DSST® practice test

Free DSST Introduction to Geography Practice Test (2026)

This is a set of 25 original practice questions that follow the official DSST Introduction to Geography content outline and its topic weights, each with a short explanation. Answer all 25, then read the explanations to see which topics need more study.

  • 25 questions
  • 4 topics from the official outline
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The practice test

25 questions

Question 1 of 25Which urban model, based on 1920s Chicago, describes a city as a series of rings around the central business district?
Question 2 of 25In von Thünen's model of agricultural land use around a single market city, which activity occupies the ring closest to the city?
Question 3 of 25A map shades each county a darker color the higher its unemployment rate. What type of thematic map is this?
Question 4 of 25A hair salon belongs to which sector of the economy?
Question 5 of 25In Weber's least-cost theory, where should a copper smelter, which turns heavy ore into much lighter metal, usually locate?
Question 6 of 25Who argued in 1798 that population tends to grow geometrically while food supply grows only arithmetically, so that famine, disease and war will check growth?
Question 7 of 25A city is located at 30° S, 60° W. Where is it relative to the equator and the prime meridian?
Question 8 of 25A country's population pyramid has a very wide base that narrows quickly toward the top. What does this shape usually indicate?
Question 9 of 25A family flees across an international border because the government is persecuting people of their ethnic group. Under international law, they are
Question 10 of 25Which organization is supranational, with member states sharing a single market and many of them a common currency, the euro?
Question 11 of 25A country's largest city has more than twice the population of its second-largest city and dominates its economy and culture. This city is a
Question 12 of 25Which view holds that the physical environment sets some limits, but people choose among many possible ways to live within them?
Question 13 of 25In the demographic transition model, which stage has falling death rates, still-high birth rates and therefore the fastest population growth?
Question 14 of 25On a map with a scale of 1:50,000, two towns are 4 cm apart. What is the real distance between them?
Question 15 of 25Which of these energy resources is nonrenewable?
Question 16 of 25In central place theory, the minimum number of people needed to support a particular good or service is called the
Question 17 of 25Compared with popular culture, folk culture tends to
Question 18 of 25A US company closes its own factory in Ohio and opens a factory it owns in Vietnam to cut labor costs. What is this practice called?
Question 19 of 25A newspaper's circulation area, centered on the city where it is printed and fading with distance, is an example of which kind of region?
Question 20 of 25A party draws voting districts that spread its opponents' voters thinly across many districts, so they are a minority in each. This gerrymandering method is called
Question 21 of 25The Sahel, a semi-arid belt along the southern edge of the Sahara where desertification is a major concern, lies in which world region?
Question 22 of 25On a world map, Greenland looks about as large as Africa, although Africa is roughly 14 times bigger. Shapes of small areas are kept true and straight lines are lines of constant compass bearing. Which projection is this?
Question 23 of 25Where is the hearth of Islam?
Question 24 of 25Italian immigrants brought their language and food to Buenos Aires, where both took root far from Italy. What type of diffusion is this?
Question 25 of 25Which of these is an ethnic religion, one tied closely to a particular people and place that seldom seeks converts?

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