Study Guide
Field 018: World History/Geography
Test Design and Framework
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The test design below describes general assessment information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.
Test Design
*Does not include 15-minute C B T tutorial
Test Framework
| subareas | range of competencies | approximate percentage of test | |
|---|---|---|---|
| selected-response | |||
| roman numeral 1 | world history | 0001–0010 | 44 percent |
| roman numeral 2 | geography | 0011–0017 | 41 percent |
| this cell intentionally left blank | 85 percent | ||
| subareas | range of competencies | approximate percentage of test | |
|---|---|---|---|
| constructed-response | |||
| roman numeral 1 | world history | 0001–0010 | 15 percent |
Subarea roman numeral 1–World History
Competency 0001–Understand key historical terms, concepts, and major interpretations of world history, and apply historical research skills.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of basic historical terms and concepts (e.g., conflict, continuity and change, nation-state, interdependence, racism, culture) and use these terms and concepts to analyze general historical phenomena and specific historical events.
- Use basic reference works (e.g., encyclopedias, almanacs, biographical dictionaries, the Internet) to investigate historical questions.
- Recognize the differences between primary and secondary sources of historical information, analyze their advantages and limitations, and assess the credibility and objectivity of historical sources.
- Place historical events and developments in a chronological framework and interpret data presented in a timeline.
- Apply basic research skills and processes of critical historical inquiry (e.g., formulating hypotheses, gathering data, identifying central questions addressed in historical narratives, evaluating change over time, analyzing cause-and-effect relationships, distinguishing significant events and developments from those that are inconsequential).
- Interpret historical data presented in various visual formats (e.g., graphs, charts, tables, maps, political cartoons).
- Demonstrate knowledge of major interpretations of world history.
Competency 0002–Understand the historical development of the major ancient Mediterranean civilizations.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of the geographic location, political and economic organization, and cultural development of the Sumerian, Babylonian, Assyrian, Egyptian, Persian, and Hebrew civilizations.
- Examine the contributions of major Greek artists, writers, philosophers, and scientists (e.g., Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Sophocles, Pythagoras, Hippocrates, Herodotus, Thucydides, Archimedes).
- Describe the social structure, the concept of citizenship, and the development of democracy in the city-state of Athens.
- Analyze the impact of Greek commerce and colonies on the Mediterranean region, demonstrate knowledge of the conquest of Greece by Macedonia, and describe the spread of Hellenistic culture by Alexander the Great.
- Analyze Roman military domination of the Mediterranean basin and Western Europe and examine the spread of Roman culture in these areas.
- Describe Roman contributions in art, architecture, technology, science, literature, history, language, and law (e.g., classical republicanism).
- Evaluate the economic, social, cultural, and political impact of the Pax Romana and examine reasons for the decline and fall of the Roman Empire (e.g., invasions of the Visigoths and Vandals).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the origins, principal beliefs, and historical development of Judaism and Christianity.
Competency 0003–Understand the historical development of major Asian, African, and American civilizations.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of the development of Indian civilization; recognize the traditions, beliefs, and significance of Hinduism in Indian culture; analyze India's caste system; and examine the conquest of India by Muslim Turks and Mongols.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the development of Chinese civilization during the Qin, Han, T'ang, and Sung dynasties (e.g., the impact of Confucianism and Taoism, the construction of the Great Wall).
- Examine factors related to Japanese historical development (e.g., the significance of Shintoism and Buddhism, the influence of Chinese and Korean cultures).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the location and principal characteristics (e.g., cultural exchanges and trade practices) of early African kingdoms (e.g., Kush, Ghana, Mali).
- Describe and compare major features of the Olmec, Mayan, Aztec, and Inca civilizations.
- Recognize the contributions of Asian, African, and American cultures to human civilization.
Competency 0004–Understand the development of world civilizations from the fall of the Roman Empire through the Middle Ages.
