Praxis Government/Political Science Online Center
This Praxis Government/Political Science Online Center brings together practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Choose the resource that matches the skill you want to work on next.
Praxis Government/Political Science Practice Center
Sit one full form under the real clock: 120 questions, 120 minutes, nothing on the desk. Then work through the explanation under every miss and sort the misses two ways. Some are facts you never learned. Others are facts you know but could not retrieve fast enough, or pairs of cases you keep swapping. The second kind is what the flashcard deck fixes.
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Praxis Government/Political Science at a glance
This is the ETS content test for candidates who will teach government or political science in secondary school. It is broad rather than deep: 120 questions in 120 minutes means a minute per question, so the exam rewards fast recognition over long reasoning. Five categories cover the Constitution, the institutions of federal, state, and local government, civil rights and civil liberties through landmark cases, American politics and political behavior, and comparative politics with international relations. Two practical notes. First, the three domestic American categories carry 70 percent of the score between them, and comparative politics carries only 14 percent, so a candidate who studies in proportion to the blueprint spends most of the time at home. Second, 5931 is not offered on demand. The ETS 2026-2027 schedule lists testing windows in September, November, December, February, March, April, May, and July, so plan a registration date early.
| Test code | 5931 (Government/Political Science) |
|---|---|
| Status | Current as of September 2026. The test appears in the ETS 2026-2027 Praxis schedule with no retirement or replacement notice. |
| Number of questions | 120 selected-response questions |
| Time limit | 120 minutes in a single session, with no separately timed sections |
| Constructed response | None. The ETS Test at a Glance lists selected-response questions only. |
| Calculator | None is provided and none is needed. ETS documents no on-screen reference materials, so expect no copy of the Constitution and no case list. Any document excerpt, chart, or data display appears inside the question itself. |
| Format | Computer-delivered, at a test center or online at home |
| Score scale | 100 to 200 in 1-point intervals. On most Praxis tests each correct selected-response question is worth one raw point. |
| Passing score | ETS does not set one. Each state or agency sets its own qualifying score, so check the requirement where you are seeking licensure. |
| Unscored questions | ETS states the test may contain some questions that do not count toward your score, without giving a count. |
| Availability | Testing windows only, not daily: September, November, December, February, March, April, May, and July in the 2026-2027 schedule. |
ETS publishes approximate percentages for the five categories, and for this test the percentages and question counts agree: United States Constitution 22 percent (26 questions), United States government institutions at the federal, state, and local levels 28 percent (34), civil rights and civil liberties 16 percent (19), United States politics 20 percent (24), and comparative politics and international relations 14 percent (17). Those counts sum to all 120 questions, because every category on 5931 is a content category. ETS does not publish weights below the category level, so treat any breakdown of individual topics as a study choice rather than a published figure.
The five content categories, in plain language
Here is what each category actually asks you to do, with the ETS question count attached so you can see where the points live.
I. United States Constitution (26 questions, 22 percent)
Where the document came from, what it protects, and how it changes.
- Political theorists and their contributions, from Plato through Locke and Rousseau
- The documentary background: Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers
- From the Articles of Confederation through the Convention to ratification
- The rights in the Bill of Rights and where those rights came from
- The formal amendment process, and informal change through practice and interpretation
- Enumerated, reserved, concurrent, and implied powers, and who holds each
II. United States government: federal, state, and local institutions (34 questions, 28 percent)
The largest category on the test. Structure, powers, and the ways the branches and levels check each other.
- Federalism and the working relationships among national, state, and local government
- The executive branch: structure, presidential powers and roles, qualifications for office
- The federal bureaucracy and how its officials are appointed
- The legislative branch, including committees and leadership
- How a bill becomes a law, and where the president enters that process
- Senate against House: differences in structure and in function
- Separation of powers and the specific checks each branch holds
- The judicial branch, its structure, and its constitutional powers
- Trial courts against appellate courts, in the federal and the state systems
- The Supreme Court: role, jurisdiction, and powers
- Judicial review and Marbury v. Madison
- McCulloch v. Maryland and national power against state power
- State and local government structures and what they do
- Fiscal relationships between levels of government, including grants-in-aid
III. Civil rights and civil liberties: landmark court decisions (19 questions, 16 percent)
Case-heavy. You need the holding and the doctrine, not the citation.
