Study Guide

Social Science
Test Design and Framework

The test design below describes general assessment information. The framework that follows is a detailed outline that explains the knowledge and skills that this test measures.

Test Design

Format	Computer-based test (CBT) and online-proctored test
Number of Questions	100 multiple-choice questions
Time*	2 hours
Passing Score	220

*Does not include 15-minute tutorial

Test Framework

 

Content Domain		Range of Competencies	Approximate Percentage of Test Score
I.	U.S. History	0001–0002	20%
II.	World History	0003–0004	20%
III.	Political Science	0005–0006	20%
IV.	Geography	0007–0008	15%
V.	Economics	0009–0010	13%
VI.	Behavioral Sciences	0011–0012	12%

Domain I–U.S. History

Competency 0001–Understand major developments in U.S. history to 1914.

For example:

• Examine major events and developments resulting from cultural interaction within and between European and Native American peoples during the period of exploration and settlement.
• Analyze major social, economic, political, and cultural developments in British, French, and Spanish colonies in North America, including regional differences between the colonies, the role of colonial assemblies, the Great Awakening and the evolution of religious freedom, and economic and political relations with Great Britain.
• Examine the causes, events, developments, and consequences of the American Revolution, including changes in British imperial policy following the French and Indian War; arguments over colonial rights; major battles of the conflict; and the effects of the Revolution on issues related to gender, class, and persons of color.
• Analyze the evolution of national and state governments, arguments over the Articles of Confederation, major debates and compromises at the Constitutional Convention, differences between Federalists and Anti-Federalists, and the structure of the Constitution.
• Examine major political, constitutional, and foreign-policy developments of the antebellum period, including John Marshall and the U.S. Supreme Court, the War of 1812, the Missouri Compromise, the Monroe Doctrine, the Mexican War, and the Dred Scott decision.
• Analyze events and developments related to westward expansion, economic growth, and reform movements, including major territorial acquisitions; developments on the agricultural, mining, and ranching frontiers; the general impact of westward settlement on Native American peoples; improvements in transportation and technology; and the abolitionist, temperance, moral reform, and women's movements.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the origins, evolution, and effects of slavery in the United States and analyze key events and developments of the Civil War and Reconstruction period, including causes, major battles, and consequences of the Civil War; alternative programs for Reconstruction; and the Compromise of 1877.
• Analyze the concept of the New South; the disfranchisement and segregation of African Americans; and the efforts of African Americans to overcome the social, economic, and political obstacles that confronted them.
• Examine the causes and consequences of industrialization, immigration, imperialism, urbanization, anti-immigrant violence and agitation, the conflict between industrial capital and organized labor, and the Populist and Progressive movements.
• Recognize chronological relationships, causes, connections, and consequences between major events, figures, and developments in U.S. history to 1914, including technological developments where applicable, and demonstrate literacy in texts related to this content area, including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, including maps, graphs, and charts; and recognizing assumptions in primary and secondary texts.

Competency 0002–Understand major developments in U.S. history from 1914 to the present.

For example:

• Examine the emergence of the United States as a world power and the causes and consequences of U.S. participation in World War I1.
• Examine the cultural, political, and economic developments of the 1920s and 1930s, including the causes and effects of the Great Depression and New Deal.
• Demonstrate understanding of major events and developments related to U.S. participation in World War II2, including prewar neutrality, war mobilization, the internment of Japanese Americans, major battles involving U.S. forces, the impact of the war on U.S. society, the decision to drop the atomic bomb, and participation in the United Nations.
• Analyze major developments in U.S. foreign policy since World War II2, including the doctrine of containment, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the Cuban missile crisis, the policy of détente, the Camp David Accords, the Afghanistan and Iraq Wars, and policies related to the rise of global terrorism.
• Analyze major developments in U.S. politics since World War II2, including Lyndon Johnson's Great Society, the Watergate scandal, the rise of the conservative movement, and significant U.S. Supreme Court decisions and political contests of the period.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major social, cultural, and economic developments in the United States since 1945, including the postwar economic boom, suburbanization, demographic and population shifts, changing patterns of immigration, deindustrialization, Reaganomics, and globalization.
• Analyze changing conceptions of citizenship and individual rights, and examine the aims, activities, strategies, prominent figures, and achievements of the struggle for African American equality and of other major social and political movements, including the women's rights movement, the American Indian Movement, the Hispanic rights movement, the Asian American movement, and the environmental movement.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, such as formulating research questions, using historical research methodologies to gather information, distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, and assessing the appropriateness of various sources for specific inquiries.
• Recognize chronological relationships, causes, connections, and consequences between major events, figures, and developments in U.S. history since 1914, including technological developments where applicable, and demonstrate literacy in texts related to this content area, including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, including maps, graphs, and charts; and recognizing assumptions in primary and secondary texts.

