As of Thursday, a new GED test is in effect across the United States. Those who didn’t complete the old GED will now have to start from scratch with the new one, which is significantly more rigorous.
The new assessment will continue to provide adults the opportunity to earn a high school credential. But it goes further by measuring career- and college-readiness skills that are the focus of today’s curriculum.
The General Educational Development exam was created in 1942 to help World War II veterans who dropped out of high school use college benefits offered under the GI Bill. This is the fifth edition, and the first changes in more than a decade.
The new GED – which is aligned with national Common Core Standards -- is designed not only to measure what a student knows, but also to measure the ability to use that knowledge to solve problems, express ideas. It also gauges critical thinking in four areas: literacy, math, science and social studies.
There’s not much of a change in the math section, but in the other three some multiple-choice questions will be replaced by those requiring a short-answer. Under the old test, when a student failed a section they got the overall results -- but no information on just what they passed and what they missed.
Paper and pencils are being replaced with a computer-based test and a new website – ged.com. There’s also a higher cost, going from about $70 to $130.
Those eligible to take the GED must be at least 18 years old; not currently enrolled in high school, and did not graduate from an accredited high school. Students under 18 can seek an age waiver.
More information, along with practice test questions, are at ged.com.
