DSST General Anthropology Exam Practice Test — Flashcards

DSST General Anthropology exam covers the basics of anthropology: theoretical perspectives; physical anthropology; archaeology; social organization; economic organization; political organization; religion; and modernization and application of anthropology.

The exam contains 100 questions to be answered in 2 hours. 

Exam contents, in brief:
I. Anthropology: Methodologies and Disciplines – 10%
a. Physical anthropology
b. Cultural Anthropology
c. Linguistics
d. Archaeology
e. Applied anthropology

2. History and Theory – 10%
a. Ethnographies and perspectives
b. Sex and Gender
c. Race and ethnicity
d. Cultural ecology

3. Physical Anthropology – 13%
a. Genetic principles
b. Evolutionary principles
c. Primatology
d. Paleontology
2. Fossil hominids

4. Archaeology – 10%
a. Methodology
b. Paleolithic and Mesolithic
c. Neolithic
d. Development of civilization and urban societies
e. Material culture

5. Cultural Systems and Processes – 14%
a. Components of culture
b. Symbolic Systems
c. Language and communication
d. Cultural diffusion
e. Cultural universals, sub-cultures and counter cultures
f. World system and colonialism
g. Arts and Media

6. Social Organization – 10%
a. Marriage and family patterns
b. Kinship and descent groups
c. Social and economic stratification

7. Economic and Political Organization –10%
a. Political systems
b. Subsistence and settlement patterns
c. Trade, reciprocity, redistribution, and market exchange
d. Modern political systems
e. Globalization and the Environment

8. Religion – 11%
a. Belief Systems
b. Formal institutions
c. Informal organizations
d. Religious practices and practitioners
e. Rituals

9. Anthropology in the Global Age 12%
a. Applied anthropology
b. Cultural preservation
c. Directed and spontaneous cultural change
d. Future Directions
1. Environment
2. Cultural resource management
3. Indigenous survival and global culture
4. Digital world