Thirty-five of the 50 marks on the O-Level Social Studies paper come from one source-based case study. Seventy per cent of the paper, decided in about an hour, on sources your child has never seen.
Most students revise for the other 30 per cent. They learn the three Issues, they memorise examples, and then they meet five questions built on four or five unfamiliar sources and discover that none of it tells them what to write.
This guide covers the source-based case study as SEAB structures it: where the 35 marks sit, what each question type is asking, and the answer structure that reaches the top band for each one.
A note on syllabus codes before we start, because it affects whether the rest of an article is worth reading. Social Studies is examined within Combined Humanities under codes 2260, 2261 and 2262, depending on the elective. Code 2273 is retired and does not appear in SEAB’s 2026 syllabus listing. Several widely shared SBQ guides still cite it.
How the 35 Marks Are Split
The Social Studies paper runs 1 hour 45 minutes for 50 marks. Section A is the source-based case study at 35 marks. Section B is two structured-response questions at 15 marks (SEAB, syllabus 2260).
Inside Section A, the syllabus sets out the split:
Questions 1 to 4: 25 marks between them. These test source-handling skills on specific sources.
Question 5: 10 marks. This one requires source-handling skills across multiple sources, and the syllabus specifies that the question “will require candidates to consider the issue of the case study from a different perspective.”
Question 5 is worth as much as two of the earlier questions put together. It is also the question students most often reach with eight minutes left, because nobody told them the split. We ask every new student how Section A divides up, and almost none of them know.
Everything in Section A is marked with a Levels of Response Marking Scheme, which SEAB calls LORMS. That single fact changes how a student should write. The examiner is not counting correct points and adding them up. They are reading the answer as a whole and deciding which band it belongs in. A student who writes four thin points scores lower than a student who develops two properly.
The Skills the Syllabus Names
The syllabus does not label question types. It lists the skills in Assessment Objective 2, Interpreting and Evaluating Sources or Given Information. Candidates should be able to:
- comprehend and extract relevant information
- draw inferences from given information
- analyse and evaluate evidence
- compare and contrast different views
- distinguish between fact, opinion and judgement
- recognise values and detect bias
- draw conclusions based on reasoned consideration of evidence and arguments
The question formats students meet in the exam and in past papers, inference, comparison, reliability, usefulness, surprise and assertion, are the standard ways examiners test those skills. Knowing which skill sits behind each format tells you what the examiner is waiting to see.
Inference Questions
What it asks: what a source suggests or implies, beyond what it says outright.
Syllabus skill: draw inferences from given information.
Typical wording: “What can you infer from Source A about…” or “What does Source B suggest about…”
Where students lose the marks
They describe. A photograph shows a long queue outside an employment office. The student writes that many people are waiting in line. That sentence has extracted information, which is the lower skill, and stopped short of inferring.
They also infer without anchoring. A student writes that unemployment was severe, points at nothing in the source, and leaves the examiner to fill in the gap.
The structure that works
Start with the inference itself, stated as a claim about the situation rather than a description of the source. Then quote or point to the specific detail in the source that supports it. Then explain the link, so the examiner can see why that detail leads to that claim rather than to some other claim.
For the same photograph: the source suggests that finding work had become difficult enough that people would give up a working day to queue. The queue extends past the end of the street, and several people are carrying documents. People do not spend hours queueing for something they expect to be easy to get.
That is one developed inference. Under LORMS, one developed inference outscores three undeveloped ones.
Comparison Questions
What it asks: how two sources are similar or different in what they say, or in the view they take.
Syllabus skill: compare and contrast different views.
Typical wording: “How similar are Sources A and B?” or “How far does Source C support Source D?”
Where students lose the marks
They summarise each source in turn and never compare. Two paragraphs, one per source, joined by the word “however”, is not a comparison.
They compare surface content when the question is about views. Two sources can describe the same event and take opposite positions on it, and that is usually the comparison the examiner wants.
The structure that works
State the point of similarity or difference first, as a single claim about both sources together. Then give evidence from each source for that same point. Then explain what the similarity or difference amounts to.
Then do it again for the other side. If the question asks how similar two sources are, address both similarity and difference, and finish with a judgement on which dominates. “How far” and “how similar” are asking for a position, not a list.
Comparing on the same criterion in both halves is what separates the top band. A student who says Source A is optimistic and Source B mentions costs has compared two different things.
Reliability Questions
What it asks: how much weight the source deserves as evidence.
Syllabus skills: analyse and evaluate evidence; distinguish between fact, opinion and judgement; recognise values and detect bias.
Typical wording: “How reliable is Source A?” or “Do you trust what Source B says about…?”
Where students lose the marks
Two failures, and they are opposites.
Some students only discuss content: whether the source is accurate, whether it matches what they know. That ignores where the source came from.
Others recite provenance mechanically. “This source is from a government minister, so it is biased” is a template, not an evaluation. Being a government minister does not automatically make a statement unreliable, and the examiner has seen that sentence several thousand times.
The structure that works
Work through the source in two passes.
First, the provenance. Who produced it, when, for whom, and in what circumstances. Then push one step further and ask what interest that person or body has in the issue. Someone defending a decision they made has a reason to present it favourably. Someone reporting on a decision that does not affect them does not.
