The CLEP Western Civilization I exam covers Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East; the Middle Ages; Renaissance and Reformation.  The CLEP Western Civilization I exam contains approximately 120 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.   Note: This exam uses the chronological designations b.c.e. (before the common era) and c.e. (common era). The labels correspond to b.c. (before Christ) and a.d. (anno Domini), which are used in some textbooks. Exam contents:  Ancient Near East (8%–10%) Political evolution Religion, culture, and technical developments in and near the Fertile... Show more

The CLEP Western Civilization I exam covers Ancient Greece, Rome, and the Near East; the Middle Ages; Renaissance and Reformation. 

The CLEP Western Civilization I exam contains approximately 120 questions to be answered in 90 minutes.  

Note: This exam uses the chronological designations b.c.e. (before the common era) and c.e. (common era). The labels correspond to b.c. (before Christ) and a.d. (anno Domini), which are used in some textbooks.

Exam contents: 

Ancient Near East (8%–10%)
Political evolution
Religion, culture, and technical developments in and near the Fertile Crescent

Ancient Greece and Hellenistic Civilization (15%–17%)
Political evolution to Periclean Athens
Periclean Athens through the Peloponnesian Wars
Culture, religion, and thought of Ancient Greece
The Hellenistic political structure
The culture, religion, and thought of Hellenistic Greece

Ancient Rome (15%–17%)
Political evolution of the Republic and of the Empire (economic and geographical context)
Roman thought and culture
Early Christianity
The Germanic invasions
The late empire

Medieval History (23%–27%)
Byzantium and Islam
Early medieval politics and culture through Charlemagne
Feudal and manorial institutions
The medieval Church
Medieval thought and culture
Rise of the towns and changing economic forms
Feudal monarchies
The late medieval church

Renaissance and Reformation (13%–17%)
The Renaissance in Italy
The Renaissance outside Italy
The New Monarchies
Protestantism and Catholicism reformed and reorganized

Early Modern Europe, 1560-1648 (10%–15%)
The opening of the Atlantic
The Commercial Revolution
Dynastic and religious conflicts
Thought and culture
 

Related: CLEP Western Civilization I Practice Test 1: Ancient Near East to 1648

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CLEP Western Civilization I Practice Test 2: Ancient Near East to 1648

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25 Questions

1. Which of the following works of medieval literature was written in Old English?

Canterbury TalesDivine ComedyEddaBeowulfSong of Roland

2. “Their level of culture was at first relatively primitive in comparison to the contemporary civilizations of the ancient Near East, but their contacts with the people of Crete while trading and raiding in the eastern Mediterranean inspired certain advances, most notably the acquisition of writing and the use of the palace as an administrative center. Nevertheless, they remained politically divided in their mountainous homeland, banding together at times for the purpose of war.”
The people described above are known as the

Minoans.Mycenaeans.Phoenicians.Egyptians.Sumerians.

3. The primary aim of merchant guilds in the eleventh century was

to protect their own members and wares.to lend money to kings and nobles.to raise joint-stock companies.to restrain competition among craftsmen.to promote the economic policy known as mercantilism.

4. The Hellenistic scientist Aristarchus (c. 250 B.C.E.) was exceptional in the history of science because he

wrote a geometry book known as the Elements.accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth.first put forward the theory that the Earth revolves around the Sun.designed a pump known as “Archimedes’ screw.”invented the astrolabe.

5. Which of the following was NOT a reason for the rapid conquest of the Near East and North Africa by the Arabs during the seventh century?

uninterrupted unity among the Arab tribesthe zeal of a new religion proclaimed by the prophet Muhammadoverpopulation in Arab landslong wars of attrition between the Byzantine and Sassanian Empiresresentment against Constantinople for the suppression of Monophysitism in the Byzantine provinces of the Near East

6. In contrast to Sumerian beliefs about the afterlife, the Egyptians of the Middle Kingdom (c. 2050–c. 1700 B.C.E.) and later believed that

the afterlife was attainable only by the pharaoh.the afterlife was a gloomy, shadowy form of existence, without joy.all levels of society could enjoy a happy afterlife.the soul was imprisoned in the body and could be happy only when death released it.there was no life after death.

