results that best represent the town's residents?

Surveying households selected at random from a list of all addresses

Surveying shoppers at the downtown farmers' market on one Saturday

Interviewing each member of the neighborhood parks committee in depth

Posting an online questionnaire that any interested person may complete

TExES Social Studies 4-8 (118)

Free TExES Social Studi 118 Practice Questions

10 sample questions for the TExES Social Studies 4-8 (118), 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: History, Geography, Economics, Government and Citizenship, Culture; Science, Technology, and Society, Social Studies Foundations and Skills, Social Studies Instruction and Assessment.

Question 1 · History
Which factor best explains why the Caddo of East Texas lived in permanent farming villages while many groups on the South Texas plains moved frequently in small bands?
- A.Year-round bison herds in the Piney Woods that made seasonal travel unnecessary
- B.Dependable rainfall and fertile river-valley soils that supported corn, beans and squash
- C.Spanish missions that required the Caddo to settle near presidios before 1600
- D.Coastal bays that supplied fish and shellfish to the same villages in every season
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Dependable rainfall and fertile river-valley soils that supported corn, beans and squash
The Caddo lived in the well-watered woodlands and river valleys of East Texas, where reliable harvests of corn, beans and squash made permanent villages and a complex society possible. Bison ranged on the plains to the west rather than in the Piney Woods, and the first Spanish mission among the Caddo dates only to 1690, long after their farming villages were established. A fishing and shellfish economy describes the Gulf Coast, not East Texas.
Question 2 · History
“If a man put out the eye of another man, his eye shall be put out. … If he put out the eye of a freed man, or break the bone of a freed man, he shall pay one gold mina. If he put out the eye of a man's slave, or break the bone of a man's slave, he shall pay one-half of its value.” — Code of Hammurabi, laws 196, 198 and 199 (L. W. King translation)
The excerpt best supports which conclusion about Babylonian society?
- A.Laws were kept secret by priests to protect the authority of the temples
- B.Judges set penalties case by case without reference to written rules
- C.Slaves and free persons held equal standing before the king's courts
- D.Penalties depended on the social rank of the injured person
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Penalties depended on the social rank of the injured person
The same injury brings a different penalty depending on whether the victim is a man of full standing, a freed man or a slave: equal retaliation in the first case and payments of decreasing size in the others. That shows a legal system built on social rank. The code was a written, publicly displayed set of rules, so penalties were neither left to a judge's discretion nor hidden from the public.
Question 3 · Economics
A furniture shop's eight workers made 640 chairs in 1,280 hours of work in March. After the owner bought power lathes, the same eight workers made 800 chairs in 1,280 hours in June. Which conclusion is best supported?
- A.Capital investment raised output per hour of labor worked
- B.Division of labor reduced the hours each worker needed
- C.Hiring more labor raised the shop's total output
- D.Total output rose while labor productivity held steady
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Capital investment raised output per hour of labor worked
Productivity is output per unit of input: 640 ÷ 1,280 = 0.5 chair per hour in March and 800 ÷ 1,280 = 0.625 chair per hour in June. The number of workers and hours did not change, so the gain comes from the new capital goods, the lathes. Saying productivity held steady confuses total output with output per hour, and nothing in the data shows added workers or fewer hours.
Question 4 · Government and Citizenship
Citizenship brings rights, voluntary responsibilities, and duties that the law requires. Which pair lists a legal duty followed by a voluntary responsibility?
- A.Voting in an election; paying federal income taxes
- B.Serving on a jury when summoned; voting in an election
- C.Obeying traffic laws; paying local property taxes
- D.Attending a city council meeting; working on a campaign
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. Serving on a jury when summoned; voting in an election
Jury service is a duty because a citizen who ignores a summons can be penalized, while voting is a responsibility that citizens are encouraged but not compelled to carry out. The pair that begins with voting has the order reversed, since paying taxes is the duty. Obeying laws and paying taxes are both duties, and attending meetings and campaigning are both voluntary responsibilities.
Question 5 · Social Studies Foundations and Skills
Students in a Grade 7 Texas history class are beginning research projects on the early oil industry. Which research question is best formulated to guide an inquiry based on evidence?
- A.In what year did drillers first strike oil at the Spindletop field?
- B.How did the discovery of oil change the growth of nearby Texas towns?
- C.What is the entire history of oil production around the world?
- D.Why was the oil boom the best thing ever to happen to Texas towns?
Show answer and explanation
Answer: B. How did the discovery of oil change the growth of nearby Texas towns?