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- Examine the origin, traditions, beliefs, and spread of Islam; recognize reasons for the division between Sunni and Shia Muslims; and describe Muslim contributions to world civilization.
- Recognize major features of Byzantine civilization, examine the rise of Constantinople and the expansion of the Byzantine Empire, analyze the conflicts that lead to the split between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches, and evaluate Byzantine influence on Kievan Russia and Eastern Europe.
- Define feudalism, describe the structure of European feudal society, and compare feudalism in Europe and Asia.
- Examine the Age of Charlemagne and the revival of the idea of the Roman Empire.
- Describe the origins and analyze the impact of the plague.
- Analyze the spread and influence of Christianity and examine the social, political, economic, and cultural roles of the Roman Catholic Church in medieval Europe.
- Demonstrate knowledge of major conflicts among Eurasian powers (e.g., the Crusades, the rise of the Ottoman Turks, the Mongol conquests, the Magyar invasions).
Competency 0005–Understand the origins, events, and achievements of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Scientific Revolution and their influence on the development of world civilization.
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- Examine the economic and political foundations of the Renaissance (e.g., increased trade, new economic practices, the rise of Italian city-states, the role of the Medicis), describe basic Renaissance ideas, and compare Renaissance and medieval cultures.
- Recognize examples of the artistic, literary, scientific, political, and intellectual creativity of the Renaissance period (e.g., Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Niccolò Machiavelli, Dante Alighieri, Miguel de Cervantes, Francis Bacon, William Shakespeare) and analyze the spread of Renaissance concepts and perspectives throughout Europe.
- Examine the theological and political issues that emerged during the Reformation and recognize the major figures and events of the period (e.g., Martin Luther, John Calvin, Henry VIII, the Council of Trent).
- Analyze the influence of religious conflicts on government policies and actions (e.g., the Edict of Nantes, the Thirty Years' War, the Treaty of Westphalia, the reign of Elizabeth I).
- Evaluate the long-term impact of the Renaissance and Reformation on the development of European civilization.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the major figures, scientific theories, and technological advances of the early modern era (e.g., those of Nicolaus Copernicus, Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler, William Harvey, Isaac Newton), and evaluate the influence of the Scientific Revolution on the development of European and world civilizations.
Competency 0006–Understand the principal causes and consequences of European expansion and the reactions and interactions among European and non-European societies.
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- Explain the significance of the Silk Road.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the political, economic, scientific, and technological factors encouraging European expansion during the Age of Discovery.
- Recognize the achievements of key figures associated with major explorations of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (e.g., Prince Henry the Navigator, Christopher Columbus, Bartolomé de Las Casas, Ferdinand Magellan, Hernán Cortés).
- Analyze the effects of cultural exchange during the Age of Discovery (e.g., exchanges of ideas, technology, and agricultural practices and products; the introduction of new diseases; trade in slaves, gold, fur, and tobacco; and the arrival of the horse in the Americas).
- Demonstrate knowledge of global migration and settlement patterns during the Age of Discovery and describe the colonial empires established by European powers between 1500 and 1800.
- Describe the competition for resources during the Age of Discovery and the rise of mercantilism and demonstrate knowledge of the emergence of money and banking, global economics, and market systems.
- Examine interactions among European and non-European societies during the Age of Discovery and analyze the social, economic, political, and intellectual effects of European expansion on Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas.
Competency 0007–Understand major political, economic, and social developments in Europe and the Americas during the Age of Revolution.
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- Examine the establishment and organization of absolute monarchies in Europe (e.g., Louis XIV, Frederick the Great, Peter the Great, Catherine the Great).
- Assess the influence of Enlightenment ideas in Europe and the United States (e.g., the ideas of Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Baron de Montesquieu, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson).
- Describe and compare the origins, major features, key events, and significant consequences of the English, American, and French revolutions.
- Recognize major political concepts expressed in the Declaration of Independence and the Declaration of the Rights of Man.
