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Home > College Board Tests > CLEP: Exam Descriptions > Social Sciences & History

Social Sciences and History

Description of the Examination

The Social Sciences and History examination covers a wide range of topics from the social sciences and history disciplines. While the exam is based on no specific course, its content is drawn from introductory college courses that cover United States history, Western civilization, world history, government/ political science, geography, sociology, economics, psychology, and anthropology.

The primary objective of the exam is to give candidates the opportunity to demonstrate that they possess the level of knowledge and understanding expected of college students who meet a distribution or general education requirement in the social sciences/history areas.

The Social Sciences and History examination contains approximately 120 questions to be answered in 90 minutes. Some of them are pretest questions that will not be scored. Any time candidates spend on tutorials and providing personal information is in addition to the actual testing time.

Note: This examination uses the chronological designations b.c.e. (before the common era) and c.e. (common era). These labels correspond to b.c. (before Christ) and a.d. (anno Domini), which are used in some textbooks.

Knowledge and Skills Required

The Social Sciences and History examination requires candidates to demonstrate one or more of the following abilities.

  • Familiarity with terminology, facts, conventions, methodology, concepts, principles, generalizations, and theories
  • Ability to understand, interpret, and analyze graphic, pictorial, and written material
  • Ability to apply abstractions to particulars and to apply hypotheses, concepts, theories, and principles to given data

The content of the exam is drawn from the following disciplines. The percentages next to the main disciplines indicate the approximate percentage of exam questions on that topic.

  40%

History


Requires general knowledge and understanding of time- and place-specific human experiences. Topics covered include political, diplomatic, social, economic, intellectual, and cultural material.
  17% United States History

Covers the colonial period, the American Revolution, the early republic, the Civil War and Reconstruction, industrialization, the Progressive Era, the First World War, the 1920s, the Great Depression and the New Deal, the Second World War, the 1950s, the Cold War, social conflict-the 1960s and 1970s, the late twentieth century
  15% Western Civilization

Covers ancient Western Asia, Egypt, Greece, and Rome as well as medieval Europe and modern Europe, including its expansion and outposts in other parts of the world
  8% World History

Covers Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America from prehistory to the present, including global themes and interactions
  13%

Government/Political Science, including


Comparative politics
International relations
Methods
United States institutions
Voting and political behavior
  11%

Geography, including


Cartographic methods
Cultural geography
Physical geography
Population
Regional geography
Spatial interaction
  10%

Economics, including


Economic measurements
International trade
Major theorists and schools
Monetary and fiscal policy
Product markets
Resource markets
Scarcity, choice, and cost
  10%

Psychology, including


Aggression
Biopsychology
Conformity
Group process
Major theorists and schools
Methods
Performance
Personality
Socialization
  10%

Sociology, including


Demography
Deviance
Family
Interaction
Major theorists and schools
Methods
Social change
Social organization
Social stratification
Social theory
  6%

Anthropology, including


Cultural anthropology
Ethnography
Major theorists and schools
Methods
Paleoanthropology