To take traditional adult education classes, a GED candidate must find transportation to class, time away from home and work responsibilities, and child care to travel to school. A solution to this problem is online GED education. By taking online GED preparation courses, adults can more easily fit the GED into their lives. A good online study program allows a GED candidate to learn at their own pace, at times that fit into their busy schedule. Though traditional GED classes are at set times, online GED preparation is available to learners twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. When the kids have gone to bed, or in between jobs, most learners can find a half hour to an hour per day of study time.

One of the reasons online learning can be easily fit into a student’s life is that an online study program can be taken at home, so there’s no need for transportation. For one-car families, or families dependent on public transportation, studying at home is an enormous benefit. Travel time by bus or other public transportation is often much greater than by car, and adult education classes can be difficult to access. A good online GED preparation program is available instantly, through the Internet, via inexpensive net-books or other home computers.

The problem of child care is also greatly reduced through online GED preparation. Child care can be expensive and difficult to find. Though it’s important to have quiet time to study, while the children are in bed, studying, or playing, a GED candidate can study online without need to find a caretaker for the children.

Online GED preparation fits into the lives of adult learners who struggle with traditional adult education classes. More online preparation is an essential element of expanding GED outreach to adult learners with adult lives and responsibilities.

The key to passing the GED is preparation. The GED is a seven-hour test that checks important basic skills. Passing the GED shows that you have thinking, reading, writing, and math skills that are the key foundation for jobs and higher education. That’s why the GED is valuable. It shows employers and colleges that you’ve passed a milestone in acquiring the skills you need to advance.

The difference between a state like New York and one like Iowa has to do with the approach to the GED. Passing the GED isn’t just about walking in to a test center and taking a test. It starts with checking your skills, to see what gaps you need to fill in. Then, you need preparation, to get the skills that you’re missing. You need to know what’s expected on the GED and build up your abilities. Then, when you’re ready, you take the GED test. GED success is a process that includes preparation as a key element.

GED preparation is a serious problem for many people. Adults who dropped out of high school have adult responsibilities, including jobs and children. They have financial responsibilities to care for their families, time constraints, and difficulties with transportation. Even a well-run state program can be discouraging for adults who have trouble finding the time, childcare, and resources to attend GED classes.

Technology is a promising way around these problems. Innovative online learning solutions can be inexpensive and accessible for learners with restrictions on their time and resources. Online learning can be done at home or anywhere a computer and internet connection is available. More importantly, the best online learning is directed toward an individual student’s needs. Adult learners are all starting at different levels and filling different gaps in their learning. Managing an adult education class, filled with students with a wide variety of needs, is challenging. Truly personalized, engaging online learning can help adults learn faster and easier, encouraging them to stay on track to get a GED.

The benefits of the GED for both an individual adult and for the community are great, especially when the GED is viewed as a milestone in a journey toward a career or a higher education. Adults without a high school diploma or GED are the most likely to be unemployed. The Community Service Society estimates that adults without a high school diploma cost New York City $135,000 more than they pay in taxes over the course of their lifetime. The GED is an investment in the future, one that can pay off for individuals, businesses, and government.

The Community Service Society report on the New York GED can be found here: http://www.cssny.org/userimages/downloads/From%20Basic%20Skills%20to%20Better%20Futures%20Sept.%202009%20Final%20Report.pdf

The GED is more than just a piece of paper on the way toward something else, though. In studying for the GED, it’s important to think of the GED as a stepping stone to college and to a better life. GED students can learn important skills that will help them in college or in the workplace, and by learning these skills, instead of just focusing on the GED test itself, studiers can earn their GED easier as well as prepare for what’s beyond.

To make the most of your GED experience, while you’re working on your GED, you should work on:

1) good study habits… things like making a study schedule and study space, and figuring out how best to spend your study time.

2) learning to be responsible for your own learning–to own what you know and judge what you’ve learned and what you haven’t.

3) thinking about how you learn best and learning study techniques.

4) developing reading, writing, math, and thinking skills… Learning basic skills is the essence of studying for the GED because these are the skills that the GED tests. Realizing that they’re essential skills for college and the workplace puts them in a new perspective.

The GED Academy focuses on teaching these skills in addition to just knowledge that’s on the GED, because they’re skills you need, but it’s not just about being “taught.” It’s about actively learning.

No matter how much GED preparation you get, college can be a tough transition. That’s why the GED Academy recommends community or junior colleges as a transitional step between the GED and 4-year colleges for most students. Community and junior colleges have a lot of support and extra classes for students who have been out of school for a while, and you can get your feet wet at the college level. Community colleges generally accept local residents who have a GED or high school diploma. Once you have community college grades, they will be what a 4-year transfer college looks at. However, if you wanted to go directly to a four-year college, you might need higher GED scores and have to meet other requirements, like SAT or ACT score requirements. The requirements are different at different colleges.

On the positive end, in a lot of ways, college isn’t like high school. Your teachers know you’re adults. And you and your classmates are there because you want to be. You’re working toward a career and a future that YOU envision for yourself. You’ve got more responsibility, and more control over your own curriculum. These factors can make college a very positive experience, once you make a commitment to succeed.