- Examine the spread of democratic ideals beyond Europe and the United States and demonstrate knowledge of major developments and key individuals (e.g., Simón Bolívar, José de San Martin) in the struggle for Latin American independence.
- Analyze the influence of the Enlightenment and the Age of Revolution on the arts, philosophy, and literature in Europe and the Americas (e.g., Voltaire, Denis Diderot, Francisco Goya, Ludwig van Beethoven).
Competency 0008–Understand the major political, social, and economic developments of the nineteenth century.
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- Analyze the impact of the Congress of Vienna, examine the Revolutions of 1848, and demonstrate knowledge of the expansion of democracy in nineteenth-century Europe (e.g., the Chartist movement, British reform laws).
- Identify key events and outcomes of the Industrial Revolution, describe the rise and impact of industrial economies, and examine the effects of major scientific and technological innovations (e.g., the inventions of James Watt, Henry Bessemer, Eli Whitney) on the development of world civilization.
- Analyze the emergence of capitalism and free enterprise within industrialized nations and evaluate responses to capitalism (e.g., utopianism, socialism, communism, trade unionism).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the rise of nationalism in nineteenth-century Europe and examine the unification of Italy and Germany.
- Identify economic, military, political, and scientific motives for the pursuit of colonial empires; describe the structure of colonial societies; and examine rivalries among colonial powers.
- Analyze interactions among European imperialist powers and the colonized peoples of Asia and Africa and describe the effects of colonization on Asia and Africa.
- Evaluate the impact of the Meiji Restoration in Japan (e.g., industrialization, constitutionalism, armed conflicts with China and Russia).
Competency 0009–Understand major historical developments of the first half of the twentieth century, including the causes and consequences of the two world wars.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of the causes (e.g., the European alliance system, the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand), major events and technological developments, and significant effects (e.g., cost in human life, the Treaty of Versailles) of World War I.
- Describe the origins of the Bolshevik Revolution and the creation of the Soviet Union.
- Examine the rise and human costs of totalitarian regimes in the Soviet Union, Germany, Italy, and Japan (e.g., Stalin's purges, the Holocaust).
- Identify the causes (e.g., German aggression, Japanese imperialism), key events (e.g., the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the Battle of Midway, the Battle of Stalingrad, D-day, the use of the atomic bomb against Japan), and major figures (e.g., Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Josef Stalin, Tojo Hideki) of World War II.
- Analyze major consequences of World War II (e.g., the founding of the United Nations, the growth of U S political and economic leadership, the arms race, the beginning of the Cold War).
- Examine the emergence of revolutionary movements in Asia and Africa, identify major leaders of these movements (e.g., Mohandas Gandhi, Mao Zedong, Ho Chi Minh, Kwame Nkrumah), and demonstrate knowledge of how African and Asian countries gained independence from European colonial rule.
- Recognize major philosophical, literary, and artistic movements of the modern age (e.g., rationalism, existentialism, impressionism, surrealism).
Competency 0010–Understand the major political developments, economic trends, and social movements since 1945.
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- Analyze the causes and consequences of important regional military and political conflicts (e.g., the Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Iran-Iraq War).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the creation of the modern state of Israel and examine recurring conflicts between and among Israel and its Arab neighbors.
- Examine major events and developments of the Cold War and analyze the collapse of the Soviet Union and the disintegration of the Soviet bloc.
- Describe the Great Leap Forward and the Chinese Cultural Revolution, examine the prodemocracy student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square in Beijing, and analyze the growth of China as a world economic and political power.
- Identify and describe the significance of major world leaders of the second half of the twentieth century (e.g., Charles de Gaulle, Golda Meir, Indira Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, Deng Xiaoping, Margaret Thatcher, Ronald Reagan, Mikhail Gorbachev).
- Demonstrate knowledge of significant economic and political developments of the postwar era (e.g., the creation of the welfare state, the development of the European Union, the rise of Islamic fundamentalism), social movements (e.g., feminism), and critical contemporary issues (e.g., climate change, international terrorism).
