Certification Introduction
General Educational development certifications are conducted by American Council of Education to verify that the candidate has American or Canadian high school level Academic skills. The GED Testing service is a joint venture of Pearson VUE and American Council of Education. The GED testing service also conducts the certification nationwide. Passing candidates are awarded with certificate of High School Equivalency. GED certifications are taken in English, Spanish and French in many countries. These certification and conducted online and in person also in different states certification centers. Official GED testing centers are more than 3200 in United States, Canada and other countries. GED is a supporting program to help an adult to go to college or get a better job.
Related Exams
Other GED related exams are as follows:
- HiSET (High School Equivalency Diploma), a certification by ETS providing high school education credentials.
- TASC (Test Assessing Secondary Completion), a certification to ensure that candidate has high school education credentials and qualification for college level academic work.
Certification Objective
GED certification is designed especially for the students who did not completed their high school education and by passing GED these can have their high school equivalence certificate of proficiency in standard high school subjects.
GED certification is based on applying knowledge and skills in practical situations to get results rather than memorizing dates, facts or terminologies.
Certification Format
GED certification includes four different subtests and it takes almost 7 hours to complete the certification. The subjects included in GED are Reasoning through language arts, Mathematical reasoning, Social Studies and Science.
The 2 sections of Reasoning through Language Arts subject include 53 questions and 1 extended responses and a total of 140 minutes time. There is one section of mathematical reasoning including 46 questions and a time limit of 90 minutes to attempt. The rest is two sections of social studies with 34 questions and one extended response with timing of 90 minutes and two sections of science with a total of 32 questions and two short answer responses with a 90 minutes time. The language arts section includes multiple choice questions from grammar, Sentence structure, Organization and essay writing. The Social Studies section includes questions from Geography, History, Civics, Government and Economics. The Science certification covers physics, Chemistry, Life Science, Earth and space science subjects. The mathematic certification portion is covered from number operations and number sense, Measurement and Geometry, data analysis, Statistics and probability, Algebra, functions and patterns.
The transcript of GED includes final score points, percentage ranking and score comparison with other high school graduates. GED certification score criteria are different for different areas. Local Department for education can explain better about the local GED certification score rules and regulations.
Certification Information
Re-Certification
General Education Development certification is like a high school diploma so it never expires. However, individual section score do expire and have to be cleared again according to the changes made by GED testing service. Usually all the sections scores have to be renewed during one year of taking the first section test.
Exam Prerequisites
GED certification eligibility criteria vary from state to state. Mostly, the candidate must have citizenship of the state and should be above 17 years of age. A parental or district school consent letter is also mandatory in few states to take GED certification. The GED certification cost varies from state to state within America and other countries.
Disables persons willing to appear in GED certification are provided reasonable testing accommodations on request with no extra charge by submitting a form containing request for testing accommodations. The accommodations for disabled persons may include Audio cassette certifications, Braille or large print certifications, vision enhancing technology, use of video or talking calculator or scribe or extended testing time limit.
Skills and Benefits
- GED certification scores are acceptable in nearly all universities as a high school diploma and as a prerequisite for admission but it cannot replace the university admission certification. Once the GED certification is passed it is valid as a high school degree with no validity issues.
- GED certification passers can pursue their education in colleges and universities and can be an effective part of the society.
- GED certification score improves a person's economic growth opportunities and increases the chance of employment.
What's next?
GED scores are used to apply for university admissions or for other career aptitude tests e.g. ASVAB.
