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Free 6th grade social studies worksheets with answers

Written by Dr. Evan J. Hasson, DC — a dad of three who built this curriculum for his own children.

50 questions with the answers, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Communities, maps and geography, civics, economics and history, drawn from every topic in the grade.

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History & Social Studies — Grade 6

50 questions · answers marked50 questions · answers hidden

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  1. 1. What is a republic?
    1. A. A government in which one family chooses the leaders by inheritance
    2. B. A government that has no written laws
    3. C. A government run only by priests
    4. D. A government in which citizens elect leaders to represent them ← Answer
  2. 2. What is a polis?
    1. A. A Greek city-state ← Answer
    2. B. A Greek peace treaty
    3. C. A Greek god
    4. D. A type of ship
  3. 3. What is barter?
    1. A. Taking goods by force
    2. B. Giving goods away as gifts
    3. C. Trading goods or services directly without money ← Answer
    4. D. Buying goods with coins at a fixed price in a market
  4. 4. Which two rivers flowed through Mesopotamia?
    1. A. The Indus and the Euphrates rivers
    2. B. The Nile and the Indus
    3. C. The Euphrates and the Nile
    4. D. The Tigris and the Euphrates ← Answer
  5. 5. In which direction does the Nile flow?
    1. A. West
    2. B. South
    3. C. North ← Answer
    4. D. East
  6. 6. What does domesticate mean?
    1. A. To build a city wall
    2. B. To hunt wild animals
    3. C. To tame and breed plants or animals for human use ← Answer
    4. D. To keep wild animals and plants away from villages
  7. 7. What is a dynasty?
    1. A. A council of officials chosen by exam every few years
    2. B. A kind of law
    3. C. A family that rules a country for many generations ← Answer
    4. D. A group of elected leaders
  8. 8. Who founded the Maurya Empire?
    1. A. Ashoka the Great
    2. B. Siddhartha Gautama
    3. C. Chandragupta Maurya ← Answer
    4. D. Alexander of Macedon
  9. 9. Around what year did Rome overthrow its last king?
    1. A. 1200 BCE
    2. B. 753 BCE
    3. C. 509 BCE ← Answer
    4. D. 250 BCE
  10. 10. What does democracy mean?
    1. A. Government by the people ← Answer
    2. B. Rule by a few wealthy families
    3. C. Rule by one king
    4. D. Rule by the strongest army
  11. 11. What is currency?
    1. A. A tax that rulers charged on every caravan they saw
    2. B. A rare kind of spice
    3. C. Money that people agree to use in exchange ← Answer
  12. 12. Which river flowed through ancient Egypt?
    1. A. The Euphrates
    2. B. The Indus
    3. C. The Huang He
    4. D. The Nile ← Answer
  13. 13. Into which sea does the Nile empty?
    1. A. The Red Sea
    2. B. The Mediterranean Sea ← Answer
    3. C. The Black Sea
    4. D. The Arabian Sea off Africa
  14. 14. What was the Neolithic Revolution?
    1. A. The invention of writing
    2. B. The shift from hunting and gathering to farming and herding ← Answer
    3. C. The building of pyramids
    4. D. The rise of Rome
  15. 15. What is continuity?
    1. A. A change in rulers
    2. B. A new invention
    3. C. Something that becomes different after a new ruler
    4. D. Something that stays the same over time ← Answer
  16. 16. What was the capital of the Maurya Empire?
    1. A. Persepolis
    2. B. Kalinga Bay
    3. C. Pataliputra ← Answer
    4. D. Mohenjo-daro
  17. 17. What were the Twelve Tables?
    1. A. Rome's first written laws ← Answer
    2. B. A set of twelve Roman gods
    3. C. Twelve rooms in the Senate house
  18. 18. What is an oligarchy?
    1. A. Rule by a small group of people ← Answer
    2. B. Rule by a single god-king
    3. C. Rule by all citizens
  19. 19. What is a medium of exchange?
    1. A. A road that connects two markets
    2. B. Something accepted in trade for goods ← Answer
    3. C. A guide who leads a caravan across the desert
  20. 20. Which river supported the Indus Valley civilization?
    1. A. The Indus ← Answer
    2. B. The Tigris
    3. C. The Nile
  21. 21. What is a delta?
    1. A. A rocky rapid on a river
    2. B. A triangle-shaped area where a river splits before reaching the sea ← Answer
    3. C. A desert oasis
  22. 22. Where did people domesticate wheat, barley, sheep and goats?
    1. A. The Arctic
    2. B. The Fertile Crescent ← Answer
    3. C. The Amazon rainforest
  23. 23. What is change in history?
