ILTS Social Science: History (315) study guide
ILTS Social Science: History (315) · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
Social Science: History (315) is a redeveloped Illinois Licensure Testing System (ILTS) content-area test for prospective history teachers in Illinois. Registration opened for testing starting April 7, 2025, and it replaces Social Science: History (246), which the ILTS site lists for testing only through April 5, 2026. The test is delivered by computer and consists of 100 multiple-choice questions. Candidates should plan on 3 hours and 15 minutes of testing time inside a 3 hours and 30 minutes total appointment, which includes 15 minutes for the CBT tutorial and nondisclosure agreement. The ILTS Social Science: History (315) study guide has 4 sections and about 1,322 words.
01World History
World History items on this exam are broad in scope but specific in demand: they typically ask you to place an event in the right era, connect a cause to a consequence, or compare two civilizations. Organizing your review around periodization and theme is more efficient than memorizing isolated dates.
351 words, about 2 min02United States History
History items reward chronological command plus the ability to name the specific mechanism behind a development - which clause, which act, which amendment, which court case. Study by era, but cross-link by theme: federalism, citizenship and rights, economic regulation, and foreign policy.
314 words, about 2 min03Illinois History
Illinois History items combine state-level chronology with Illinois's outsized role in national developments - transportation, labor, migration, and national politics. Expect questions on indigenous settlement, French and British colonial phases, statehood, the Civil War era, industrialization, and twentieth-century Chicago.
320 words, about 2 min04Historical Thinking and Research Skills
This domain tests how historians work , not what they know. Items present a source, an interpretation, or a research scenario and ask you to reason about evidence, perspective, or method.
337 words, about 2 min