Social Sciences: History and Geography
What you must understand
History: major periods of Afghan and regional history, including ancient civilisations, the Islamic era, the modern state, and key twentieth-century events; causes and consequences of change; and the use of sources. Geography: maps and scale, climate and vegetation zones, population distribution, natural resources, and the physical geography of Afghanistan and its neighbours.
Traps that appear in questions
- Dates and reigns that are close together; anchor each to one memorable event.
- Cause versus consequence: a question may ask what resulted from an event, and an option may state a cause instead.
- Map scale: a large-scale map shows a small area in more detail; do not reverse this.
- Physical versus human geography categories when classifying a feature.
Worked example
On a map with scale 1:100,000, a measured distance of 4 cm represents 4 × 100,000 = 400,000 cm = 4 km. Convert to kilometres at the end and check that the distance is plausible for the map's scale.
Rule of thumb
For history, build a simple timeline and attach one cause and one consequence to each entry; for geography, always state the category (physical or human) before choosing an answer.