7. Lorenzo the Magnificent, the Florentine patron of arts, was a member of which influential dynasty?

SforzaViscontiBorgiaHapsburgMedici

8. The Gospels, which form the core of the New Testament, are attributed to

Matthew, Luke, James, and John.Matthew, Thomas, Luke, and John.Matthew, Mark, Thomas, and James.Matthew, Thomas, James, and John.Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John.

9. An entrepreneur who had offices in many financial centers of Europe and served as banker to the Hapsburg family was

Francesco Guicciardini.Wat Tyler.Jacques Coeur.Cesare Borgia.Jakob Fugger.

10. The Hanseatic League was

an organization of Italian communes for defense against the Holy Roman Empire.a consortium of Danish and Swedish coastal cities for defense against English privateers.a commercial association of northern German cities to promote trade in the Baltic Sea and the North Sea.an opposition party against the Hapsburgs within the Holy Roman Empire.a religious alliance of Swiss cantons for the promotion of Calvinism.

11.
The building interior shown above is that of

the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople.the Great Mosque at Cordoba.the Colosseum in Rome.Notre Dame in Paris.the Dome of the Rock Mosque in Jerusalem.

12. Most of the earliest examples of cuneiform suggest that the Sumerians invented writing to

codify the laws.cast magic spells that would control the flooding of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers.preserve epic poetry.demonstrate mathematical theorems.record business transactions and keep inventories of goods.

13. Battles were fought at all of the following sites during the Persian Wars (490 and 480–479 B.C.E.) EXCEPT

Salamis.Marathon.Thermopylae.Zama.Plataea.

14. People who opposed the emperors and supported the popes in the political struggles of Italy from the twelfth to the fifteenth centuries were known as

Marranos.Condottieri.Ghibellines.Guelfs.Janissaries.

15. All of the following were titles of public offices in ancient Rome EXCEPT

censor.archon.consul.tribune.dictator.

16.
The areas shaded black on the map above represent territories controlled by

the Ottoman Turks, around 1400 C.E.Alexander the Great, in 323 B.C.E.Justinian the Great, in 565 C.E.the Byzantine Empire, around 1000 C.E.the Athenian Empire, around 450 B.C.E.

17. Which of the following is a novel about the opposition between chivalric ideals and the realities of early modern society?

Shakespeare’s Romeo and JulietBoccaccio’s DecameronCervantes’s Don QuixoteMachiavelli’s The PrincePico della Mirandola’s Oration on the Dignity of Man

18. “Give me a lever long enough and a place to stand, and I will move the world.”
This declaration was made by

Euclid.Pythagoras.Aristotle.Archimedes.Socrates.

19. All of the following are true of King Nebuchadnezzar II (605–562 B.C.E.) EXCEPT

He conquered the kingdom of Judah.He was a member of the Neo-Babylonian dynasty.He destroyed Jerusalem and deported Jews to Babylon.He built the Hanging Gardens for his wife.He ordered the deportation of the ten tribes of Israel.

20. All of the following are true of the Persian king Cyrus the Great (559— 530 B.C.E.) EXCEPT

He used respect and tolerance instead of cruelty and repression to gain the obedience of the subject peoples within his empire.He abandoned the westward expansion of his empire after losing the battle of Salamis to the Greeks.He freed the Persians from domination under the Medes.He established an empire that reached from the Indus valley to the shores of the Mediterreanean Sea.He allowed the Jews exiled in Babylon to return to Judah.

21. Which of the following is NOT true of Ulrich Zwingli (1484–1531)?

He abolished monasteries.He taught that it is not necessary to fast during Lent.He banned the use of religious images in churches.He agreed with Martin Luther on the doctrine of the Lord’s Supper.He died at a battle between Catholic and Protestant forces.

22. The most important geographical region for the exchange of ideas between Christian, Muslim, and Jewish scholars during the twelfth century was

Spain.Greece.Syria.Palestine.Italy.

23. The Society of Jesus was founded in the sixteenth century by

John Calvin.Thomas Erastus.Ignatius of Loyola.Ulrich Zwingli.John Knox.

24. In the ninth and tenth centuries C.E., western Europe suffered invasions from

Ostrogoths, Visigoths, and Vandals.Lombards, Magyars, and Mongols.Saracens, Vikings, and Magyars.Vikings, Huns, and Mongols.Vikings, Visigoths, and Vandals.

25.
The standing sculpture shown above is known by art historians as a

Doric column.frieze.caryatid.pediment.Corinthian column.