World History II Standards of Learning (SOL) Practice Test

The key idea being tested is that the Scientific Revolution changed how people thought about the world and their place in it. Instead of accepting explanations handed down by authority or tradition, people began to rely on observation, experimentation, and reason to understand nature. This brought a sense that the universe operates by natural laws and that humans can learn and uncover truths about the world. Examples like the heliocentric model, improvements in telescopes and experiments, and Newton’s laws helped shift thinking from a purely religious or ceremonial view of existence to a more secular, inquiry-based worldview. Because of this, people started to see themselves as active participants in discovering how the world works, not just subjects within a preordained order. The other options focus on political or social structures rather than a shift in understanding of the world and humanity’s role in it.