How to Prepare for the Social Studies Teacher License Test: A 6-Week Plan by Domain Weight

Last verified: 31 October 2026. The weights come from the candidate guide for Social Studies teachers (pp. 6-7), and the standards from the Social Studies teacher standards document. This guide is independent: it is not affiliated with ETEC, Qiyas (the National Center for Assessment), the Ministry of Education or any government body.

In short: a six-week plan that splits your time across the four domains by weight: two weeks of geography (42.7%), two weeks of history (36%), citizenship education (12%) in week 1 with a short session every week, teaching methods (9.3%) in week 5, and a final week of full mock exams. The next sitting is expected in late January 2027, so if you have longer, stretch each week to two (dates).

How we divide the time

Geography and history are 59 of the 75 questions, and they take most of your time. Citizenship is only nine questions, but it comes at the start of the plan because the material in circulation rarely covers it, and its questions are short and won by exact memory. If a domain is already strong from your daily teaching, shorten its time and add it to your weakest domain after the week-one diagnosis.

Rules for every week

• Calculations without a calculator: the test does not allow one. From the start, practise on paper population density (population ÷ area), converting map scales (on a 1:1,000,000 map every 1 cm is 10 km) and time differences (15 degrees of longitude per hour).
• Read the standard, then practise: each standard has indicators in what the test covers, and each question measures one indicator. Start each topic with its indicators, then answer its questions in practice mode.
• Read the explanation of every option: a wrong option shows you the common mix-up, such as crediting one king with another's achievement or picking a ministry's old name. Write down what you got wrong.
• Read all the options: in social studies questions the options are of one kind (four imams or four nearby years), so guessing does not help.
• Citizenship session: twenty minutes every week on the table of responsible bodies and the concepts of digital citizenship and national security, so you do not forget what you memorised in week 1.
• Review your mistakes: on the first day of each week, redo last week's questions that you got wrong.
• End of every week: practice on the week's topics.

Week 1: Diagnosis and citizenship education

• Day one: the free questions (10 questions) to see where you stand in the four domains, and note your two weakest.
• 6.38.10: the concept of government and the system of rule in the Kingdom (the Basic Law of Governance), the three state authorities, types of regulations and their benefits, the body responsible for each service or license, with the current names of ministries and authorities.
• 6.38.11: citizenship, values and the symbols of national identity (flag, anthem, emblem) and telling them apart from social features, digital citizenship, national security and national responsibility, and citizens' rights and duties.
• End of the week: practice on the whole domain (9 of the 75 questions).

Week 2: Geography (1)

• 6.38.5: physical and human features of a place, cardinal and intermediate directions and relative location, and classifying plants (annual or perennial).
• 6.38.6: the two motions of Earth and what each produces (day and night from rotation on its axis, seasons from revolution around the Sun with the tilt of the axis), lines of longitude and latitude and calculating time, and the difference between weather and climate.
• 6.38.8: map elements and scale, remote sensing, geographic information systems, and the difference between an aerial photograph and a satellite image. It weighs only 4%, so two days are enough.
• End of the week: practice on these standards, and convert scales on paper.

Week 3: Geography (2)

• 6.38.7 (weight 10.7%, eight questions): the elements and factors of population growth, population density (arithmetic density), population distribution, types of settlement, economic activities, and urban problems and solutions.
• 6.38.9: the Kingdom's astronomical and geographic location and its strategic importance, terrain, climate, population and its distribution, and economic resources and their effect on development.
• End of the week: practice on all of geography (standards 6.38.5 to 6.38.9, 32 of the 75 questions), then review the mistakes of the two weeks.

Week 4: History (1)

• 6.38.1: put events and figures in order: the Prophet's campaigns in time order, each Rightly Guided Caliph's contribution, the first and second Saudi states (Imam Muhammad bin Saud and Diriyah, Imam Turki bin Abdullah and Riyadh as capital), and the unification of the Kingdom by King Abdulaziz (retaking Riyadh in 1319 AH, the Darin treaty in 1334 AH, the declaration of the Kingdom in 1351 AH).
• 6.38.2: social change after the rise of Islam and after the founding, customs that changed, and the discovery of oil (the exploration concession in 1352 AH, then the first commercial discovery in 1357 AH). It weighs 10.7%, eight questions.
• End of the week: practice on the two standards, and note that a question about "granting the concession" differs from one about the "first discovery".

Week 5: History (2) and teaching methods

• 6.38.3: telling apart pre-Islam, the Dawn of Islam, early Islam and the era of the Rightly Guided Caliphs, and the work of Kings Saud, Faisal, Khalid, Fahd and Abdullah. One king's achievement is often credited to another, so write three achievements for each king.
• 6.38.4: the Prophet's relationship with his Companions, the strife of the late Rashidun period, the contribution of peoples to Islamic civilisation, and King Salman's humanitarian and relief work.
• 6.38.12: linking the teaching method to the lesson goal and to learner characteristics, skills for presenting geographic information (charts and maps), and brainstorming.
• 6.38.13: the project method and problem solving and the difference between them, augmented and virtual reality, learner-centred teaching, and self-directed and cooperative learning.
• End of the week: practice on all of history (27 of the 75 questions), then on teaching methods (7 questions).

Week 6: Full mock exams

• First full mock exam (75 questions in 120 minutes) at the start of the week, without a phone or calculator. Compare its result with the week-one diagnosis, domain by domain.
• Review its mistakes and go back to your two weakest domains. Start with geography if it is one of them, as it is 32 of the 75 questions.
• A second full mock exam two days before the test, then a light review. Do not start a new topic on the last day.
• On test day: check the ID you need and what is allowed, sleep early and arrive early.

If you have less time

If fewer than six weeks remain, start with the diagnosis and squeeze the plan in this order: geography first, then history, then citizenship education, then teaching methods. Keep the last three days for two full mock exams and a review of their mistakes.

This plan is our suggestion for organising your time and does not guarantee any score, and the result of a mock exam is an estimate of your readiness, not an official result. Start in practice by unit with geography (42.7%) and history (36%), and leave the full mock exam for the end of the plan.