A strong research question is focused, open-ended and answerable by gathering and weighing evidence; asking how oil discoveries changed nearby towns invites students to analyze sources such as population figures, newspapers and photographs. The question about a single year can be settled by looking up one fact, the “best thing ever” question builds in an opinion that evidence cannot settle, and the worldwide history question is far too broad to investigate.
Question 6 · History
A museum exhibit describes the Karankawa of the Texas Gulf Coast before Spanish settlement as a people who moved with the seasons between the barrier islands and the mainland, crossed the shallow bays in dugout canoes, and lived in small bands in portable shelters made of poles covered with mats or hides.
The pattern of movement described is best explained by which characteristic of the Karankawa environment?
- A.Bison herds that had to be followed across the open grasslands of the High Plains
- B.Irrigated fields along the Rio Grande that needed a settled labor force all year long
- C.River-bottom soils that produced surplus corn for trade with neighboring farming villages
- D.Fish, shellfish and plant foods that were plentiful in different places at different seasons
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Fish, shellfish and plant foods that were plentiful in different places at different seasons
Karankawa bands followed their food supply: the bays and barrier islands offered fish and shellfish in some seasons, and the bands moved to the mainland to hunt and gather in others. Small mobile bands, canoes and portable shelters fit that seasonal round. Surplus corn, bison hunting on the plains and irrigated fields describe the East Texas woodlands, the High Plains and the upper Rio Grande valley, not the coast.
Question 7 · History
Excavations at Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa revealed streets laid out in grids, standardized baked bricks, covered drains and uniform weights. Which inference about the Indus Valley civilization do these findings best support?
- A.Some form of central authority planned and regulated city life
- B.Cities grew without planning as nomadic herders settled along the river
- C.Monumental royal tombs were the main focus of public construction
- D.Rulers recorded their conquests in texts that scholars have translated
Show answer and explanation
Answer: A. Some form of central authority planned and regulated city life
Uniform bricks, weights and measures, gridded streets and public drainage across widely separated cities point to planning and enforced standards, which implies some coordinating authority even though its exact form is unknown. The Indus script has not been deciphered, so no royal records can be read, and archaeologists have not found the grand royal tombs typical of Egypt.
Question 8 · Economics
Five employees of a boot shop once each built a complete pair of boots from start to finish. The owner reorganizes the shop so that one employee cuts leather, one stitches uppers, one attaches soles, one finishes the boots and one inspects them. Daily output rises.
Besides higher output, which result of this change should the owner expect?
- A.More time lost as workers move between different tasks
- B.Less need for workers to coordinate with one another
- C.Greater reliance of each worker on the others' steps
- D.Broader craft skills for each worker in the shop
Show answer and explanation
Answer: C. Greater reliance of each worker on the others' steps
Division of labor raises output because each worker repeats one step and wastes no time switching tasks, but it also makes workers interdependent: no boots are finished unless every step is completed. Time lost switching tasks is what specialization reduces, not what it causes. Skills become narrower rather than broader, and the need to coordinate the steps grows.
Question 9 · Government and Citizenship
In 1846 Henry David Thoreau spent a night in jail rather than pay a Massachusetts poll tax, as a protest against slavery and the war with Mexico. Which later action reflects the same form of civic participation?
- A.Minnie Fisher Cunningham lobbying Texas legislators for woman suffrage
- B.Jane Addams opening Hull House to serve immigrant families
- C.Barbara Jordan speaking during congressional impeachment hearings
- D.Rosa Parks refusing to obey a city bus segregation ordinance
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Rosa Parks refusing to obey a city bus segregation ordinance
Thoreau's act was civil disobedience: openly and peacefully breaking a law believed to be unjust and accepting the penalty. Rosa Parks did the same when she refused to give up her seat and was arrested. Founding a settlement house, speaking as an elected representative and lobbying legislators are all important forms of participation, but each works within the law rather than by deliberately violating it.
Question 10 · Social Studies Foundations and Skills
Students in a Grade 8 class want to find out what residents of their town think about a proposed park. Which method would produce results that best represent the town's residents?
- A.Surveying shoppers at the downtown farmers' market on one Saturday
- B.Interviewing each member of the neighborhood parks committee in depth
- C.Posting an online questionnaire that any interested person may complete
- D.Surveying households selected at random from a list of all addresses
Show answer and explanation
Answer: D. Surveying households selected at random from a list of all addresses
A random sample gives every household an equal chance of being chosen, so the results can be generalized to the whole town. Market shoppers are a convenience sample, an open online questionnaire attracts only people motivated to respond, and committee members already have a strong interest in parks; each of those methods is likely to over-represent some views and miss others.

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