- Examine the impact of new technologies on world societies and analyze the causes and consequences of economic and cultural globalization.
Subarea roman numeral 2–Geography
Competency 0011–Understand how maps and other geographic tools are used to represent and analyze the spatial organization of people, places, and environments on the earth's surface.
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- Recognize and apply basic cartographic concepts (e.g., latitude and longitude, relative versus absolute location, direction, elevation, scale).
- Compare maps and globes, demonstrate knowledge of different map projections and the problem of cartographic distortion, and analyze the advantages and disadvantages of standard map projections.
- Interpret information presented on different types of maps (e.g., physical, topographical/contour, highway, political, thematic) and recognize how mental maps are used to organize information about peoples, places, and environments.
- Locate physical and cultural features of the world (e.g., landforms, bodies of water, climate zones, countries, regions, linguistic groups) on maps of different types and scale.
- Identify various types of physical features (e.g., gulfs, deltas, capes, isthmuses, peninsulas, archipelagoes) on a variety of regional and world maps.
Competency 0012–Understand how to apply geographic data and use geographic tools to analyze geographic problems and issues.
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- Demonstrate knowledge of basic geographic reference sources (e.g., atlases, almanacs, gazetteers, encyclopedias) and recognize the characteristics and purposes of various geographic tools and technologies used to acquire, analyze, and process geographic information (e.g., aerial photographs, satellite images, Geographic Information Systems, computer databases).
- Formulate questions that can be answered by geographic inquiry, apply basic procedures used in geographic research, and assess the credibility and objectivity of primary and secondary sources of geographic information.
- Interpret geographic information presented in different visual formats (e.g., maps, charts, population pyramids, cartoons, photographs).
- Examine how geographic factors have influenced historical events and developments (e.g., the political boundaries created by rivers and mountains, the cultural isolation produced by islands and deserts, the impact of topography on the spread of plagues and epidemics, the influence of climate on major military campaigns).
- Apply geographic concepts (e.g., demographic cycle, cultural convergence, technology transfer, complementarity, ethnic separatism) to examine public policy questions and analyze contemporary issues with spatial dimensions (e.g., acid rain, regional military confrontations, economic globalization, nuclear proliferation).
- Assess competing interpretations of geographic issues and use geographic knowledge, skills, and perspectives to analyze problems and evaluate alternative courses of actions.
Competency 0013–Understand how the concepts of place and region are used as basic units of geographic inquiry.
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- Define and apply the concepts of region and place to interpret geographic information and analyze geographic issues.
- Identify the physical and human characteristics of particular places and regions.
- Locate specific historical and contemporary places and regions on maps.
- Recognize how culture and experience influence people's perceptions of places and regions and examine how these perceptions change over time.
- Examine historical and contemporary interactions among places and regions (e.g., trade, war, communication, religious pilgrimages) and analyze factors (e.g., immigration, industrialization, urbanization) that have contributed to political and social change within and across various world regions.
- Analyze geographic issues and questions from regional perspectives.
Competency 0014–Understand the earth's physical processes and systems.
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- Identify and describe the components and features of the earth's primary physical systems (e.g., the atmosphere, the lithosphere, the biosphere, the hydrosphere).
- Recognize how the earth's physical systems and processes (e.g., plate tectonics, glaciation, erosion, volcanism) influence and shape the earth's surface.
- Describe characteristics of major ecosystems (e.g., rain forests, deserts, deciduous forests, tundra, grassland) and identify their spatial distribution on the earth's surface.
- Identify and describe major nutrient cycles that support the existence of life on earth (e.g., the water cycle, the carbon cycle, the nitrogen cycle, the phosphorus cycle) and analyze relationships within the natural environment (e.g., food chains, food webs).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the principal elements of climate (e.g., temperature, precipitation, air pressure, wind), identify global and regional climatic patterns, and examine processes that influence weather (e.g., atmospheric pressure, oceanic circulation, the earth-sun relationship).