- Civil rights against civil liberties, and why the distinction matters
- The Fourteenth Amendment and how it changed the reach of rights
- Free speech, privacy, and the rights of the accused over time
- Civil rights by race and by gender, and current debates
- Church and state, and the decisions that interpret the line
- Civil rights legislation from 1964 forward
- Selective incorporation of the Bill of Rights against the states
- Race and education: Plessy v. Ferguson and Brown v. Board of Education
- Individual liberty: Roe v. Wade, Miranda v. Arizona, Tinker v. Des Moines
- Procedural due process: Mapp v. Ohio and Gideon v. Wainwright
- Representation and elections: Baker v. Carr and Bush v. Gore
IV. United States politics (24 questions, 20 percent)
Parties, elections, interest groups, and how citizens behave. Broad and mostly definitional.
- Party structures and functions, and how the two-party system developed
- Third parties, their impact, and the election law that limits them
- Nominations, primaries and caucuses, and the shape of a national campaign
- The Electoral College and its effect on campaign strategy
- Incumbency advantage in reelection
- Where the major parties stand on social and economic questions
- Interest groups, how they differ from parties, and what they do to the process
- Voter eligibility over time and the effects of expanding the franchise
- Conventional and unconventional participation, from voting to protest
- Political socialization and the agents that carry it
- The media: framing, candidate image, and the exposure of scandal
- American political culture, and conservative against liberal ideology
- Public opinion and the influence of polling
- Citizenship: how it is acquired, and the rights and duties attached
- Domestic against foreign policy, and who makes each
V. Comparative politics and international relations (17 questions, 14 percent)
The smallest category. Systems, economies, and the pressures across borders.
- Political systems compared: kinds of democracy, authoritarian rule, parliamentary against presidential
- Economic systems compared: capitalism, socialism, communism, and market, mixed, and command economies
- How political development and economic development relate
- Supranational organizations such as the United Nations and the European Union
- How domestic politics shapes a state’s conduct abroad
- Globalization and its effects on relations between states and on state development
- Nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, and militarism as working concepts
A study routine built for one minute per question
The clock is the real constraint here. A hundred and twenty questions in two hours leaves no room to reason your way back to a fact you half remember, so the work is recall, and the work is wide.
Complete competency map
Seventy-one study points drawn from the ETS content outline for 5931, grouped so you can work one block at a time and check it off. Use the practice forms to find out which blocks are still soft.