In school, Caulkins’ problems were with math, a subject that plagues many adults who hope to earn their GED. He failed to graduate in 1976, but he became a carpenter and successful businessman. Three years ago, Caulkins decided to earn his GED, not because he needed a better job or a college education, but because he wanted the satisfaction of having the degree he lacked. Even though he was already a successful businessman, Caulkins’ lack of a degree carried with it a feeling of failure, one that was lifted when he earned the GED.

Caulkins set up a scholarship to help others achieve that feeling. Many people without GEDs struggle with childcare and financial problems that interfere with studying. No matter how many ways that life can get in the way, the satisfaction and rewards of earning a GED are worth the struggle.

To learn more about Caulkins and the scholarship, read the story on News Channel 8 in Virginia: http://www.news8.net/news/stories/0210/702450.html

1) Employment

Maybe when you graduated high school, employers didn’t necessarily expect a high school diploma. A lot of people got jobs in factories, offices, or other companies without a diploma, and they’ve stayed in their jobs for years. The trouble comes when you get laid off, the company goes out of business, you get passed up for promotions, or your job doesn’t pay enough (or give you enough job satisfaction) for the life you want. Every day, adults are laid off and realize that the job market’s changed. Without a GED, getting a new job or promotion can be tough. The GED can open doors to jobs, promotions, and job training.

2) Education

When your goals are high, a high school diploma isn’t enough. The best-paying and often most satisfying jobs require training and education. The GED opens the doors of trade schools, community colleges, and universities. Barack Obama has set a goal for education in the United States, that by the year 2020, America will again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world. A higher education is good for the individual, and it’s also good for the country. It helps the U.S. compete in the world economy, and it helps America’s economy. The GED is the first step for many Americans to participate in that goal.

3) Self-Esteem

Most people start on the road to get their GED so that they can get a better job or more education. There’s a benefit from earning a GED that many people don’t take into account: feeling good about yourself. Too many smart people feel stupid, because they were told they were stupid or because they had problems in school. Too many adults feel left behind because those around them have high school and college diplomas. When adult learners earn a GED, they earn a sense of pride and accomplishment. They learn that they can aim higher than they thought possible. Dropping out of high school doesn’t have to close doors permanently in your life. You can earn a GED and show yourself how much you can achieve.

Becky Atwood, coordinator of adult education and literacy for the Cape Girardeau School District in Missouri, faced a waiting list of more than 100 potential students last year. Though the waiting list cleared, now it is back to 80. A waiting list can be discouraging for students looking to earn a GED, and reaching each individual student is a problem. The school district has started using orientations to prepare students for GED preparation and to ask for a commitment from learners. The focus is on finding the students willing to stick with the program, who will get the most benefit from it.

When the economy slows down, demand for GED programs and job preparation increases, but at the same time, funding for these programs often remains tight, or gets even tighter because of budget cuts. When The GED Academy was first formed, it recognized that there is a greater need for GED preparation than the current adult education infrastructure can handle. Technology provides one option for both adult education programs and individual learners to expand GED preparation. The GED Academy Prep Program is an online study-at-home program that offers individualized help for students at different learning levels. Software programs like the GED Academy Prep Program can be used by individuals or implemented by adult education programs to expand their capacity.

Adult learners often find it difficult to make the commitment to go to GED classes and get a diploma. Waiting lists, problems with money, problems with transportation and child care, or simply fear and lack of self-confidence can stand in the way. The more programs are available, and the more flexible they are to fit with adult learners’ lifestyles and learning needs, the more people will be able to earn a GED, raising the overall level of education in the U.S.

To learn more about The GED Academy Prep Program, visit: http://www.passGED.com

Read more about the Cape Girardeau School District adult education program here: http://www.semissourian.com/story/1589190.html

The GED Academy guides hundreds of test-takers through the GED program. Learners tell the same stories over and over. The first questions everyone asks are: What can I expect? What will it be like? What do I need to know?

The GED is a sophisticated test that measures the most important skills that people should learn in high school. The test is divided into five sections: mathematics, social studies, science, reading, and writing. Most of the sections are in a multiple choice format, and the writing section includes a timed essay. The questions are formulated to test essential real-life skills: problem solving, critical thinking, evaluation, information processing, and making inferences. The GED is a thinking test. The GED Academy calls it a thinking marathon because the GED takes eight hours of almost non-stop thinking.

The analogy is not a bad one. A person who planned to run a marathon would need to train his or her body, and in much the same way, GED test-takers need to train their minds to think in specific ways. Training for a marathon takes time, and runners spend time building up their muscles and lungs every day. In much the same way, The GED Academy recommends that GED test-takers should set aside some time each day to practice. The amount of time adult learners spend in test preparation depends on their current level of learning.

GED test preparation is for a specific purpose. You’re learning a well-defined set of skills, not facts and figures, but skills, like how to think through a problem to come to the right conclusion. It may take a few weeks or a couple of months, but with the right preparation, adult learners are amazingly successful at the GED.