    1. A. Something that stays the same across many dynasties
    2. B. A type of law
    3. C. Something that becomes different over time ← Answer
  24. 24. Which river flowed past the Maurya capital?
    1. A. The Tigris River
    2. B. The Nile River
    3. C. The Ganges ← Answer
  25. 25. Where were the Twelve Tables posted for all to see?
    1. A. On the walls of the Senate
    2. B. In the Forum ← Answer
    3. C. At the emperor's palace
    4. D. Inside a temple vault
  26. 26. Who could vote in the Athenian Assembly?
    1. A. Adult men and women who were citizens
    2. B. All adults living in Athens
    3. C. Adult male citizens ← Answer
    4. D. Only the richest families
  27. 27. What was the Silk Road?
    1. A. A single paved highway
    2. B. A river in China
    3. C. A network of trade routes linking China to the Mediterranean ← Answer
    4. D. A Roman wall
  28. 28. Which river supported early civilization in China?
    1. A. The Indus
    2. B. The Nile
    3. C. The Huang He ← Answer
    4. D. The Euphrates
  29. 29. What is a cataract?
    1. A. A flood season
    2. B. A kind of boat
    3. C. A walled city built beside the Nile valley
    4. D. A stretch of rocky rapids on the Nile ← Answer
  30. 30. What is a city-state?
    1. A. A kingdom of many cities
    2. B. An independent city that governs itself and nearby farmland ← Answer
    3. C. A village without a ruler
    4. D. A temple only
  31. 31. Which dynasty first unified China under one emperor?
    1. A. The Zhou
    2. B. The Shang
    3. C. The Han
    4. D. The Qin ← Answer
  32. 32. How was Ashoka related to Chandragupta?
    1. A. He was his father
    2. B. He was his minister
    3. C. He was his brother
    4. D. He was his grandson ← Answer
  33. 33. What does the Latin word veto mean?
    1. A. I elect
    2. B. I agree
    3. C. I forbid ← Answer
    4. D. I command
  34. 34. How many kings ruled Sparta at one time?
    1. A. One
    2. B. Three
    3. C. Two ← Answer
    4. D. Five
  35. 35. Was the Silk Road one paved road?
    1. A. No, it was one sea lane
    2. B. Yes, built by one emperor
    3. C. No, it was a network of routes ← Answer
    4. D. Yes, it was fully paved
  36. 36. What is another name for the Huang He?
    1. A. The Black River
    2. B. The Blue Nile
    3. C. The Yellow River ← Answer
    4. D. The Red River of Egypt
  37. 37. What is inundation?
    1. A. A type of tomb
    2. B. A desert wind
    3. C. The yearly flooding of the Nile ← Answer
    4. D. A storm that blew sand across the valley
  38. 38. Name a Sumerian city-state.
    1. A. Thebes
    2. B. Ur ← Answer
    3. C. Athens
    4. D. Rome
  39. 39. Who was the first emperor of the Qin?
    1. A. Qin Shi Huang ← Answer
    2. B. Narmer
    3. C. Hammurabi
    4. D. Liu Bang, a Han ruler
  40. 40. About when did Ashoka begin to rule?
    1. A. About 268 BCE ← Answer
    2. B. About 521 BCE
    3. C. About 100 CE
    4. D. About 1200 BCE
  41. 41. How many consuls led Rome each year?
    1. A. Five
    2. B. Two ← Answer
    3. C. One
  42. 42. What was a helot?
    1. A. A person forced to work the land for Spartans ← Answer
    2. B. A foreign merchant who lived in Athens as a free resident
    3. C. A Spartan king
  43. 43. Which dynasty's era saw the Silk Road grow?
    1. A. Shang
    2. B. Qin
    3. C. Han ← Answer
  44. 44. In which modern country was most of Mesopotamia?
    1. A. China
    2. B. Iraq ← Answer
    3. C. Egypt
  45. 45. Who ruled ancient Egypt?
    1. A. The pharaoh ← Answer
    2. B. The ephor
    3. C. The emperor of Rome
  46. 46. Name another Sumerian city-state.
    1. A. Uruk ← Answer
    2. B. Memphis
    3. C. Sparta
  47. 47. What were oracle bones?
    1. A. Weapons
    2. B. Tools for farming
    3. C. Bones or shells with early Chinese writing used to ask questions of ancestors ← Answer
  48. 48. What is an empire?
    1. A. A trade route that crosses a wide desert
    2. B. A single village governed by a council of elders
    3. C. Many lands and peoples ruled by one government ← Answer
  49. 49. How long did a consul serve?
    1. A. One year ← Answer
    2. B. Ten years
    3. C. For life
    4. D. Three years
  50. 50. What is an assembly?
    1. A. A meeting where citizens discuss and vote ← Answer
    2. B. A temple festival
    3. C. A council of kings who decide for everyone
    4. D. A battle fleet
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · free to print and photocopy for your own studentsHistory & Social Studies — Grade 6
UpOnly Learning · uponlylearning.com · History & Social Studies Grade 6