Domain II–World History

Competency 0003–Understand major developments in premodern world history.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of major geographic, social, economic, political, and cultural features of early river-valley civilizations in Mesopotamia, Egypt, India, and China.
• Examine major political and cultural events, developments, and characteristics of ancient Mediterranean civilizations, including the contributions of Greece and Rome to the development of Western society.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the principal beliefs, sacred texts, and historical development of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism.
• Examine major geographic, social, economic, political, and cultural characteristics of Byzantine and Islamic civilizations, including Justinian's conquests and legal reforms, the expansion of Islam, and divisions within the Muslim world.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major social, economic, and political developments in Europe following the decline of the Roman Empire, including the emergence of feudalism, the role of the Catholic Church in medieval civilization, the Crusades, and the Black Death.
• Examine major social, economic, political, and cultural developments in Asia, Africa, and the Americas through 1650, including Confucianism and imperial change in China, Mayan science and religion, Aztec and Inca society and government, and the effect of the Mongol invasions.
• Examine European expansion between 1450 and 1650, including factors encouraging European exploration, the formation of global trade routes, including the triangular trade and the transatlantic slave trade; the Columbian Exchange; and the impact of colonization on Europeans and on indigenous peoples.
• Analyze the causes and consequences of the European Renaissance and Protestant Reformation, including the role of leading reformers, the response of the Catholic Church, and the religious wars of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.
• Analyze the central ideas and influence of major thinkers of the Scientific Revolution and European Enlightenment, and analyze the causes, similarities, differences, and consequences of the English, American, and French Revolutions and the wars of independence in Latin America.
• Recognize chronological relationships, causes, connections, and consequences between major events, figures, and developments in premodern world history, including technological developments where applicable, and demonstrate literacy in texts related to this content area, including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, including maps, graphs, and charts; and recognizing assumptions in primary and secondary texts.

Competency 0004–Understand major developments in modern world history.

For example:

• Evaluate social, economic, and political factors related to the spread of industrialization in Europe, including the role of Great Britain in the industrializing process; the growth of urban centers; the transformation of family and social relations; and major technological innovations, economic theories, and social reforms.
• Examine major political developments of the seventeenth through nineteenth centuries, including the Ottoman Empire, the Romanov dynasty in Russia; the Qing dynasty in China, the Meiji Restoration in Japan; and the growth of absolutism, liberalism, and nationalism in Europe.
• Analyze the causes, events, and consequences of European imperialism in the nineteenth century, including motives for the pursuit of colonial empires; rivalries between colonial powers; and interactions between imperialist powers and the peoples of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the causes, major events, and consequences of World War I1, including nationalist tensions in the Balkans, the strategies of major combatants, the Russian Revolution, and the Treaty of Versailles.
• Analyze the causes, major events, and consequences of World War II2, including the rise of totalitarian and authoritarian governments, the Nazi–Soviet Nonaggression Pact, major battles of the war, the Holocaust, the use of the atomic bomb, and the formation of the United Nations.
• Analyze the causes, major events, and consequences of the Cold War, including U.S.–Soviet differences concerning Eastern Europe, ideological confrontation, the nuclear arms race, the collapse of the Soviet Union, and the experience of communism in China.
• Examine major social, economic, and political developments of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, including postwar reconstruction and social and economic changes in Europe; the trend of decolonization in the world; the overthrow of apartheid in South Africa; the Arab–Israeli conflict; environmental degradation; terrorism; and economic imbalances among the world's peoples.
• Apply skills and procedures used in historical research, such as formulating research questions, using historical research methodologies to gather information, distinguishing between primary and secondary sources, and assessing the appropriateness of various sources for specific inquiries.
• Recognize chronological relationships, causes, connections, and consequences between major events, figures, and developments in modern world history, including technological developments where applicable, and demonstrate literacy in texts related to this content area, including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, including maps, graphs, and charts; and recognizing assumptions in primary and secondary texts.

