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Humanities K to 12

Test Format and Sample Questions

The Humanities Kto12 subject area test consists of approximately 80 multiple-choice questions. You will have two and one-half hours to complete the test.

Each question will contain four response options, and you will indicate your answer by selecting A, B, C, or D.

The table below presents types of questions on the exam and directs you to examples of these formats among the sample items that follow.

Table of Question Formats

Type of Question Sample Question
Direct Question
Choose the response option that best answers the question. 		Question 1
Sentence Completion
Select the response option that best completes the sentence. 		Question 5
Scenario
Examine a situation, problem, or case study. Then answer a question, make a diagnosis, or recommend a course of action by selecting the best response option. 		Question 29
Command
Select the best response option. 		Question 30

Sample Questions

The following questions represent both the form and content of questions on the examination. These questions will acquaint you with the general format of the examination; however, these sample questions do not cover all of the competencies and skills that are tested and will only approximate the degree of examination difficulty.

Question 1

Competency 1—Knowledge of the vocabulary and concepts basic to the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following is used most often to emphasize dramatic effects in Caravaggio's paintings?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 2

Competency 1—Knowledge of the vocabulary and concepts basic to the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A printmaker plans to distribute the major shapes of a composition evenly around a central point. The design concept that the printmaker is employing is

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 3

Competency 1—Knowledge of the vocabulary and concepts basic to the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A piece of music usually composed with three contrasting movements for one or more solo instruments and orchestra is a, or an

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 4

Competency 1—Knowledge of the vocabulary and concepts basic to the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which dance genre is typically characterized by a focus on natural movement, self-expression, and the downward pull of gravity on the body?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 5

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The Hellenic Age of ancient Greek culture ended with the

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 6

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Linear perspective emerged as an important element of Western art during the

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 7

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Leitmotifs, used by Richard Wagner in Der Ring des Nibelungen to achieve formal coherence, are best described as

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 8

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A political party supports a program that would provide every citizen of its country an education in morality and the right to vote. Which philosopher would most likely approve of this program?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 9

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The works of the ancient Greek writers Herodotus and Thucydides most influenced the later development of the

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 10

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A scholar studying medieval attempts to reconcile classical rationalism with truths gained through the Christian faith would most likely read

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 11

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A socialist artist who validated the history of Mexico in large public murals was

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 12

Competency 2—Knowledge of historical periods, styles, and movements

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A noted achievement of Tsar Peter the Great was

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 13

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The landscape of absurdity and despair in T.S. Eliot's The Waste Land is mirrored in the setting of

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 14

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The writing styles of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg were most influenced by which type of music?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 15

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Elaborate carvings and sculptures depicting scenes from the Hindu literary saga of the Ramayana are incorporated into the structure of which monument?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 16

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

During the late Renaissance, the size and grandeur of Saint Mark's Cathedral in Venice influenced Venetian composers to write church music that featured

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 17

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

During the 1970s, female composers such as Pauline Oliveros, Meredith Monk, and Laurie Anderson helped develop which new genre that is based on receptive, intuitive creativity rather than an analytical mode of thinking?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 18

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Films such as O and West Side Story illustrate the influence of which author's works?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: C.

Question 19

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Roy Lichtenstein incorporated features of which form of popular culture into his paintings?

Choose an answer
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Correct Response: A.

Question 20

Competency 3—Knowledge of the interrelatedness of arts and ideas

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Desiderius Erasmus's humanist writings were popularized by the

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Correct Response: B.

Question 21

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness and Francis Ford Coppola's film Apocalypse Now share which of the following themes?

Choose an answer
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Correct Response: D.

Question 22

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Which of the following novels embodies the philosophy that African Americans deserve equal justice under the law?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 23

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A major aim of the Ramayana and other Hindu epics was to

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 24

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

In his plays, the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen often treated gender relations in ways that

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 25

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Ancient Greek statues of Athena that show her as a helmeted goddess carrying a shield and wearing a goatskin breastplate represent the goddess in her role as

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: A.

Question 26

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The ancient art of the rock garden is intended to facilitate intense meditation and help individuals free themselves from the material world. This art form is most associated with the beliefs of

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: D.

Question 27

Competency 4—Knowledge of the relationship between a culture's beliefs and values and their expression in the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The influence of what ancient culture is most apparent in the neoclassical architecture that was popular in the United States throughout the nineteenth century?

Choose an answer
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Correct Response: D.

Question 28

Competency 5—Knowledge of prominent aesthetic principles used by major cultures in evaluating the arts

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

The haiku of Bashō exemplify which qualities admired in the Japanese aesthetic tradition?

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Correct Response: A.

Question 29

Competency 6—Knowledge of instructional techniques, assessment, and resources appropriate to the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

A high school humanities teacher is planning a unit on Roman architectural influences for a class in which several students have learning disabilities. Which instructional strategy would most benefit the students with learning disabilities?

Choose an answer
Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.

Question 30

Competency 6—Knowledge of instructional techniques, assessment, and resources appropriate to the humanities

DIRECTIONS: Read the question and select the best response.

Identify the primary advantage of using Internet-based virtual art museums for humanities instruction.

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Enter to expand or collapse answer.Answer expanded
Correct Response: B.