Study Guide

Field 140: Business Education 
Sample Selected-Response Questions

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General Test Directions

This test consists of two sections: 1) a section with selected-response questions and 2) a constructed-response section.

Each question in the first section is a selected-response question with four answer choices. Read each question and answer choice carefully and choose the  start uppercase ONE end uppercase  best answer. Try to answer all questions. Even if you are unsure of an answer, it is better to guess than not to answer a question at all. You will  start uppercase NOT end uppercase  be penalized for guessing.

The second section of this test consists of a constructed-response assignment. You will be asked to provide a written response for the assignment. Directions for completing your written response to the constructed-response assignment will appear immediately before the assignment.

Sample Selected-Response Questions

Competency 0001 
Understand and analyze principles of business law.

1. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (E E O C) primarily affects human resource management within a business organization by requiring that:

  1. underrepresented groups within the local population are proportionally represented among the organization's employees.
  2. decisions about hiring, discipline, and termination are based on objective criteria.
  3. employers target their recruitment efforts toward historically underserved regions
  4. job applicants are equitably considered for employment, regardless of work history or other background factors.

Correct Response: B. The E E O C is a five-member commission appointed by the president for five-year terms to administer the Equal Pay Act of 19 63, the Civil Rights Acts of 19 64, the Age Discrimination in Employment Act of 19 67, the Americans with Disabilities Act of 19 90, and other federal statutes against discrimination in the workplace. The acts administered by the E E O C are all designed to ensure that any criteria used in employee selection are bona fide occupational qualifications. For example, a factor such as age cannot be used to disqualify a job applicant unless the employer can prove that considerations of age make an applicant incapable of performing the essential functions of the job.

Competency 0002 
Apply principles of business communication.

2. An associate is using presentation software to create a slideshow for an upcoming business meeting. Which of the following design approaches would likely be most effective in giving the presentation a cohesive and unified look?

  1. choosing a pair of primary colors to use on all slides
  2. adding memorable methods of transitioning between all slides
  3. applying the same theme elements on all slides
  4. using at least two bulleted animations on all slides

Correct Response: C. Using the same design elements on all slides in a presentation will provide a cohesive and unified look. This includes using the same font family, color scheme, and page layout and design. These features are typically referred to as themes and provide an efficient and easy way to ensure a consistent appearance in a slideshow presentation.

Competency 0003 
Apply principles of career development.

3. In which of the following situations is the employee best exhibiting personal initiative on the job?

  1. A yard worker at a lawn and garden equipment and supply store helps customers load heavy bags of fertilizer and mulch into their cars.
  2. An editor at a newspaper suggests several ways that a feature writer could shorten the length of a column while making it more appealing to the average reader.
  3. A worker in the produce department of a supermarket reports several crates of spoiled peaches to the manager and asks what should be done with them.
  4. A travel agent learns that storms have washed out a main road in a tourist destination and calls clients who are planning trips to the area to offer alternative routes.

Correct Response: D. Among the career readiness skills most valued by employers is the inclination to take personal initiative on the job. Personal initiative can be shown in an employee going beyond the job description or the ordinary roles called for by the position. A travel agent learning of a transportation disruption and placing calls to clients alerting them to alternative routes is an example of a worker going beyond the ordinary roles called for the by the position they hold.

Competency 0004 
Analyze principles and practices of management.

4. Which of the following actions best illustrates the organizing function of business management?

  1. expanding the range of products and services the business provides
  2. determining the financial resources needed to achieve short-term business goals
  3. deciding how much authority should be given to each department in the business
  4. forecasting the business's personnel needs and devising effective strategies for filling them

Correct Response: C. Managers of a business enterprise are exercising the organizing function of business management when they determine how to most effectively use the human resources of the enterprise for the purpose of achieving the business's long-term and short-term goals. An important step in organizing a business is to determine effective ways of distributing decision-making authority between various divisions, departments, and positions.

Competency 0005 
Analyze principles of marketing.

5. Use the chart below to answer the question that follows.

chart depicting product distribution channels

Chart showing four product distribution channels A through D as response options. Channel A goes directly from manufacturer to users. Channel B goes from manufacturer to retailer to users. Channel C goes from manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to users. Channel D goes from manufacturer to Agent slash broker to users.

Which distribution channel is most appropriate for the sale of industrial products?