Domain III–Political Science

Competency 0005–Understand the foundations of government and U.S. citizenship.

For example:

• Apply basic political science terms and concepts, such as loose and strict construction, patronage, injunction, sovereignty, balance of power, gerrymandering, filibuster, political socialization, interest group theory, and social contract theory.
• Analyze and apply principles and ideas contained in the writings of major political figures and theorists, such as Aristotle, Niccolò Machiavelli, Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Baron de Montesquieu, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Karl Marx.
• Demonstrate knowledge of major events and developments related to the emergence and spread of democratic and representative government, and analyze ways in which different social and economic systems enact civic virtues and democratic principles, promote the common good, and protect the rights of citizens.
• Recognize major characteristics of different systems of government, including monarchy, oligarchy, representative democracy, direct democracy, authoritarianism, and totalitarianism.
• Analyze similarities and differences between the political systems and power structures of the United States and other contemporary and historical nations.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the rights and responsibilities of U.S. citizenship and strategies for effectively participating in U.S. political affairs, including First Amendment rights, due process rights, equal protection under the law, voting, paying taxes, and serving on juries.
• Recognize events and developments in U.S. history that have increased or diminished individual rights and popular participation in the political process.
• Apply skills and procedures used in research related to the government and political science, such as formulating research questions, using political science research methodologies to gather information, and assessing the appropriateness of various sources for specific inquiries.
• Recognize chronological relationships, causes, connections, and consequences between major events, figures, and developments in foundations of government and U.S. citizenship, including technological developments where applicable, and demonstrate literacy in texts related to this content area, including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, including maps, graphs, and charts; and recognizing assumptions in primary and secondary texts.

Competency 0006–Understand the fundamental ideals, structure, functions, and operation of government in the United States and Missouri and the structure and operation of the U.S. political system.

For example:

• Analyze and apply principles and ideas contained in key political documents that influenced the development of government in the United States, such as Magna Carta, the English Bill of Rights, the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of Confederation, the Federalist Papers, and the Seneca Falls Declaration of Sentiments.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the fundamental principles, key articles, and significant amendments to the U.S. Constitution.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the structure, functions, and powers of the legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government, and analyze the separation of powers and operation of checks and balances.
• Examine law-making processes in the United States, including the role of lobbyists and special interest groups in the legislative process and the operation of the initiative, referendum, and recall processes at the state level.
• Recognize the responsibilities of independent regulatory agencies, government corporations, and executive agencies in the federal government; examine relationships between governments, civil societies, and economic markets; and assess the intended and unintended consequences of public policies.
• Examine the process by which U.S. foreign policy is made, including the constitutional powers of the president and Congress, foreign policy tools available to the president, and factors influencing the formulation of U.S. foreign policy.
• Examine the significance of landmark U.S. Supreme Court decisions, such as Marbury v. Madison, McCulloch v. Maryland, Dred Scott v. Sandford, Plessy v. Ferguson, Brown v. Board of Education, Gideon v. Wainwright, Miranda v. Arizona, and United States v. Nixon, and the significance of the Marshall and Warren Court eras.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the operation of the U.S. legal system, including the functions of law in U.S. society, major sources of U.S. law (e.g., constitutional, statutory, case, administrative), and steps in the criminal justice process.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the structure, functions, powers, and organization of Missouri's state government and local governments in the United States, and analyze relations between the federal government, Missouri's state government, and local governments.
• Analyze major features of the U.S. electoral system, including reapportionment, primary elections, the Electoral College, the role and development of political parties, and factors influencing voter turnout and the outcome of political contests.
• Recognize chronological relationships, causes, connections, and consequences between major events, figures, and developments in government and the political system in the United States and Missouri, including technological developments where applicable, and demonstrate literacy in texts related to this content area, including identifying central ideas; assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument; drawing conclusions and making inferences; evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence; interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, including maps, graphs, and charts; and recognizing assumptions in primary and secondary texts.

Domain IV–Geography

Competency 0007–Understand geographic concepts and physical systems.

