BECE Social Studies Questions with Wrong and Correct Answers

Candidates always struggle to answer questions correctly. In this write-up, we share some BECE Social Studies Questions with wrong and correct answers. This will help candidates to know how to answer questions correctly and excel in their examinations.

OBJECTIVES TREND: Candidates preparing for the 2023 BEC are advised to revise the Objective test papers from 2016-to 2021

Learn from 2016 past questions to 2022. You will get more than 20 questions in 202.

Now let us take a critical look at the BECE Social Studies Questions with wrong and correct answers.

Question

1. Explain the meaning of the environment/what is the

environment/describe the environment.

1. Outline/Explain/Describe/Highlight/Account four importance of the environment

Answer script A (poor answering of the question)

1. Environment refers to our physical and social surroundings
3. Food
4. Raw material

iii. Home for organisms

1. Medicine

Answer script b (correct answering of the question)

1. Environment refers to our physical and social surroundings. The physical surroundings include all the things we can see, feel and touch. Examples are; the land, water bodies, vegetation and more. The social environment  deals with the interpersonal relationships among people in their societies.  Examples are; festivals, language, music and dance. Indeed the  environment is the immediate contact of mankind.
2. Environment refers to our physical and social surroundings. There are several importance of the environment. Some of the importance of environment are; provision of food, source of raw materials, home for  organism and provision of medicine. Below are the details of the  importance of the environment.

The first importance of the environment is the provision of food. The  environment provides us with food. All the foods we eat are obtained  from the environment. Examples of plants foods are vegetables, root

tubers and animal foods are beef, pork etc. These foods help us to grow  and obtained energy to work.

In addition, the environment serves us the source of raw material. The  environment helps us to get things needed for production. Some of the  materials are used to manufacture artifacts that aid us in transport,  communication, cooking and many more. Examples of raw material  provided by the environment are; timber, gold, soil, etc.

More importantly, the environment is the home for organisms. The  environment provides a dwelling place for organisms to live. These places  provide security and safety to multiply. Some of the organisms live on  tree, land and water. Examples include; man, animals etc.

Finally, we get medicine from the environment. The environment helps us  to get medicine to cure diseases we face as mankind. We get these medicines from herbs, plants and other organisms. The medicines help us  to stay healthy and strong.

To conclude, the importance of the environment are; food, raw materials, home and medicine in that help in the survival of mankind.

2023 BECE Social Studies Questions with wrong and correct answers

Sample answer script 2

Question

1. Define productivity
2. State four(4) factors affecting the productivity

Answer script A (poor answering)

1. Productivity is output per man’s hour.
2. i. technology
3. Education

iii. Supervision

iv.conditions of work

Answer script 2(correct answering)

a

Productivity is output per man’s hour. It means what one can do at any given  time given the needed resources and technology. For instance a person who  can weed a plot of land in one hour is more productive than someone weeding  a plot of land in 2 days if they all use the same resources and technology.  Productivity is needed in every place where work is done.

b

1. Technology can affect productivity eg. Using computer at the workplace ii. Productivity can be affected by education eg. Learning carpentry iii. Supervision affects productivity

Iv. conditions of work affects productivity eg. Fatty salary

PAPER 2

There will be three sections

SECTION ONE

OUR ENVIRONMENT

This section has been divided into two parts; physical environment and social  environment

TOPICS

PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT

1. The environment and its challenges
2. Mapping our environment
3. Ghana my country
4. Significant features of the earth

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

1. Population

HIGHLY LIKELY TOPICS OUR ENVIRONMENT

1. Population
2. The environment and challenges
3. Ghana my country
4. Significant features on earth

PAST QUESTIONS TREND AND ANALYSIS

NATURE OF THE EXAMINATION (OUR ENVIRONMENT)

The two questions under this section will come from;

1. Social environment and physical environment
2. All social environment

Questions are set from the two parts, one question from each section. The  easiest way is to learn the social environment

1. Population

LIKELY QUESTIONS AND THEIR SCHEME

SOCIAL ENVIRONMENT

CULTURE AND CHANGE

Question 1

1. What is culture?

Suggested answer

Culture is a way of life of people in a given community. This means, the way  people do things in a particular manner in a community. Culture can be  material and non-material. Material aspect of culture deals with the tangible

part of culture such as cloths and tools. Non-material culture also deals with  the aspect of culture that are not tangible. They include; dance, music,  language and many more.

1. Explain four ways by which Ghanaians expressed their Ghanaian culture Suggested answer

The ways by which Ghanaians express their culture are below.

Firstly, Ghanaians expressed their culture through the celebration of  festivals. Ghanaians show a lot of their culture at the time of festivals celebrations. During  festivals celebrations, drumming, dancing, singing, dressings and many more artefacts of  Ghanaians are showcased. These items portray our way of life as a people and make us  unique. As a result, children are able to learn from them and get socialized to make the  culture of the people generational. Consequently, the elements of our culture are  maintained for future generations. It is a fact that Ghanaians expressed their culture  through festivals.

In addition, Ghanaians expressed their culture through their languages.  Most languages in Ghana show the culture of the people. The elements of almost the  languages among the ethnic groups in the country show what they are. These languages  show the beliefs, the character and passion of the people of the country. For instance, all  languages carry proverbs which are full of the customs of the people. As these people  speak the languages, the customs are passed on to the younger generations. As a result of  this, the younger generations will be able to move along with the local language and the  customs in it and preserve them. In all, language can be used to express the culture of the  people.