Second, the content. Is it fact, opinion or judgement? Does the tone or language reveal a position? Is anything missing that you would expect an honest account to include?
Then give a verdict with a condition attached. Reliability is rarely all or nothing. A source can be unreliable as a neutral account of what happened and reliable as evidence of how a particular group felt. Saying which is which is the top-band move.
Usefulness Questions
What it asks: how far the source helps you answer a specific question.
Syllabus skill: draw conclusions based on reasoned consideration of evidence.
Typical wording: “How useful is Source A for understanding…?”
Where students lose the marks
They answer a reliability question instead. Usefulness and reliability are related and not the same. A biased source can be useful, because bias is itself evidence about the person who holds it.
They also answer in the abstract. Usefulness is always usefulness for something. The question names the purpose. The answer has to keep referring to it.
The structure that works
Repeat the purpose from the question in your first sentence, so the answer is anchored to it.
Then say what the source gives you towards that purpose, with evidence.
Then say what it does not give you, or what limits how far you can rely on it. Provenance belongs here, because reliability affects usefulness rather than replacing it.
Then reach a verdict that answers the question asked: useful for this, limited for that.
Surprise and Assertion Questions
Two formats that appear regularly and follow a different logic.
Surprise questions ask whether you are surprised by a source, usually in light of another source or your own knowledge. The answer needs both sides. Explain what you expected, based on evidence, then what the source says, then argue both that it is surprising and that it is not, before reaching a position. A one-sided answer cannot reach the top band, because the question is testing whether you can hold two readings at once.
Assertion questions give you a statement and ask how far the sources support it. Group the sources: which ones support the assertion, which ones challenge it, and which do both. Explain each grouping with evidence. Then judge how far the sources as a whole support the assertion, and say what the strongest evidence on the losing side was.
Both formats are asking for the reasoning that AO2’s final descriptor names: drawing conclusions based on reasoned consideration of evidence and arguments.
Question 5 and the Ten Marks
Question 5 deserves its own preparation because it works differently from Questions 1 to 4.
The syllabus states it requires source-handling skills across multiple sources, and that it “will require candidates to consider the issue of the case study from a different perspective.”
Two implications.
You must use more than one source. An answer built on a single source is answering a Question 1 to 4 task with a Question 5 mark allocation.
You must shift perspective. The question is asking you to look at the issue from an angle the case study has not already taken. That might mean the perspective of a group the sources under-represent, or a reading of the evidence that cuts against the obvious one.
Give it 15 minutes. Plan which sources you are pairing and what the perspective is before you write.
Timing
Fifty marks in 1 hour 45 minutes. Sources take real time to read, and the reading is not optional.
A workable division:
- 10 minutes reading the sources and the questions
- 45 minutes on Questions 1 to 4
- 15 minutes on Question 5
- 30 minutes on Section B
- 5 minutes checking
Section B is only 15 marks, and it is the section students most often leave short. Two structured-response questions worth 7 and 8 marks, both marked with LORMS, both asking for reasoned argument and judgement. Thirty minutes is the floor, not a generous allowance.
The Exam-Day Detail Worth Knowing
The syllabus states that the structured-response questions in Section B “will not be on the same Issue as the source-based case study.”
Once you identify which of the three Issues the case study is drawn from, you have narrowed Section B to the other two. Use that. It takes ten seconds and it changes how you approach the second half of the paper.
Where GeogCafe Fits
Source-based skills improve through marked practice, not through reading about them. Our Secondary classes work through the source-based case study format weekly, with written feedback that names the band a response reached and what the next band requires.
We teach both halves of Combined Humanities: Social Studies with its case study and structured-response questions, and the Geography elective across all four clusters.
Book a trial lesson and we will set a source-based case study, mark it against the level descriptors, and send back the script with the reasoning explained.
Frequently Asked Questions
How many marks is the Social Studies SBQ worth?
Section A, the source-based case study, carries 35 of the 50 marks on the Social Studies paper. Questions 1 to 4 share 25 marks and Question 5 carries 10 marks on its own (SEAB, syllabus 2260).
What is the difference between reliability and usefulness in SBQ?
Reliability asks how much you can trust the source as evidence. Usefulness asks how far the source helps you answer a specific question. A source can be unreliable and still useful, because a one-sided account is strong evidence of the position its author held. Usefulness answers must keep referring to the purpose named in the question.
How many sources should I use in the last SBQ question?
More than one. The syllabus describes Question 5 as testing source-handling skills that require the use of multiple sources, and requiring candidates to consider the issue from a different perspective. A single-source answer cannot meet what the question is asking for.
How is the Social Studies SBQ marked?
With a Levels of Response Marking Scheme, which SEAB abbreviates to LORMS. The examiner places the answer in a band based on the quality of the reasoning as a whole, rather than counting individual correct points. Two developed points usually score higher than four undeveloped ones.
How do I practise SBQ without memorising templates?
Use the structures to plan, then mark your own work against level descriptors rather than against a model answer. After writing each response, read it and ask which band it sits in and what the next band up requires. Students who review three answers a week improve faster than students who complete twice as many papers unmarked.