For example:

• Apply the five fundamental geographic themes (i.e., location, place, human-environment interaction, movement, and region) and the six essential elements of geography (i.e., the world in spatial terms, places and regions, physical systems, human systems, environment and society, and the uses of geography).
• Apply basic geographic terms and concepts, such as habitat, ecology, interdependence, assimilation, complementarity, cultural convergence, and cultural diffusion.
• Recognize basic characteristics and uses of maps and globes, including keys and legends, scale, and latitude and longitude, and the advantages and disadvantages of maps, globes, and standard map projections.
• Locate landmasses, significant landforms, and important bodies of water in various parts of the world on maps, and recognize various types of physical features, such as gulfs, deltas, capes, isthmuses, peninsulas, and archipelagoes.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the principal elements of climate, global and regional climatic patterns, and processes that influence weather.
• Examine ways in which internal and external processes (e.g., tectonic movement, volcanism, glaciation, erosion, deposition) shape the physical features of the earth.
• Recognize the location, distribution, and uses of natural resources in the United States and the world, and examine the influence of natural resources and ecosystems on human populations.
• Apply skills and procedures used in geographic research, such as formulating research questions; using geographic research methodologies to gather information; applying decision-making and problem-solving procedures; and assessing the appropriateness of various geographic reference sources, tools, and technologies for specific inquiries.
• Demonstrate geographic literacy, including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in geographic texts.

Competency 0008–Understand human systems and the interactions between the environment and human societies.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics of major cultural groups associated with particular world regions, including language, clothing, habitation, ethnic homogeneity or diversity, food, patterns of livelihood, art, and literature, and examine how the physical characteristics of places and regions are connected to human identities and cultures.
• Examine the establishment of human settlements, how their organization and functions have changed over time, and how changes in the environmental characteristics of a place or region have influenced spatial patterns of land use.
• Examine world population patterns and trends, including world and regional population distribution; the demographic structure of particular places and regions; and the economic, environmental, and cultural reasons for demographic change.
• Analyze the causes and effects of historical and contemporary migrations of human populations, including the influence of historical events on migration patterns; push and pull factors; the effect of long-term climate variability on human migration; and the spatial diffusion of ideas, technologies, and cultural practices from one culture to another.
• Examine categories, patterns, and networks of economic activity and their impact on spatial organization of people, places, and environments.
• Analyze factors that contribute to conflict and cooperation within and among countries, including economic globalization, the expanding use of scarce resources, political and cultural divisions within and between nations, and the initiatives of major international organizations.
• Analyze the effects of physical factors, such as climate, topography, ecology, and location, on population distribution, livelihood, industry, agriculture, and transportation.
• Analyze ways in which human societies modify the physical environment and adapt to environmental change, including conservation initiatives, programs for resource use and management, the influence of political and economic decisions on the environmental characteristics of places and regions, and the economic and political consequences of environmental change.
• Examine the causes and effects of current environmental problems, including global climate change, tropical deforestation, desertification, acid rain, waste disposal, and water quality and availability, and analyze the role of technology in the creation and solution of environmental problems.

Domain V–Economics

Competency 0009–Understand microeconomics.

For example:

• Recognize and apply basic economics concepts, including scarcity, opportunity cost, competition, economic incentives, specialization, marginal benefits and costs, elasticity, economies of scale, and the law of diminishing returns.
• Compare basic characteristics of market, traditional, command, and mixed economies.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the factors of production (i.e., land, labor, capital, and entrepreneurship) and how they are combined to produce goods and services.
• Analyze the effect of the laws of supply and demand, economic incentives, investments in physical and human capital, and various competitive models (e.g., oligopoly, monopolistic competition) on the operation of market economies.
• Analyze factors affecting the operation of business firms, including basic forms of business organization; decision-making methods; strategies for allocating resources; and production, marketing, and distribution considerations.
• Demonstrate knowledge of forms of government regulation, their effects on consumers and producers, and the benefits and costs of government policies designed to improve market outcomes.
• Demonstrate economic literacy, including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in texts related to economics.