What 6th grade social studies covers

6th grade social studies at UpOnly Learning is 8 topics, taught in this order: river valleys and the first civilizations, from farming villages to the cities of Mesopotamia, ancient Egypt and the gift of the Nile, ancient China: dynasties, change and continuity, athens and Sparta: two Greek governments, the Roman Republic and the Twelve Tables, barter, coins and the Silk Road, and ashoka and the Maurya Empire. The 50 questions above are drawn from those topics, with the answer marked beside each one, so you can see what has stuck and what needs another lesson. The workbook teaches each topic with a 40-minute lesson; the free PDF sample has one full topic.

What's inside

  • River valleys and the first civilizations: Use maps to explain why early civilizations grew along the Tigris-Euphrates, Nile, Indus and Huang He rivers
  • From farming villages to the cities of Mesopotamia: Explain the causes and effects of farming, surplus food and the rise of Sumerian city-states, writing and law
  • Ancient Egypt and the gift of the Nile: Connect the Nile's floods, desert and geography to Egyptian farming, beliefs, pharaohs and identity
  • Ancient China: dynasties, change and continuity: Classify developments from the Shang through the Han as change or continuity, including the Mandate of Heaven
  • Athens and Sparta: two Greek governments: Compare direct democracy in Athens with Sparta's mixed government and explain who could take part in each
  • The Roman Republic and the Twelve Tables: Examine the origins, purposes and impact of Rome's written laws and republican government
  • Barter, coins and the Silk Road: Explain how money made trade easier than barter and how distance, deserts, mountains and tolls were barriers to Silk Road trade
  • Ashoka and the Maurya Empire: Explain why Ashoka and the Maurya Empire are historically significant, using his edicts, the Kalinga war and the spread of Buddhism

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History & Social Studies · Grade 6

$19.99. One-time purchase, no subscription.

221 pages · 960 questions with answers · 8 topics

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From the workbook

A real page of History & Social Studies · Grade 6

Rome's Republic and the Twelve Tables

Examine why Rome created the Twelve Tables and a republic, what purposes they served, and how they influenced later governments. · 40 min

Warm-up — say this

“Imagine a game where only one player knows the rules. Would that be fair?”

Worked example

Why did Romans want two consuls instead of one?

Answer: Each consul could veto the other, and both served only one year, which prevented any one person from gaining a king's power.

A mistake students make

A republic and a democracy were exactly the same in Rome.

How the book fixes it

Rome elected officials, but wealthy patricians had more power, and voting was organized in ways that gave the rich more influence. It was a republic with limited democratic features.

Note to the parent

Ask your student to explain Roman ideas back to you as if you were a new student; teaching is a powerful way to remember.

That is one topic of many. The free questions above check a skill; this is the part that teaches it.

Practice checks. Our history and social studies workbooks teach.

These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it.

  • TeachesA 40-minute lesson per topic that tells you what to say.
  • ExplainsWorked examples and the common mistakes, with fixes.
  • ReviewsAnswers with short explanations, and fresh questions.
  • PlansEvery topic in teaching order, matched to the standards.
$19.99 each Buy a history and social studies teaching workbook Free sample More free resources

Other grades

KindergartenFree kindergarten history and social studies questionsGrade 1Free 1st grade history and social studies questionsGrade 2Free 2nd grade history and social studies questionsGrade 3Free 3rd grade history and social studies questionsGrade 4Free 4th grade history and social studies questionsGrade 5Free 5th grade history and social studies questionsGrade 7Free 7th grade history and social studies questionsGrade 8Free 8th grade history and social studies questions

Grade 6, other subjects

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Questions parents ask

Are these history and social studies worksheets really free?

Yes. All 50 questions and their answers are on this page, free to print and free to photocopy for your own students. Printing needs only a free account. No card.

Can a teacher or a tutor use these with a class?

Yes. Print and photocopy them for the students you teach. The only thing we ask is that you do not republish them as your own or sell them.

Where are the answers?

Marked beside each question on this page, so it prints as its own answer key. For a clean copy, click Hide answers before you print; click Show answers again to print your answer key.

What grade are these for?

Grade 6. Every other grade from kindergarten to grade 8 has its own page, linked at the foot of this one. If your student finds these hard, try the grade below — that is normal and it is not a problem.

What do the paid workbooks add?

These questions check a skill. The workbook teaches it: a forty-minute lesson that tells you what to say, two or three worked examples, the mistakes students actually make on that skill and how to correct each one, and an explanation beside every answer rather than a bare key.