Teachers' Professional License – Subject Test: Sociology: free practice test

Practice question Unit: Foundations and Theories of Sociology

1. ASocial action, Max Weber

   Weber's social action concerns the subjective meaning actors give their acts, not linking troubles to issues.

2. BSocial facts, Émile Durkheim

   Durkheim's social facts are external, constraining ways of acting; this phrasing belongs to someone else.

3. CThe sociological imagination, C. Wright Mills ✓ Correct answer

   Mills distinguished personal troubles from public issues and urged linking individual experience to social structure.

4. DClass consciousness and alienation, Karl Marx

   Class consciousness is a class's awareness of shared interests, not the troubles/issues distinction.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.1 (Concept, aims, fields and core terms of sociology (Arabic and English)), indicator 1, p. 8

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Practice question Unit: Foundations and Theories of Sociology

1. A(1) conflict, (2) functionalism, (3) exchange

   The first is functionalist and the second conflict; the third is symbolic, not exchange.

2. B(1) functionalism, (2) symbolic interactionism, (3) conflict

   Dominant firms' interests are conflict logic, and symbolic meaning is interactionist.

3. C(1) symbolic interactionism, (2) conflict, (3) functionalism

   The first and third are swapped.

4. D(1) functionalism, (2) conflict, (3) symbolic interactionism ✓ Correct answer

   Function for society is functionalist, dominant interests are conflict, symbolic meaning is interactionist.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.2 (Main sociological theories and modern approaches, and their core assumptions), indicator 2, p. 8

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Practice question Unit: Social Research Skills

1. AImpossible and unethical; a causal-comparative design with existing groups fits better ✓ Correct answer

   When a variable cannot be manipulated, researchers compare existing groups and control other factors statistically.

2. BSound if the researcher gets the school administration's approval first

   Administrative approval does not solve it; random assignment to divorce is impossible and unethical in itself.

3. CImpossible; better just to interview the children on how they feel about their parents' divorce

   Interviewing children helps understand feelings but does not measure the effect on achievement the question asks about.

4. DFeasible if the families are drawn at random from court records

   Random drawing from records is sampling, not random assignment; divorce cannot be imposed on families.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.4 (Social research methods, field research procedures and data collection tools), indicator 2, p. 8

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Practice question Unit: Social Research Skills

1. APearson, since it is the strongest and most widely used correlation

   Pearson needs interval or ratio variables; these are ordinal, so its popularity does not make it fit.

2. BSpearman or gamma, since both variables are ordinal ✓ Correct answer

   Ranked data need rank correlation coefficients.

3. CA t-test, since each variable has three categories

   The t-test compares two means, not association.

4. DThe mean of each variable separately

   Separate description does not measure association.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.5 (Social measurement and statistics, research variables and suitable methods), indicator 3, p. 8

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Practice question Unit: Applied Sociology

1. AA free class discussion of opinions without data

   Discussion engages students, but without data it does not train them to analyse the indicator.

2. BDictating a ready list of e-learning pros and cons

   Dictation does not build analysis skills.

3. CA lecture presenting study findings on e-learning's effects

   Presenting findings helps, but students receive the analysis ready-made instead of doing it.

4. DA small project where students collect and analyse peer data ✓ Correct answer

   A short inquiry links the indicator to reality and builds analysis.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.6 (Social change and social development: mechanisms, obstacles and action research), indicator 2, p. 9

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Practice question Unit: Applied Sociology

1. AThe first is informal; the second classic bureaucracy

   The description is reversed.

2. BThe first is bureaucratic; the second a flexible networked form ✓ Correct answer

   Modern organisations developed less hierarchical forms for rapid change.

3. CThe first is bureaucratic; the second an informal group built on personal ties

   Project teams are formally set up for set goals, so they are a flexible formal structure, not an informal group.

4. DBoth are formal organisations that differ in size and scope

   Both are formal, but they differ in structure, rigid hierarchy versus flexible teams, not in size.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.7 (Social organisation and social structure, institutions and bureaucracy), indicator 3, p. 9

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Practice question Unit: Applied Sociology

1. ALabelling theory; conformity

   Labelling explains the effect of labels, not goal-means gaps.

2. BMerton's strain theory; retreatism

   Retreatism rejects both goals and means.

3. CDifferential association; ritualism

   Sutherland explains by learning; ritualism keeps means without goals.

4. DMerton's strain theory; innovation ✓ Correct answer

   Accepting the goal and rejecting legitimate means is "innovation".

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.8 (Deviance, criminology, theories of crime and social control), indicator 3, p. 9

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Practice question Unit: Anthropology

1. AEthnocentric and relativist perspectives

   He did not judge by his own culture.

2. BThe physical-anthropology and archaeology perspectives

   He studied neither bodies nor remains.

3. CThe emic insider and etic outsider perspectives ✓ Correct answer

   The first describes in insiders' meanings; the second analyses in comparative terms.

4. DThe acculturation and diffusion perspectives

   These are change concepts, not perspectives.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.10 (Anthropology (branches, terms), culture (traits, components) and fieldwork methods), indicator 2, p. 10

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Practice question Unit: Anthropology

1. AHigh-rise towers with gyms and pools inside each building

   Facilities inside each tower keep residents within their building and do not bring the district together.

2. BShared spaces like a mosque and park near people's homes ✓ Correct answer

   Nearby shared places such as a mosque and park create frequent encounters that build ties and belonging.

3. CA large mall on the district edge serving the whole city

   A city-wide mall draws outsiders and car trips; it serves consumption, not neighbourly contact.

4. DWide roads and car parks for fast access to each home

   Easy car access is convenient, but wide roads cut walking and chance meetings between neighbours.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.11 (Local community, settlement patterns, prevailing social systems and their problems), indicator 1, p. 10

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Practice question Unit: Teaching Methods and Curriculum

1. AInquiry learning ✓ Correct answer

   Posing a question, then forming hypotheses, gathering data and testing them, is the inquiry cycle.

2. BCooperative learning

   Cooperative learning is defined by group work with set roles; the case describes inquiry steps, not groups.

3. CDrill and repetition

   Drill rests on memorising; students neither form nor test hypotheses.

4. DProject-based learning

   Projects centre on making a final product over time; a question, hypotheses and data testing make this inquiry.

Reference: ETEC Sociology Teacher Standards (2020), Standard 6.33.13 (Teaching methods and strategies), indicator 2, p. 10

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