Competency 0010–Understand macroeconomics and international economics.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the roles of and relationships between major economic institutions and groups in the U.S. economic system, including banks, financial markets, labor unions, corporations, and consumers.
• Analyze the causes and effects of unemployment, inflation, and deflation, including different types of unemployment and inflation, the effects of unemployment and deflation on different groups, and the ways in which unemployment and inflation are calculated.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the stages of the business cycle (i.e., expansion, peak, contraction, and trough), and use economic indicators, including unemployment, inflation, and gross domestic product (GDP), to analyze the current and future state of the economy.
• Analyze factors influencing fiscal and monetary policy, including major areas of government revenues and expenditures, demand-side vs. supply-side theory, the functions of the Federal Reserve System, basic tools of monetary policy, and the likely response of policymakers to given economic developments.
• Examine the basic principles and components of international economics, including the concepts of absolute and comparative advantage, the principles of free trade and protectionism, economic development strategies, and major patterns of economic exchange.
• Analyze factors influencing the operation of the international economic system, including exchange rates, trade restrictions and agreements, the policies of international economic agencies, and globalization trends.
• Apply skills and procedures used in economic research related to economics, such as formulating research questions, using economic research methodologies to gather information, applying decision-making and problem-solving procedures, and recognizing methods of calculating economic activity.

Domain VI–Behavioral Sciences

Competency 0011–Understand concepts, perspectives, and research skills related to the study of culture and society.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of the holistic, comparative, and relativistic basis of anthropology and basic anthropological terms, concepts, and thinkers.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the major components of culture; the integrated nature of culture; and processes involved in the development, transmission, and perpetuation of culture.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics and perspectives of major branches of anthropological study (e.g., archaeology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology), and examine connections between anthropology and other social and natural sciences.
• Analyze factors affecting cultural unity and diversity, and examine values, attitudes, and behavioral patterns that promote or obstruct cross-cultural understanding.
• Demonstrate knowledge of basic sociological terms, concepts, thinkers, and theoretical perspectives (i.e., functionalism, symbolic interactionism, and conflict theory).
• Analyze factors that influence the socialization process, including the effect of socialization processes on the emergence of personal identity and a sense of self.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the characteristics, structures, and functions of different types of social groups and formal organizations, and analyze factors affecting group and organizational dynamics.
• Recognize characteristics of the six basic social institutions (i.e., family, economic system, religion, education, political system, and health and medicine), and analyze ways in which these institutions meet individual and social needs, provide continuity, and furnish a context for social interaction.
• Recognize the causes and effects of social inequality, theories of crime and deviance, and factors related to the maintenance of social order, including the relationship of class, gender, race, ethnicity, and age to social inequalities; gender differences; sources of social order; and methods of social control in different types of societies.
• Demonstrate knowledge of population demographics and developments related to the changing nature of society, including the causes and effects of urbanization and industrialization; forms and theories of collective behavior; and processes of social change in traditional, modern, and postmodern societies.

Competency 0012–Understand concepts, perspectives, and research skills related to the study of psychology.

For example:

• Demonstrate knowledge of psychological terms, concepts, and historical and modern theorists and their theories, including the contributions of important psychologists and the distinguishing characteristics of biological, behavioral, cognitive, sociocultural, and psychoanalytic perspectives on human personality and behavior.
• Recognize the biological basis of behavior and examine its influence on human conduct, including the major components and functions of the nervous and endocrine systems; ways in which the brain processes information; and the effect of physiology on personality, development, and behavior.
• Demonstrate knowledge of the stages of human development and factors associated with the development of personality, including the physical, cognitive, social, and emotional changes experienced during infancy, childhood, adolescence, and adulthood; factors related to gender development; and tools and theories used to describe and analyze personality and individual differences.
• Recognize principles and processes associated with learning, thinking, memory, and language, including the principles of operant and classical conditioning, processes and strategies related to decision making and creative thinking, major theories of intelligence, and processes of language acquisition.
• Demonstrate knowledge of human emotions and examine processes and methods used in the identification and treatment of psychological disorders, including the sources of stress, strategies for dealing with stress, definitions of major psychological disorders, and models and methodologies for the treatment of psychological disorders.
• Recognize and apply concepts and processes related to social psychology, including factors that influence group behavior and group dynamics; ways in which stereotypes, bias, and discrimination affect individual perceptions and group relations; and processes involved in conflict resolution.
• Apply skills and procedures used in behavioral science research, such as formulating research questions, recognizing the characteristics and uses of techniques and instruments employed in behavioral science research, using research methodologies to gather information, and assessing the appropriateness of various sources for specific inquiries.
• Demonstrate behavioral science literacy, including identifying central ideas, assessing how purpose and point of view shape an author's argument, drawing conclusions and making inferences, evaluating the validity of reasoning and the sufficiency of evidence, interpreting information represented in diverse visual formats, and recognizing assumptions in texts related to behavioral science.

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