Sciences humaines et sociales (histoire, géographie, économie)
What the papers test
History, geography and economics papers test document analysis, argument and data literacy. History asks you to evaluate sources, explain causation and change, and write a structured essay. Geography combines maps, statistics and spatial concepts (scale, actors, sustainability). Economics tests definitions, models, graphs and policy reasoning. The exam rewards precise use of evidence and terms.
Core rules
- History: assess provenance, context, purpose and bias; corroborate sources; build a thesis and support it with specific evidence.
- Geography: identify scale and location; use data and maps accurately; explain processes, not just describe patterns.
- Economics: define terms; label axes; distinguish movement along a curve from a shift; separate positive from normative statements.
Worked example
A price rises by 10% and quantity demanded falls by 5%. Price elasticity of demand = 5/10 = 0.5 (absolute value), so demand is inelastic. Reasoning: use %ΔQ/%ΔP; since |PED|<1, quantity responds proportionally less than price, so total revenue rises when price rises. State the formula, substitute, interpret, and link to revenue.
Traps
Writing a narrative instead of an argument; paraphrasing a source without evaluating it; ignoring scale in geography; confusing a shift of the demand curve with a movement along it; using “should” as if it were a positive economic statement.