GED Social Studies test: a guide for South Africans

What the GED Social Studies test covers, how much American history and government you need to know, and how South African students can prepare.

All guides · Reviewed 7 October 2026

Short answer: The GED Social Studies test is 70 minutes long with no break. About half is civics and government, and the rest is United States history, economics, and geography and the world. It is based on American content, which is new to most South Africans, but it mainly tests reading, reasoning and interpreting graphs, maps and historical documents.

What is tested

Civics and government (about 50 percent): the US Constitution, the three branches of government, rights, elections and how laws are made.
United States history (about 20 percent): from colonisation and independence to the civil rights movement and after.
Economics (about 15 percent): supply and demand, markets, money and government's role.
Geography and the world (about 15 percent): maps, people and places, and how geography shapes events.

Why South Africans can still do well

You are not expected to recall dates and names from memory. Most questions give you a passage, a speech, a cartoon, a map, a table or a graph, and ask you to understand it and reason about it.

What you do need is the background: who the founders were, what the Constitution set up, what the Civil War and the civil rights movement were about. With that framework, the source material makes sense. Many ideas will feel familiar, because South Africa's own constitution, courts and elections work on similar principles.

How to prepare

Learn the reading skills first: fact and opinion, bias, cause and effect, and comparing two sources.
Study American government, the biggest part of the test.
Read through American history as a story, in order, so that events connect.
Cover economics and geography, with plenty of graph and map practice.
Write timed practice exams.

Our Social Studies course follows this order in 52 lessons and assumes no earlier knowledge of American history. Try a free sample lesson.

Common questions

Is GED Social Studies about South African history?

No. It is based on United States civics, history, economics and geography. The questions mostly test whether you can read and reason about sources you are given.

How long is the GED Social Studies test?

70 minutes, with no break.

Do I have to memorise American history dates?

No. You need to understand the main events and ideas so that you can interpret the documents, maps and graphs in the questions.

Sources

GED Testing Service: test subjects