Social Studies: Sources, Maps, Civics and Inquiry
Social Studies carries 60 marks in Paper II for candidates choosing the social science stream. It draws on history, geography, civics and economics, and tests whether you can teach chronology, source interpretation, map skills, diversity, democracy and sustainable development.
Core rules and concepts
- History uses sources: inscriptions, coins, manuscripts, monuments, oral accounts and archives. A source must be dated, contextualised and questioned; it is not automatically neutral.
- Geography requires map literacy: direction, scale, symbols, latitude and longitude, and the difference between weather and climate.
- Civics covers the Constitution, rights and duties, federalism, local government and the working of democracy beyond elections.
- Economics begins with scarcity, needs and wants, production, exchange and the idea of sustainable use of resources.
Worked example
On a map, 1 cm represents 5 km. Two towns are 7 cm apart. The reasoning: the scale is a ratio, so actual distance = 7 × 5 = 35 km. If the question asks for metres, convert 35 km to 35,000 m. The common error is to add the scale or to ignore the unit asked for. A second check is to ask whether 35 km is plausible for the map’s size.
Traps that cost marks
Do not judge past people by present-day assumptions (presentism). Do not read a map without checking its scale and orientation. Avoid confusing weather with climate, or democracy with voting alone. Do not teach history as a list of dates without evidence or significance, and do not treat diversity as a decorative topic rather than a structural one.