CCSLC Social Studies cheat sheet

The CCSLC (Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence) is administered by CXC; Social Studies is one of its subject areas and is assessed through a School-Based Assessment (SBA) portfolio plus a written examination paper.

Five conceptual strands organise the syllabus: individual and family; nation and government; the Caribbean region and the wider world; economic and social development; and responsible citizenship.

Governance vocabulary: a constitution sets out the powers of the state; the legislature makes law, the executive implements it, the judiciary interprets it; separation of powers refers to keeping these three functions in distinct bodies.

Caribbean regional institutions and their functions: CARICOM (economic integration and common market), the Caribbean Court of Justice (final appellate and treaty-interpretation role), the OECS (sub-regional integration), and the University of the West Indies (regional tertiary education).

Economic basics: scarcity forces choice; opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative forgone; needs are essentials for survival while wants are desired but non-essential; production combines land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship.

Demographic and social indicators: birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, life expectancy and literacy rate are used to compare levels of development; a high infant mortality rate and low life expectancy generally indicate lower development.

Rights and responsibilities pair together: freedom of expression carries the duty not to defame; the right to education carries the duty to attend and participate; rights are limited where their exercise harms others.

Map and data skills: read scale to convert map distance to real distance, use a key for symbols, and interpret line graphs for trends, bar graphs for comparisons and pie charts for proportions of a whole.

The CCSLC (Caribbean Certificate of Secondary Level Competence) is administered by CXC; Social Studies is one of its subject areas and is assessed through a School-Based Assessment (SBA) portfolio plus a written examination paper.

Five conceptual strands organise the syllabus: individual and family; nation and government; the Caribbean region and the wider world; economic and social development; and responsible citizenship.

Governance vocabulary: a constitution sets out the powers of the state; the legislature makes law, the executive implements it, the judiciary interprets it; separation of powers refers to keeping these three functions in distinct bodies.

Caribbean regional institutions and their functions: CARICOM (economic integration and common market), the Caribbean Court of Justice (final appellate and treaty-interpretation role), the OECS (sub-regional integration), and the University of the West Indies (regional tertiary education).

Economic basics: scarcity forces choice; opportunity cost is the value of the next-best alternative forgone; needs are essentials for survival while wants are desired but non-essential; production combines land, labour, capital and entrepreneurship.

Demographic and social indicators: birth rate, death rate, infant mortality rate, life expectancy and literacy rate are used to compare levels of development; a high infant mortality rate and low life expectancy generally indicate lower development.

Rights and responsibilities pair together: freedom of expression carries the duty not to defame; the right to education carries the duty to attend and participate; rights are limited where their exercise harms others.

Map and data skills: read scale to convert map distance to real distance, use a key for symbols, and interpret line graphs for trends, bar graphs for comparisons and pie charts for proportions of a whole.