Drill 1 · Multiple Choice · Unit 1: The Global Tapestry
AP World History Unit 1 Drill 1 is a Multiple Choice practice drill covering Unit 1: The Global Tapestry. It contains 5 original questions created by Brian Stewart, a Barron's test prep author with over 20 years of tutoring experience.
This drill focuses on developments in East Asia from c. 1200 to c. 1450, with emphasis on Song Dynasty governance, economic innovation, and the tension between merchant wealth and Confucian social hierarchy. Read the passage carefully, then answer all five questions.
Adapted from a memorial submitted to the Song Dynasty imperial court by a regional administrator, c. 1150 CE.
"Our dynasty has long governed through the examination system, by which men of talent — regardless of birth — may rise to serve the Son of Heaven. The candidates study the classical texts of Confucius and demonstrate mastery of ritual, history, and governance before they are entrusted with office. In recent years, revenues have grown considerably through commerce along our canals and market towns. The paper certificates issued by merchants have proved so useful that the court itself has authorized their use as a medium of exchange. Yet the growth of merchant wealth, while beneficial to imperial revenues, must not be permitted to displace the scholar-official class in prestige or authority. Such prosperity has brought many merchants into positions of wealth previously reserved for families of learning and office. The proper order of society demands that those who govern do so by virtue of learning, not by the accumulation of coin."