- Analyze the causes and patterns of natural disasters (e.g., tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods, volcanic eruptions).
Competency 0015–Understand human systems and recognize the ways in which societies are organized and how they interact with each other.
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- Define and apply the concept of culture to analyze human societies.
- Demonstrate knowledge of major cultural groups associated with particular world regions and compare characteristics of various cultures (e.g., language, clothing, habitation, ethnic homogeneity or diversity, government, religion, food, patterns of livelihood, art and literature).
- Recognize the purposes of human settlements and examine how the organization and functions of human settlements have changed over time (e.g., the Neolithic agricultural revolution, the influence of modern transportation and communication technologies).
- Examine economic, environmental, and cultural reasons for demographic change and analyze the demographic structure of individual places and regions.
- Demonstrate knowledge of the causes and effects of historical and contemporary migrations of human populations.
- Identify factors that influence the location and distribution of economic activities and analyze general patterns and networks of economic interdependence around the world.
- Examine how the forces of cooperation (e.g., European Union, Association of Southeast Asian Nations) and conflict among peoples and nations influence the division and control of the earth and its resources.
Competency 0016–Understand the relationship between human societies and the environment.
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- Identify different kinds of natural resources (e.g., renewable, nonrenewable); recognize how human societies make use of these resources; and analyze changes that occur in the meaning, use, distribution, and importance of various resources.
- Analyze how human actions modify the physical environment (e.g., use of the plough, crop rotation, dams for flood prevention and irrigation, breeding of crops for greater productivity, differing patterns of land use) and examine how human societies adapt to environmental change (e.g., the response of farmers on the Great Plains to the Dust Bowl of the 1930s).
- Demonstrate knowledge of the origins of current environmental problems and environmental changes (e.g., desertification, tropical deforestation, decline of fish stocks, reduction of the ice caps) and analyze the actual and potential effects of these phenomena.
- Analyze different points of view on environmental issues (i.e., land use, natural resources, wildlife habitat).
- Examine the effects of natural disasters on human communities (e.g., earthquakes, hurricanes, tsunamis, floods) and recognize how societies plan for and respond to natural disasters.
- Assess the impact of technological innovation and economic development on the relationship between human societies and the environment.
Competency 0017–Understand the major physical and climatic features of Oklahoma, and use this knowledge to examine the relationship between the physical environment and the historical development of Oklahoma.
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- Describe and locate prominent physical and human features of Oklahoma (e.g., landforms, physical regions, population centers, natural and political boundaries, natural resources).
- Describe important regions and places within Oklahoma (e.g., the Panhandle, the Prairie Plains, the Red Beds, the High Plains) and examine how Oklahoma's geographic identity has changed over time (e.g., from "Indian Territory" to "Oklahoma Territory" to "the Dust Bowl" to "the Sun Belt").
- Demonstrate knowledge of Oklahoma's physical systems (e.g., the formation of the Wichita and Ouachita mountains, the Sandstone Hills, the Red River Plains, and the Arkansas River Basin; the impact of the collision of southern humid and northern continental air masses on Oklahoma's climate).
- Recognize Oklahoma's historical and contemporary human systems (e.g., the Clovis and Folsom cultures, the Mound Builders, the Five Civilized Tribes, the Western Plains Indians, European American settlements, contemporary ethnic and tribal communities).
- Recognize the influence of natural resources on economic development in Oklahoma and analyze interactions between the people of Oklahoma and the physical environment (e.g., the growth of the cattle industry, the construction of railroads, nineteenth-century land runs, irrigation, conflicts over land use, the Dust Bowl, the discovery and exploitation of oil and natural gas).
- Analyze the role of migration and population movement in Oklahoma history (e.g., the Trail of Tears, Boomers and Sooners, historical black towns, twentieth-century Mexican and Vietnamese immigration).
- Use geographic tools, concepts, and perspectives to analyze contemporary issues in Oklahoma (e.g., Native sovereignty, drought, urban sprawl).