While evaluating social science the following questions will help to…

Evaluation of a syllabus can probe two different things: its objectives — the learning outcomes it sets, such as the skills to be developed and the level of competence expected of learners — or its structure and source — how the syllabus document itself is compiled and organised, such as which text(s) it is drawn from or how detailed its outline is. A question helps understand a syllabus's objectives only when it asks about what learners are meant to achieve, not about how the document is put together.

Here, (a) "What skills are emphasised in the syllabus?" and (d) "What level of competence is demanded of learner on each social science skill?" both ask directly about the learning outcomes targeted by the syllabus — which skills, and to what depth. These are objective-oriented questions, so the pair (a) and (d) is the set of questions that help understand social science's objectives.

By contrast, the other two criteria are not about objectives:

• (b) "Is it derived from a standard text or combination of texts?" is about the source of the syllabus content, a matter of curriculum compilation.

• (c) "How detailed is the outline of syllabus?" is about the format of the syllabus document, not the learning goals it sets.

Every option that includes (b) or (c) therefore mixes in a criterion unrelated to objectives, leaving (a) and (d) as the correct pair.