  1. Channel A
  2. Channel B
  3. Channel C
  4. Channel D

Correct Response: A. Industrial products are usually sold directly by the manufacturer to the industrial firms that are the users. Many products, such as machine tools, are made to order. Manufacturers of industrial products typically bypass the need for retailers or other middle steps of a distribution channel by maintaining sales offices at strategic locations to provide information and services for customers.

Competency 0006 
Analyze principles of international business.

6. When a country imposes a tariff on an imported product, producers of the product tend to respond in which of the following ways?

  1. Foreign producers increase supply to stimulate demand.
  2. Domestic producers increase their prices.
  3. Foreign producers gain a comparative advantage.
  4. Domestic producers become more efficient.

Correct Response: B. When a tariff is imposed on an imported product, the purpose is to increase the price of the import when it is sold in the domestic market. Foreign producers will consequently be put at a competitive disadvantage versus domestic producers. The immediate effect of diminished price competition from foreign producers will typically be an increase in domestic producers' prices because the domestic producers perceive that they can raise their prices without forfeiting market share.

Competency 0007 
Analyze basic principles of technology and skills associated with the use of technology.

7. The defragmentation tool on a laptop or personal computer is used for primarily which of the following purposes?

  1. reorganizing files to create space and improve computing speed
  2. scanning the hard drive to remove viruses and other types of malware
  3. backing up files to prevent them from being corrupted or lost
  4. increasing the computer's memory to allow more data to be stored

Correct response: A. When files on a computer's hard drive are repeatedly saved, revised, deleted, and resized, the files become fragmented into many pieces around the disk. Fragmented files take more time to read and write. Defragmentation reverses this process, rearranging the data on a hard drive to hold complete files in contiguous spaces and creating more usable storage space. Thus, defragmentation reduces the time it takes to read data from the disk and enhances the general performance of the computer.

Competency 0008 
Apply principles of using technology to create business solutions.

8. A Web designer would most likely use the view page source feature of a Web browser for which of the following purposes?

  1. reviewing the H T M L code of a Web page
  2. determining the U R L of a Web page
  3. locating the I P address of a Web site
  4. assessing the security risks of a Web site

Correct Response: A. Web pages are written in hypertext markup language (H T M L). A Web browser is a computer application that retrieves and displays Web pages by interpreting the H T M L code to display content such as text, images, video, or audio. The view page source feature of a Web browser allows any user to see the client-side H T M L code generated from a server-side language like P H P. The ability to review the resulting H T M L code can be a useful tool for Web developers who might want to learn how to recreate certain effects that are parts of a Web page.

Competency 0009 
Apply principles of accounting.

9. By correctly taking a trial balance at the end of an accounting period, an accountant can establish with certainty that:

  1. all transactions that occurred during the accounting period have been recorded in the appropriate journal.
  2. the total debits recorded during the accounting period equal the total credits recorded during the period.
  3. all transactions that occurred during the accounting period have been posted to the correct accounts in the ledger.
  4. accounts have been debited or credited appropriately for each transaction that occurred during the accounting period.

Correct Response: B. The purpose of taking a trial balance at the end of an accounting period is to verify that the total credits recorded for the period equal the total debits recorded for the period. Credits need not equal debits for each individual account, only for all accounts taken together. The procedure of taking a trial balance will not detect any accounting errors that do not result in an imbalance between total debits and total credits for the accounting period.

Competency 0010 
Analyze basic principles of consumer economics and finance.

10. Use the supply curve below to answer the question that follows.

chart depicting supply curves for ice cream

Chart titled supply curve for ice cream. Vertical axis shows a range of prices, and horizontal axis shows a range of quantities of production An upward sloping supply curve S 1 is shown. To the right of S 1 is another supply curve S 2.

Which of the following developments would most likely prompt an ice cream company to shift output from supply curve S 1 to supply curve S 2?

  1. increased competition from substitute goods
  2. an increase in the price of cream
  3. the introduction of more efficient production methods
  4. a decline in consumer demand for ice cream

Correct Response: C. The introduction of more efficient production methods means that the cost of producing each half-gallon of ice cream will decrease. The effect of this change is that the company can now produce an increased quantity of ice cream at each possible price. This increased output can be seen on the graph as a shift of the supply curve to the right from supply curve S 1 to supply curve S 2.