Test Yourself: Grade 8

The following questions were included in the 2006 NAEP civics assessment at grade 8. As in the actual assessment, some of the questions are multiple choice, and others are constructed response. Although students are asked to handwrite their responses, you can type yours in the space provided.

INSTRUCTIONS: Answer the questions below, then click submit at the bottom of the page.

Question 1: A central purpose of the United Nations is to

Question 2: The following question refers to the summons below.

Which of the following is the best reason why people should serve on juries
when they are called?

Question 3: What do all constitutional governments have?

Question 4: The following question refers to the passage below from the Declaration of Independence.

      We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure
these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just
powers from the consent of the governed, that whenever any Form of
Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to
alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation
on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall
seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness.

According to the passage, which is more important, the individual or the
government? Fill in the oval next to your choice. Then give two reasons,
based on the words from the Declaration of Independence, to support your
answer. 

1.

2.

 Click here to submit your responses.