Özet:

As is the case in many countries, the success of students is evaluated based on their performance in different exams (İOKSB, LYS, YGS, TEOG, SBS, vb.) as a requirement of the systems implemented in Turkey. For this reason, the questions in various exams must be prepared in line with certain criteria and must aim at improving the high-level thinking skills of students. Of these central exams, the Primary and Secondary Education Institutions Scholarship Exam (IOKSB) is the exam that the 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th grades of secondary schools, the preparatory class of high schools and the 9th, 10th and 11th grades take in order to receive regular scholarships from the state. The present study was conducted to examine the social sciences questions asked in the state boarding and scholarship exams between 2010-2020 in terms of social sciences skills, and also, to examine the distribution of these skills. The Document Analysis Method was used in the study. A total of 775 questions of the 5th, 6th, and 7th classes of social sciences lessons, which were asked in the scholarship exams held between the 2010-2011 and 2019-2020 academic years, were examined in the scope of the study. In this examination, it was seen that the most measured skill was the critical thinking skill in the exams held between the specified dates. When the questions that measure critical thinking skills were evaluated, it was seen that these questions were asked in different ways, such as questioning the knowledge obtained beforehand, making inferences from given premises, questioning information directly, establishing a cause-effect relationship, and making analysis. Again, when the diversity of the skills measured in the years was examined, it was found that several skills were measured close to each other at all grade levels.