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United States and Canada — High School World Geography practice questions

10 multiple-choice questions on United States and Canada, about 6% of the High School World Geography bank. Every one carries a written rationale.

Written and maintained by Nick Burton · last updated 2026-08-22 · how we write and review questions

What this chapter covers

United States and Canada is one of 16 chapters in CoStudy's High School World Geography bank, and it holds 10 of the bank's 170 multiple-choice questions — roughly 6% of the total. That proportion is not arbitrary: chapters follow the certifying body's published exam outline, and the number of questions in each is set by that domain's published weight, so the share of your practice time this chapter takes matches the share of the real exam it accounts for.

Studying by chapter is worth doing once you have a diagnostic score. A single overall percentage tells you whether you are close; it does not tell you which domain is dragging. Working a weak chapter in isolation, and re-testing it in isolation, is the fastest way to move a score that has stalled — and it is why the mock exams in CoStudy report by domain rather than as one number.

Free United States and Canada practice questions

5 questions drawn from this chapter, with the full rationale shown — the controlling principle behind the right answer, and why each wrong option tempts and fails.

The Mississippi River drainage basin is important because it:

  1. Drains ~40% of the contiguous US into the Gulf of Mexico
  2. Drains most of Canada into the Arctic Ocean
  3. Flows northward from Louisiana
  4. Drains only the Rocky Mountains

Answer: A — Drains ~40% of the contiguous US into the Gulf of Mexico

Mississippi basin drains ~40% of the lower 48 into the Gulf. C reverses the flow direction — a classic 'which way does the river run' trick.

Which of the following is an example of a 'megalopolis' in the United States?

  1. The New York-to-Washington DC corridor (BosWash)
  2. The Rocky Mountain National Park
  3. The Mojave Desert
  4. The Everglades

Answer: A — The New York-to-Washington DC corridor (BosWash)

A megalopolis is a chain of interlinked metropolitan areas — BosWash is the U.S. archetype (Gottmann coined the term for this corridor).

Silicon Valley in California is an example of what kind of economic region?

  1. A high-tech agglomeration or industrial cluster
  2. A primary-sector agricultural belt
  3. A colonial extraction zone
  4. A designated Special Economic Zone by federal law

Answer: A — A high-tech agglomeration or industrial cluster

Silicon Valley illustrates cluster economics (knowledge spillovers, skilled labor pool). D is a Chinese SEZ concept — misapplied to the US.

The Great Plains of the United States and Canada are best characterized as:

  1. A semi-arid to sub-humid grassland region east of the Rocky Mountains
  2. A humid subtropical forest region
  3. A tundra biome
  4. A chain of volcanic islands

Answer: A — A semi-arid to sub-humid grassland region east of the Rocky Mountains

Great Plains = grassland (steppe/prairie) shaped by the rain shadow of the Rockies. A is the Southeast; C is the Arctic north.

The 'Sun Belt' migration pattern in the United States describes population movement from:

  1. South and West to the Northeast and Midwest
  2. Rural to urban only, with no regional pattern
  3. Northeast and Midwest ('Rust Belt') to the South and West
  4. Coastal areas to the interior

Answer: C — Northeast and Midwest ('Rust Belt') to the South and West

Sun Belt = movement to warmer, growing southern/western states (TX, FL, AZ). A reverses the direction — a classic push-pull mix-up.

Practise the full chapter

These are a sample. The full United States and Canada chapter runs 10 items with per-chapter progress tracking, on the web and in the iOS app.

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