CLEP / Western Civilization II
Free Practice Test: CLEP Western Civilization II
Last updated: July 22, 2026
Start free practice exam →CLEP / Western Civilization II
Last updated: July 22, 2026
Start free practice exam →The CLEP Western Civilization II exam covers the material usually taught in the second semester of a two-semester Western Civilization survey course. It picks up in 1648, at the close of the Thirty Years' War, and carries the story of Europe all the way to the present, so a single 90-minute exam can earn you the introductory credit that would otherwise take a full semester of college history to satisfy.
Curious where it ranks? read our rundown of the easiest CLEP exams.
You will answer approximately 120 multiple-choice questions in 90 minutes (a handful are unscored pretest items). The questions run in rough chronological order across twelve content areas, from the age of absolutism and the Enlightenment through the French and Industrial Revolutions, the age of nationalism and imperialism, and the two World Wars into contemporary Europe. You are asked to know important people, causes and effects, and the relationships between events, and some questions ask you to interpret a passage, map, picture, cartoon, or table. The study guide below walks through every content area and its official approximate weight so you can aim your preparation where the points actually are.
The exam is roughly chronological, and the points are concentrated in the era of revolutions and the twentieth-century crises. The two heaviest blocks are Revolution and Napoleonic Europe (10 to 13 percent) and the First World War and the Russian Revolution (10 to 12 percent), so those deserve the most attention, while the earliest and latest chapters carry real but smaller weight. The percentages below are the College Board's official approximate weights, taken from the exam's official description.
The exam opens with the contest between two models of the state: absolute monarchy and constitutional government. Study the commercial Dutch Republic, the English Revolution and the settlement that placed the monarch under Parliament, France under Louis XIV with its court at Versailles and the revocation of the Edict of Nantes, the rise of Austria and Prussia as great powers, and Peter the Great's forced "westernization" of Russia.
A shorter section on the eighteenth-century global economy and the rivalry for overseas trade and colonies. Know the workings of mercantilism and the Atlantic trading system, the European balance of power after the Peace of Utrecht (1713 to 1740), and the demographic changes, including population growth, that reshaped eighteenth-century Europe.
Covers the Scientific Revolution and its intellectual consequences. Know the major figures such as Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton and the shift to a mechanical, mathematical model of nature, along with new knowledge about man and society and the early modern political theory of thinkers like Hobbes and Locke.
Focuses on the eighteenth-century application of reason to human affairs. Be ready for Enlightenment thought and its leading philosophes (Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot), the phenomenon of enlightened despotism among rulers such as Frederick the Great, Catherine the Great, and Joseph II, and the partitions of Poland that erased that kingdom from the map.
The single largest block on the exam. Master the French Revolution from its causes through the Reign of Terror, the spread of revolutionary ideas across Europe, the rise and empire of Napoleon Bonaparte and the Napoleonic Code, and the conservative settlement reached at the Congress of Vienna (1814 to 1815) under Metternich. This is where the most points are, so give it the most study time.
Traces the transformation of the European economy and society. Know the agricultural changes that preceded industrialization, why the Industrial Revolution began in Britain, the causes and key inventions of factory production, its economic and social impact on the working and middle classes, and the British reform movement that responded to new urban and industrial conditions.
Covers the great "isms" that defined nineteenth-century politics. Be able to distinguish conservatism, liberalism, nationalism, and socialism, understand how they challenged or defended the post-Vienna order, and know the wave of revolutions of 1830 and 1848 that swept across the continent.
Focuses on the making of nation-states and the diplomacy of the great powers. Study the unification of Italy under Cavour and Garibaldi and of Germany under Bismarck, the internal politics of Austria, Hungary, Russia, and France, the growth of socialism and labor unions, and the shifting European alliance system of European diplomacy from 1871 to 1900.
Examines the society and expansion of the later nineteenth century. Know the era's demography and mass migration, the second industrial revolution and new technological developments, the movements in science, philosophy, and the arts, and the "new imperialism" that partitioned Africa and extended European control across Asia.
The second-largest block, so study it closely. Know the long- and short-term causes of the First World War, the economic and social impact of total war on Europe, the peace settlements at Versailles and their consequences, and the Russian Revolution of 1917 that brought the Bolsheviks to power and reshaped the twentieth century.
Covers the turbulent interwar decades. Be ready for the Great Depression and its political fallout, international politics from 1919 to 1939, Stalin's five-year plans and purges in the Soviet Union, the rise of fascism in Italy and Nazism in Germany, and the cultural developments of the 1920s and 1930s.
Closes the exam with the mid-twentieth century to the present. Know the causes and course of the Second World War, the reconstruction and division of postwar Europe including the Cold War and European integration, developments in science, philosophy, the arts, and religion, and the major social and political changes of contemporary Europe.
