The Civil War and Reconstruction
-DSST Test
The Civil War and Reconstruction DSST Test Version 2
The DSST Practice Tests above contain 318 multiple-choice practice test questions with study guides (detailed explanations).
The ACE (American Council on Education) recommends 3 upper or lower level college
credits for this exam.
Studying, and passing, the practice tests above will allow you to
confidently take and pass your The Civil War and Reconstruction DSST test. The overall
key concepts, and specific individual points, that will allow you to pass your
test are within the practice questions and detailed explanations.
Course Information and Overview
This exam covers material that is typically taught in a semester introductory-level college course. The multiple-choice DANTES/DSST exam consists of about 100 questions and allows two hours to complete.
The Civil War and Reconstruction DSST/DANTES exam contains questions that come from the following topics:
- Causes of the War (11%)
The United States and society of the mid 19th century
Differences developing between the North and South
Slavery
Industrialization, immigration, religion, and standards of living
Cotton and it's role in the South
Abolitionist movement
Expansion westward of free territory and slave territory
Missouri Compromise
The origin of the Republican party
Dred Scott decision
John Brown's raid and Harper's Ferry
Politics of the day
- 1861 (11%)
Secession
South Carolina's role and the border states
Fort Sumter
Union and Confederate Armies
Leadership and quality of forces
Bull Run
- 1862 (22%)
Politics in the North and in the South
Lincoln's cabinet and Davis's cabinet
Army of Potomac (McClellan)
War in the West
Generals Buell, Grant, and Sherman
War in the East
Generals Jackson and Lee
Major Battles (Shiloh, Second Manassas, Antietam, and Fredericksburg)
Emancipation Proclamation
- 1863 (21%)
Casualties of war
Care of injured and wounded
POW's
Women's roles in the war
Black Americans and their roles in the war
Slaves in the South and runaway slaves
Politics or the North and of the South
Conscription, copperheads, profiteering
Major battles (Chancellorsville, Chattanooga, Vicksburg, Gettysburg)
- 1864 to May 1865 (22%)
Political situation
Demoralization in the North
Presidential election
South's isolation
War in the West
Sherman's march
Generals Forrest and Johnston
Major battles (Atlanta, Mobile Bay)
Grant and the Army of the Potomac
Lee and the Army of Northern Virginia
Major battles (Wilderness, Spotsylvania, Cold Harbor, Shenandoah Valley,
Petersburg)
Sherman's march through the South
Fall of Richmond
Lee's surrender
Assassination of President Lincoln
Confederacy's demise
Costs of the war
- Reconstruction (13%)
Presidential reconstruction plans (Lincoln, Johnson)
Congressional reconstruction plans
Fourteenth Amendment
Fifteenth Amendment
Civil Rights Act
Scalawags and carpetbaggers
End of reconstruction
Election of 1876
Compromise of 1877
Complete information and a fact sheet (PDF Format) of what is covered is available from
Prometric.