Despite its vast usefulness in natural science subjects, the use of the 5E learning cycle in social science is still minimal. The study was quasi-experiment to investigate the effect of the 5E learning cycle model on students' learning achievement in population geography. The participants were two classes of geography education students of academic year 2017/2018 in State University of Malang with forty students each. One class as an experimental group was instructed using the 5E learning cycle, while the other as a control group was traditionally instructed. Pre-test and post-test were administered and analyzed using independent sample t-test to compare learning achievement between two groups. The results showed that the experimental group had significantly improved learning achievement. The results suggest that the learning cycle can be implemented not only on natural sciences courses but also social sciences courses. The use of a learning cycle should be accompanied by a thoroughly planned instructional scenario to maximize the model advantages.