Correct Answer: B. Louis XIV of France
Explanation: Louis XIV, the Sun King, embodied French absolutism, drawing the nobility under his control at the palace of Versailles and revoking the Edict of Nantes in 1685, which stripped French Protestants of their legal protections. Frederick the Great came later in the eighteenth century, Peter the Great modernized Russia, and Charles I of England was executed after losing his struggle with Parliament.
Correct Answer: B. mercantilism
Explanation: Mercantilism treated national wealth as a largely fixed stock of gold and silver, so states promoted exports, restricted imports, and used colonies as sources of raw materials and captive markets. Laissez-faire capitalism and physiocracy were later reactions that favored freer trade and reduced regulation, and socialism, calling for collective ownership, emerged in the nineteenth century.
Correct Answer: C. Isaac Newton
Explanation: Isaac Newton's Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica unified terrestrial and celestial motion under a single law of universal gravitation together with his three laws of motion, the capstone of the Scientific Revolution. Copernicus proposed the heliocentric model, Galileo advanced observational astronomy and mechanics, and Kepler derived the laws of planetary motion, all of which Newton built upon.
Correct Answer: C. Baron de Montesquieu
Explanation: Montesquieu's The Spirit of the Laws (1748) argued that separating powers among distinct branches prevents tyranny, an idea that deeply influenced the United States Constitution. Rousseau wrote on the social contract and the general will, Voltaire championed civil liberties and religious tolerance, and Diderot edited the Encyclopédie.
Correct Answer: B. restore a balance of power and legitimate monarchies after Napoleon's defeat
Explanation: Guided by the Austrian statesman Metternich, the Congress of Vienna redrew the map of Europe to contain France, restore legitimate ruling houses, and preserve a balance of power that would prevent another continent-wide war. It opposed rather than spread revolutionary ideals, and the unification of Germany and Italy would not come until later in the century.
Correct Answer: B. textiles
Explanation: The mechanization of cotton textile production, through inventions such as the spinning jenny, the water frame, and the power loom, launched the Industrial Revolution in Britain, aided by abundant coal, capital, and colonial markets. Large-scale steel production expanded later in the nineteenth century, and automobiles and electronics are twentieth-century industries.
Correct Answer: C. conservatism
Explanation: Conservatism arose in reaction to the upheavals of the French Revolution, defending monarchy, the church, and the traditional social order against rapid change. Liberalism emphasized individual rights and constitutional government, socialism sought greater economic equality, and nationalism stressed loyalty to a people or nation, often challenging the conservative order.
Correct Answer: B. Otto von Bismarck
Explanation: As minister-president of Prussia, Otto von Bismarck used war and shrewd diplomacy, defeating Denmark, Austria, and France, to unite the German states under Prussian leadership and proclaim the German Empire in 1871. Cavour and Garibaldi were architects of Italian unification, and Metternich belonged to the earlier conservative era.
Correct Answer: B. establishing rules for the European partition of Africa
Explanation: The Berlin Conference set ground rules by which European powers carved up and claimed African territory during the Scramble for Africa, largely without African participation. The First World War ended with the Paris peace settlements of 1919, German unification was completed in 1871, and decolonization came mainly after the Second World War.
Correct Answer: B. the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo
Explanation: The assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian throne, by a Serbian nationalist in Sarajevo triggered a chain of alliance commitments that pulled the great powers into war. The sinking of the Lusitania (1915) helped turn opinion in the United States, the invasion of Poland began the Second World War in 1939, and the Bolshevik Revolution occurred in 1917.
Because the exam marches chronologically through four centuries of European history, a single well-organized review book is worth a lot, and this is the one I lean on for Western Civilization II. REA pairs a diagnostic exam with concise chapters running from absolutism and the Enlightenment through the revolutions, the age of nationalism and imperialism, and the two World Wars into contemporary Europe, plus two full-length practice tests with detailed answer explanations. It works well as the central pillar of your prep, with the Official CLEP Study Guide below serving as a final spot check.
Full disclosure: this one’s ours, so I’m about as biased as it gets. It’s the study app I always wished existed back when I was doing this: every CLEP and DSST exam in one subscription, real timed practice exams, and a live pass-readiness score so you’re not left guessing whether you’re actually ready to book the test. It’s iPhone-only for now (sorry, Android folks). But there’s a 7 day free trial, so you can judge for yourself whether I’m too biased to be trusted here.
Built by a former student, Flying Prep’s got what we need: easy to learn flashcards (with mobile-first design), full length practice exams, and complete coverage of every CLEP exam. Plus a dual guarantee including a 30 day satisfaction no-questions-asked guarantee and 6 month exam protection.
While quite short on the study side of things, the official CLEP book is the go-to final practice test. Since this is the only official practice test available, I normally use it as my final spot check before taking the test.
Though the design is now quite dated, InstantCert is one of the OGs in the space. They offer flashcards to study for the exam, but their coverage is somewhat limited and I’m not sure whether they use spaced repetition or other modern study science.
