Social Science
Philippine history
Anchor a timeline: Katipunan founded 1892; revolution 1896; independence declared 12 June 1898 at Kawit; the Treaty of Paris on 10 December 1898 ceded the islands to the United States for $20 million; Commonwealth in 1935 under Quezon; Japanese occupation 1942–1945; independence on 4 July 1946; Martial Law declared in September 1972; EDSA People Power in February 1986; the 1987 Constitution ratified in 1987.
Government
Three branches: executive (President, one six-year term, no reelection), legislative (bicameral Congress - 24 senators on six-year terms plus the House of Representatives), and judicial (Supreme Court with a Chief Justice and 14 associate justices). Checks and balances connect them.
Economics
Scarcity forces choice, and every choice carries an opportunity cost - the value of the best forgone alternative. Demand slopes downward and supply upward; a price ceiling set below equilibrium creates a shortage. Inflation is a sustained rise in the general price level; GDP measures output produced within a country's borders.
Society and behavior
Know the basic vocabulary - norms, socialization, culture - and the distinction between correlation and causation in social research.
Trap
Items often test the difference between what happened (event) and why it happened (cause). Do not accept a plausible cause as the answer to a "what" question.
Rule of thumb
When dates compete, place each event on a rough century-and-decade line before deciding; the sequence usually eliminates two options immediately.