The Constitution and its origins
- 01Political theory behind the founding: Plato, Locke, Rousseau, and the social contract
- 02Magna Carta, the Declaration of Independence, and the Federalist Papers
- 03The Articles of Confederation and why they failed
- 04The Constitutional Convention, its compromises, and ratification
- 05The Bill of Rights and the origins of each protection
- 06Amending the Constitution formally, and changing it informally
Federalism and the division of power
- 07Enumerated, reserved, concurrent, and implied powers
- 08The necessary and proper clause and the growth of national power
- 09McCulloch v. Maryland and supremacy over state law
- 10National, state, and local relationships in practice
- 11Grants-in-aid, categorical against block grants, and unfunded mandates
- 12State constitutions, governors, and state legislatures
- 13Counties, municipalities, school boards, and special districts
The legislative and executive branches
- 14House and Senate: size, terms, and constitutional differences
- 15Committees, leadership, and where a bill actually dies
- 16How a bill becomes a law, step by step
- 17Veto, pocket veto, and the override
- 18The presidency: qualifications, terms, and succession
- 19Presidential roles and powers, formal and informal
- 20The cabinet, the executive office, and the federal bureaucracy
- 21Appointment, confirmation, and the civil service
- 22Separation of powers and the checks each branch holds over the others
Courts and judicial power
- 23The federal court system from district court to Supreme Court
- 24Trial courts against appellate courts, federal and state
- 25Original and appellate jurisdiction
- 26How the Supreme Court takes a case, and how it decides one
- 27Judicial review and Marbury v. Madison
- 28Judicial restraint against judicial activism as competing arguments
Civil liberties
- 29Civil liberties against civil rights
- 30The Fourteenth Amendment and selective incorporation
- 31Freedom of speech, press, assembly, and the limits courts allow
- 32Tinker v. Des Moines and student expression
- 33Establishment and free exercise: church and state in the courts
- 34The right to privacy and Roe v. Wade
- 35Rights of the accused: Miranda v. Arizona
- 36Search, seizure, and the exclusionary rule in Mapp v. Ohio
- 37The right to counsel and Gideon v. Wainwright
Civil rights and representation
- 38Plessy v. Ferguson, separate but equal, and its logic
- 39Brown v. Board of Education and desegregation
- 40Civil rights legislation from 1964 forward
- 41Gender and civil rights, from suffrage to equal treatment claims
- 42Contemporary civil rights debates
- 43Apportionment, one person one vote, and Baker v. Carr
- 44Bush v. Gore and courts in a disputed election
Parties, elections, and campaigns
- 45What parties do, and how they are organized
- 46The development of the two-party system
- 47Third parties, their effects, and the election law that squeezes them
- 48Primaries, caucuses, and the nomination process
- 49Campaigns in national elections, including money and message
- 50The Electoral College and how it shapes strategy
- 51Incumbency and why sitting members usually win
- 52Where the major parties differ on social and economic policy
- 53Interest groups against parties, and what lobbying accomplishes
Political behavior, opinion, and policy
- 54Voter eligibility over time and the effects of a wider franchise
- 55Conventional participation: voting, contacting officials, running for office
- 56Unconventional participation: boycotts, marches, protest
- 57Political socialization through family, school, and media
- 58Media effects: framing, candidate image, and scandal
- 59American political culture and its shared values
- 60Conservative and liberal ideologies compared
- 61Public opinion, polling, and the ways a poll misleads
- 62Becoming a citizen, and the rights and duties that follow
- 63Domestic policy and foreign policy, and who makes each
Comparative politics and international relations
- 64Types of democracy, and parliamentary against presidential systems
- 65Authoritarian and totalitarian systems
- 66Capitalism, socialism, and communism as economic systems
- 67Market, mixed, and command economies
- 68Political development and economic development together
- 69The United Nations, the European Union, and other supranational bodies
- 70Globalization, and how domestic politics reaches across borders
- 71Nationalism, imperialism, colonialism, and militarism
Before test day
Two habits raise a score on this test more than extra reading does. The first is pace discipline. With a minute per question you cannot afford to sit on a hard item, so mark it, move, and come back with whatever time is left at the end. The second is answering from the doctrine rather than from the story. A question about Gideon v. Wainwright is asking about the right to counsel, and a question about Baker v. Carr is asking about apportionment and the courts’ willingness to hear it. Name the doctrine first and the right choice usually stands out. One last practical point: register early, because 5931 runs in testing windows rather than every week.
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Praxis Government/Political Science: study questions
What can I study in this Praxis Government/Political Science Online Center?
This Praxis Government/Political Science Online Center includes practice, lessons, worksheets, flashcards and review tools. Topics on the page include The Constitution and its origins, Federalism and the division of power, The legislative and executive branches.
How should I use the Praxis Government/Political Science resources?
Choose a topic or practice activity from this Online Center. Review the linked explanation, try the practice, and use the result to decide what to study next. Check each resource’s directions for its format and access requirements.
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