Again, Ghanaians expressed their culture through the food they eat. We can  easily identify ethnic groups in Ghana through their food. All the ethnic groups in Ghana  have their distinct food. For example; the main food for the Akan is fufu, that of Ga and

Fante is Kenkey, Ewe is Akple and many more. These foods show the way of life of the  people. Some even have the origin of their foods which show the cultural route of the  people. As a result, eating those traditional foods will help to showcase our culture. This  will lead to proper socialization of our children to accept our culture and preserve them.  Finally, Ghanaians express their culture through dressing. Most ethnic groups in  Ghana showcase their culture by their cloths they wear. The cloths they wear show whom

they are as people. For instance, the ethnic groups in the northern regions of Ghana wear  smock(batakari), kente is popular among the ethnic groups in southern Ghana such as  Akan, Ewe, Fante, and many more. These dressings are full of cultural symbols showing  the origin of the people as well as their beliefs and customs. As a result, wearing these  cloths will make the younger generation know and learn the elements of our culture and  preserve them. Our dressings say a lot about our culture as people in Ghana.

To conclude, Ghanaians express their culture through festivals, language,  food and dressing.

Question 6

1. Explain
2. Dynamic culture

Suggested answer

Dynamic culture is the type of culture that continuously re-examines its way of  life and makes constant changes to keep the culture in line with the need of  modern times. This means that, dynamic cultures make people reflect and  examine their own culture and make the necessary changes in their way of life  and maintain and shape the good ones to meet the modern trend in the  society. With dynamic culture, people learn other cultures, adapts and  associates the good parts of other cultures to its own in order to make its own  culture stronger. Some of the factors for dynamic culture are; education,  lifelong learning and more.

READ: How to answer BECE & WASSCE SOCIAL STUDIES questions

Explain

1. Cultural assimilation

Cultural assimilation is the practice by which societies adopt or absorb  aspects or whole of other societies or country’s cultures. This means  that the society pick the whole or part of another society way of life  and practice them to benefit them. At times they do practice their  culture and that of the assimilated culture at the same time. For  example, the adoption of English Language as official language of  Ghana instead of Ghanaian Language.

1. Parallel culture

Parallel culture refers to the practice whereby two ways of doing things are  adopted by a society while only one could suffice. This means, parallel culture  is the two ways of doing the same thing whereby only one could be done.  Instance of a parallel culture is performing the traditional marriage rites and  church wedding by the same couples.

Question 7

1. What is superstition

Suggested answer

Superstition is the belief and fear of certain events which cannot be proven or explained.  This means that superstition is the belief in customs which are not scientifically proven.  They do not have any method to ascertain the facts of them. Some of the superstitions  include belief in; curses, juju, magic, witchcrafts and many more.

1. State four sources of superstitious beliefs

Suggested answer

1. A source of superstition is African movie
2. A source of superstition is myth
3. A source of superstition is taboo
4. Ignorance is a source of superstition
5. State four negative effects of superstitions

Suggested answers

1. Superstition slows down growth and development
2. Superstition leads to abuse of human rights
3. Superstition leads to irrational fear
4. Superstition reduces scientific and critical thinking.

2023 BECE Social Studies Questions with wrong and correct answers

Question 8

1. What is cultural change

Suggested answer

Cultural change means adaptation and shift in social, economic and general cultural life of the people  in a given society to be able to cope with development around them. This means that, culture keeps  on changing over time. The culture of a society 200 years ago is different from the culture of the same  society now. Culture can be changed due to internal and external factors. The internal factors may  come from change of mind or inventions in new ways of doing things. Also, the external factors come  with influence of foreign actors such as religion and education. Cultural change is the main way to  develop as a society.

1. Explain four factors responsible for cultural change

Suggested answer

The four factors responsible for cultural change are below.

Firstly, education is responsible for cultural change. Education has positively changed the culture many societies. As more people are educated, they are made aware and learn new ways of doing things. Some of the people will change their outmoded culture and adopt better ways of life.  For instance, educated people think scientifically and always deal with things in factual ways rather than superstition. As a result, these societies will be able to progress in their ways of life leading to progress in their society. Education is the main contributor of cultural change in Ghana.

Another factor responsible for cultural change is trade. Trading activities can influence the culture of the people. People who travel for trading activities are exposed to new ways of doing things. Some of them are exposed to new food, new language and new dressing. As a result, these people copy the new ways of doing things and practice them. Consequently, some of the people who trade change their culture for better. We can see that trade is responsible for cultural change  In addition, the influence of foreign religion causes cultural change. People who get expose with  foreign religion can change their way of doing things. As they learn more teachings and practices of  their new religion, they start to question the way they do things. As a result, they find the bad sides  of their practices and customs and stop them. In effect, these people will be following their new  religion and customs deem best for them. Therefore, the introduction foreign religion leads to  change of culture of the people.

Finally, inter-marriages cause cultural change. People who marry partners from different  ethnic background are exposed to different cultures. The partners are exposed to languages, foods,  cloths and many more of each other’s background. For instance, they will learn to speak the language  of each other, eat each other food, wear each other cloth and many more. As a result, they learn new  ways of doing things leading them to change their way of life. The fact is that inter-marriages leads to  cultural change.

In conclusion, education, trade, foreign religion and inter-marriages are responsible for cultural change.

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