AP Exam Prep · AP Human Geography
AP Human Geography Unit 6 Practice Test: Cities and Urban Land Use
Unit 6 explains why cities grow where they do and how they are organised inside. You will use site and situation, the rank-size rule and central place theory, compare urban models from different world regions, and analyse gentrification, sprawl and sustainability.
- Exam weighting:
- 12–17%
- Questions:
- 21 multiple choice
- Time:
- about 28 minutes
- Cost:
- Free, no sign-up
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What AP Human Geo Unit 6 covers
Unit 6, Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes, makes up 12–17% of the multiple-choice section and usually takes ~19–20 class periods. These are the topics in the current course framework, and every question in the test above is tagged with one of them.
- 6.1The Origin and Influences of Urbanization
- 6.2Cities Across the World
- 6.3Cities and Globalization
- 6.4The Size and Distribution of Cities
- 6.5The Internal Structure of Cities
- 6.6Density and Land Use
- 6.7Infrastructure
- 6.8Urban Sustainability
- 6.9Urban Data
- 6.10Challenges of Urban Changes
- 6.11Challenges of Urban Sustainability
Unit 6 key ideas
Site and situation
Site is the physical character of a place itself (a defensive hill, a river crossing, a harbour). Situation is its location relative to other places (on a trade route, near resources). Situation usually explains why a city grows.
City size follows patterns
The rank-size rule says the nth-largest city has about 1/n the population of the largest. A primate city is far larger than the second city. Central place theory explains the spacing of settlements by range and threshold; world cities control global finance and culture.
Urban models
The Burgess concentric zone model has rings around the CBD; the Hoyt sector model has wedges along transport routes; the Harris and Ullman multiple nuclei model has several centres. The Latin American, African and Southeast Asian models show elite spines, colonial cores and squatter settlements.
Changing cities
Suburbanisation and sprawl spread low-density land use. Redlining, blockbusting and gentrification reshaped neighbourhoods. Smart growth, mixed land use and public transport aim to make cities more sustainable.
Common Unit 6 mistakes
- Swapping site (the place's own physical features) with situation (its connections to other places).
- Applying the rank-size rule to a country with a primate city.
- Mixing up the Hoyt sector model (wedges) with the Burgess concentric zone model (rings).
How to study this unit
- Sketch each urban model from memory and label one real city it helps explain.
- For any city, write one sentence on its site and one on its situation.
Need notes on a topic? Make one with the AI Study Guide Maker or turn it into flashcards.
More AP Human Geography practice tests
- Unit 1 · 8–10%Thinking Geographically
- Unit 2 · 12–17%Population and Migration Patterns and Processes
- Unit 3 · 12–17%Cultural Patterns and Processes
- Unit 4 · 12–17%Political Patterns and Processes
- Unit 5 · 12–17%Agriculture and Rural Land-Use Patterns and Processes
- Unit 6 · 12–17%Cities and Urban Land-Use Patterns and Processes
- Unit 7 · 12–17%Industrial and Economic Development Patterns and Processes
About these questions
StudyCoach wrote these questions for this test. Each one is mapped to a topic in the College Board's current AP Human Geography course framework. Every answer key was also checked by a separate AI review, and any disagreement was rechecked by hand. They have not yet been reviewed by an AP Human Geography teacher. If you think an answer is wrong, email support@studycoach.io.
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