ASSEB HS Anthropology study guide
ASSEB HS Anthropology · Work through your exam, one topic at a time.
The ASSEB HS Anthropology credential is a high-school-level examination that assesses whether a candidate can think like an anthropologist across the discipline's four traditional fields. It suits secondary students building a social-science portfolio, candidates preparing for university anthropology coursework, and independent learners who want a structured benchmark for their reading. The ASSEB HS Anthropology study guide has 8 sections and about 2,393 words.
01Nature of Anthropology and Research Methods
This section examines anthropology as a four-field discipline - biological, archaeological, linguistic, and cultural - plus applied anthropology. Expect questions on holism, the comparative method, long-term fieldwork, ethnography, emic/etic perspectives, sampling, and research ethics.
336 words, about 2 min02Biological Anthropology and Human Evolution
Biological anthropology covers evolution, genetics, primate behavior, the hominin fossil record, and biocultural adaptation. Exam items ask you to read a trait list, place a fossil, distinguish relative from absolute dating, and explain natural selection without Lamarckian shortcuts.
318 words, about 2 min03Archaeology and Material Culture
Archaeology reconstructs past behavior from material remains. Items test survey and excavation methods, stratigraphy and context, artifact/feature/ecofact distinctions, formation processes, dating, and interpretation of subsistence, settlement, and exchange.
307 words, about 2 min04Linguistic Anthropology
Linguistic anthropology examines language structure, use, and variation in social life. Expect phoneme/allophone distinctions, morphology, code-switching, linguistic relativity, pidgins and creoles, language endangerment, and ethnographic approaches to speech.
279 words, about 1 min05Cultural Anthropology: Concepts and Theory
Cultural anthropology asks how people create meaning, organize society, and contest power. Items cover culture concepts, ethnocentrism and relativism, and theoretical schools - functionalism, structuralism, symbolic and interpretive anthropology, practice theory, and postcolonial critique.
276 words, about 1 min06Kinship, Marriage, and Social Organization
Kinship is a classic exam area: descent, marriage, residence, terminology, and the difference between biological reproduction and social relatedness. Expect kin-term lists in text form and questions that ask you to infer rules.
302 words, about 2 min07Economy, Politics, and Religion in Cross-Cultural Perspective
This domain compares subsistence, exchange, political order, and religion across cultures. Items ask you to classify systems, distinguish reciprocity types, identify rites of passage, and explain how economy, politics, and religion interlock.
269 words, about 1 min08Applied Anthropology, Ethics, and Contemporary Issues
Applied anthropology uses anthropological methods outside the academy - development, health, education, cultural resource management, forensics, business, and policy. Items also test ethics: consent, harm, confidentiality, community rights, and debates over cultural relativism and human rights.
306 words, about 2 min