Social studies have two parts, history and geography. Sometimes studying history can be boring but not if you know how to make it a fun and interesting subject.

Here are some tips for studying Social Studies:

• While reading a topic, highlight names, places, event and dates. Associate them with the events.
• Make a chart of the people and places involved in a particular event. Sometimes rhyming helps to make you remember too. For example “In fourteen hundred and ninety two Columbus sailed the ocean blue”
• Work out your own explanations of hard-to-understand passages. Go in short units (a few words at a time), translate their meaning, think of associations, relate them to other parts of the passage, make inferences and try to make your mental model of the meaning match the writer’s mental model.
• Mark passages with a question mark that you still do not understand.
• To study about locations of countries, their climates, agriculture or traditions, try drawing maps and write down facts about each country on it. You can make an outline of key concepts in the chapter.
• In geography, you will almost always begin with the question “Where”. You need to use or create meaningful maps. Starting with a simple outline map, you might add the topography: where the mountains, hills and plains are. You should learn where the water is. Note the lakes and rivers. Sometimes it is important to know where the natural resources are located and of course you need to know where the people are, the cities and towns.
• Or make a timeline showing important people and events.
• Create a story out of an event to remember it and try to make a list of important ideas, key people, terms, and events.
• Take notes about the things you think are important.