Social Studies is a core subject. CSSPS counts it with English Language, Mathematics and Science. WAEC sets the examination. The Ghana Education Service runs the schools that teach it. Glearn Technologies writes this guide. Glearn does not set the paper, and glearn does not publish a pass rate.
How the papers are set
WAEC Ghana publishes the scheme in its BECE guidelines. Read that file for the current timing and the marks. This page does not copy them, because a later file can change them. The structure in the guidelines is two papers, taken at one sitting.
Paper 1 is the objective paper. The items come from the whole syllabus, and you answer the items the paper asks you to answer.
Paper 2 is the essay paper. It has three sections. Section I is The Environment, and it includes a compulsory question. Section II is Law, Order and Nation Building. Section III is Social and Economic Development. The sample instructions in the guidelines ask you to answer the compulsory question, then one question from Section II and one from Section III. One sentence in the same booklet can be read as asking for a further question from Section I. If the question paper in your hall and this page disagree, follow the question paper.
Do not answer every essay on the page. A blank compulsory question is not repaired by an extra essay from another section.
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Topic areas from the curriculum
The National Council for Curriculum and Assessment organises junior high Social Studies in six strands. Use them as a revision map. A strand is not a promise that every unit appears on your paper. The essay sections group the same work into the environment, law and nation building, and social and economic development.
1. Environment
The physical and social surroundings, sanitation, energy, maps, and how people damage or repair land, water and air. A problem without a remedy is only half an answer when the question asks what can be done.
2. Family life
The family, adolescent health, socialisation, and population. The family is where socialisation starts. A nuclear family is parents and their children. An extended family reaches further, to grandparents, uncles, aunts and cousins.
3. Sense of purpose
Self identity, values, and what a person can develop. Name the capability and how it is built. A slogan with no action is thin.
4. Law and order
Citizenship, rights and duties, the constitution, and how a democracy shares power. The legislature makes law. The executive carries it out. The courts interpret it. A right without the matching duty is half the point when the question asks for both.
5. Socio economic development
Resources, work, money, and tourism. Development is a change in how people live. Tie a resource or a tool to a result for people. A list of problems with no link to livelihood or health does not explain development.
6. Nationhood
Independent Ghana, unity, and the symbols and duties that hold the country together. Independence on 6 March 1957 and the republic on 1 July 1960 are two different events. Do not swap them.
BECE syllabusBECE Social Studies past questionsThe environmentGovernanceIndependence of GhanaPopulationThe family
How to answer the essay
Social Studies essays are marked point by point. The command word tells you what kind of point is wanted. This page does not copy a mark table.
1. Read the command word
State means name it. Explain means say why. Distinguish means both sides and the difference between them. Suggest means a step a person, a community or the state can take.
2. One point, then the reason
A single word is a list. On an explain question the reason is the point. "Illegal mining pollutes rivers" is a point. "Illegal mining" alone is a name.
3. Answer every part
Parts (a), (b) and (c) are separate tasks. A strong first part does not fill a blank second part. Write the letter of the part you are answering.
4. Use the setting the question names
If it asks about your community or about Ghana, the example has to be from there. A general sentence with no place, person or practice is thinner than the question asked for.
5. Stop at the number asked
If the question asks for four ways, write four. A fifth does not repair a missing explanation on one of the four. This page does not invent a number the paper did not ask for.
6. Keep points apart
Start a new line or a new paragraph for a new point. A marker credits what can be seen. One block of text hides the points, even when the ideas are good.
A short way to revise
Rotate the strands. A week of environment notes with no rights and no population leaves half the sitting cold.
1. Give each strand a turn
One session for the environment, one for family life and population, one for law and nationhood, and one for development. Do not save the constitution for the night before.
2. Answer before you read
Do the item first. Then read why. Recognising an answer is not the same as writing the point under a clock.
3. Write one full essay a week
Use a different section each time, and have it marked. Kevin marks BECE Social Studies on glearn. Anna marks WASSCE Social Studies. The first questions need no account.
4. Keep the objective paper in the week
Short items train the definitions the essay also needs: natural increase, the rule of law, a nuclear family. Essay practice does not replace them.
5. Fit Social Studies into the week
The revision plan orders the weeks across your subjects. The how to pass guide covers the wider plan. The exam tips cover the morning and the clock. This page does not copy a date.
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Mistakes that cost marks
These are habits, not a secret list of questions. This page does not quote a report, and it does not give a figure. Fix the habit on the next piece you write.
1. Answering every essay
The instruction names how many to answer, and it names a compulsory question. Extra essays spend the time that compulsory question needed.
2. A list where an explanation was asked
Explain wants the idea and the reason. A column of names with no because does not answer that command.
3. One idea in new words
Three sentences that all say "it is bad for the community" are one point. A second point needs a different cause, effect or remedy.
4. Rights with no duties
When the question asks for both, five rights and no duty have answered half of it. The same is true of a problem with no remedy.
5. A long opening and no points
An introduction that retells the question uses the lines the points needed. Start with the first point.
6. An invented figure or article number
Do not write a population total, a forest figure, or a clause number you are not sure of. A wrong number next to a right idea costs trust. Leave the number out.
Keep these open while you revise
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