GED and HiSET social studies — systems of government and the political process

The rest of the civics materials in this category are about the American system from the inside: its branches, its amendments, its courts. This one steps back and asks two broader questions that both tests cover. The GED's civics and government content includes types of government and the political process, and the HiSET lists political science among its social studies fields. What kinds of government exist, and how does an idea actually become public policy?

The first half of the quiz sorts the systems. A town meeting where every resident votes is set against an elected council; the United Kingdom's king who reigns while Parliament governs shows what a constitutional monarchy is; a country run by a few families who own its mines and banks shows oligarchy. A parliamentary system, where the head of government is chosen through the legislature, is set against a presidential one, and three imaginary countries sort out the difference between unitary, federal and confederal arrangements by asking one question: where does final authority sit?

The second half follows the process. Why the United States has mostly two major parties (single-member districts and winner-take-all elections, not any rule in the Constitution). What interest groups do, described neutrally. Campaign finance after Citizens United v. FEC, where the question is not which side is right but which pair of arguments states each side as its own supporters would. What a poll's margin of error does and does not mean, the stages of the policy process from agenda setting to evaluation, how federal agencies write regulations to carry out laws, and how a ballot initiative lets voters make law directly in about half the states.

The flashcards cover nineteen terms, from direct democracy and totalitarianism to lobbying, super PACs, referendums and regulation. The written work asks for fuller explanations: comparing a parliamentary and a presidential system, explaining federalism with examples, following a real kind of policy from problem to regulation, reading a poll with its margin of error, and setting out fairly the arguments about money in elections and about ballot initiatives. The oral exam puts one system or one step of the process in front of you at a time and asks you to explain how it works.

Political positions are described descriptively throughout, in terms their own supporters would accept; nothing here asks which policy is better. Zestly is an independent study tool, not affiliated with GED Testing Service or the HiSET program.

• Distinguish direct from representative democracy, and constitutional monarchy, oligarchy, authoritarian and totalitarian rule
• Compare parliamentary and presidential systems
• Classify unitary, federal and confederal systems by where final authority lies
• Explain what parties and interest groups do and why the United States has two major parties
• State fairly the main arguments on both sides of the campaign finance debate
• Describe the stages of the policy process, the role of regulation and the use of ballot initiatives, and read a poll's margin of error

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the published descriptions of the GED Social Studies test (civics and government) and the HiSET Social Studies subtest (political science). All scenarios are invented for practice.