Just like running a marathon requires specific strategies to go all the way, passing the GED also requires strategies for pacing yourself and test-taking skills as well as specific thinking skills. The emphasis of the GED is on measuring test-takers’ ability to reason, observe, and think clearly… skills that adults can learn using the right tools.

The benefits of the GED are difficult to deny. GED graduates can qualify for better jobs and higher education. With a GED, an adult will on average earn $350,000 more throughout a lifelong career. Adults who go on to higher education earn even more. Ormsby credits this, in part, to the real-life skills that students learn to pass the GED. It’s more than just a paper. The GED represents essential knowledge and understanding.

Take a look at unemployment rates in 2008. No high school diploma? The unemployment rate was 9%. Among high school graduates, it was only 5.7%. That’s lower by more than a third. What if you earned a 2-year Associate degree at a community college? The unemployment rate was only 3.7% among people with Associate degrees. The more education you earned, the lower your chances of being unemployed. That means education equates to jobs.

But what kind of jobs? That’s where income comes in. Among people 25 and over who had full-time jobs, the median weekly income for people without a high school diploma was $426 in 2008. With a high school diploma, it jumped to $591 a week, an increase of nearly 40%. With that 2-year Associate degree, median income $736 a week. More education equates to better paying jobs.

Here is the complete data table from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics:
2008 Unemployment rate    Education attained    2008 Median weekly earnings
2.0%                           Doctoral degree                       $1,555
1.7%                           Professional degree                $1,522
2.4%                          Master’s degree                       $1,228
2.8%                          Bachelor’s degree                    $978
3.7%                          Associate degree                      $736
5.1%                          Some college, no degree          $645
5.7%                          High-school graduate              $591
9.0%                          Less than a HS diploma           $426

The opportunities that education gives you are too good to pass up. If you don’t have your high school diploma, look into the GED. You can get more education, and more education means more opportunity.

Most people think of physical disabilities, when they think of test-taking accommodations. The GED provides accommodations for people with many types of disabilities, though, including physical disabilities, emotional and mental health disabilities, learning disabilities, and ADHD (Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder). The GED testing center can provide extended time, an audiocassette version, a braille test version, a calculator for the second math test, a talking calculator for the entire math test, a private room, supervised frequent breaks, or other accommodations specific to the disability. A qualified professional, such as your doctor, will need to provide documentation of your diagnosis and needs.

One of the most common disabilities is ADHD, or Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder. ADHD can often go undiagnosed, and cause people to perform poorly in school. People suffering from ADHD may drop out because school is so difficult when you can’t concentrate, focus, or sit still. To get accommodations for ADHD, you’ll need information from a psychiatrist, medical doctor, or psychologist who specializes in ADHD, along with information about your history and symptoms. You’ll need to take a test of attention, like the TOVA Gordon Diagnostic Battery. The GED test accommodations you can receive (such as frequent breaks or extra time) will be based on your symptoms, and how they’ll limit you during the test.

Accommodations may also be given for learning disabilities, such as dyslexia (reading disabilities), dysgraphia (writing disabilities), or dyscalculia (math disabilities). For these types of disabilities, you’ll also need a diagnosis from a doctor, who will need to report your scores on tests for learning and cognitive disabilities.

Talk to your doctor if you feel you need accommodations. Discuss what tests you may need to take, and whether you need to see a specialist.

Even with accommodations, the GED may be difficult for people with disabilities. Studying can also be a problem. The GED Academy strives to make its program as accessible as possible for students with disabilities. Go to the GED Academy website at http://www.passGED.com to learn more about our program, and how it’s designed to help everyone learn.

For more information and GED test-taking accommodation forms, visit the ACE GED Testing Service website: http://www.acenet.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ged/test/Take/Accommodations_Disab.htm

The biggest stumbling blocks to earning a GED are usually the same things that stopped potential GED test-takers from graduating high school. Some had problems at home. Some had to get jobs. Many had trouble learning in a traditional school environment.

A recent study supported by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (http://www.essentialed.org/thesilentepidemic3-06.pdf ) found the most high school dropouts leave school because they found school uninteresting, boring, and not relevant to their lives. Most of these students had grade point averages of C or better and could have graduated. The students had the skills, but life and the school system got in the way.

Many adults expect studying for the GED to be like school, and often adult learners have even more responsibilities now than in high school: paying rent, supporting a family, and making ends meet. The good news is that the GED isn’t like school, and studying for the GED isn’t like going back to high school.

Often, students are overwhelmed by the idea of having to relearn high school, but GED test-takers don’t need to learn a whole high school curriculum to prepare for the GED. The GED exams test whether you have essential thinking skills, not a lot of facts and figures in your brain. Instead of memorizing the history of Europe or complex math equations, adult learners need to understand basic, fundamental concepts of math, science, social studies, language, and communication. And most importantly, test-takers have to think critically and solve problems. These aren’t just “school skills.” These are skills that everyone should have. And everyone can learn them.

Another problem is that, often, adults who never graduated high school didn’t learn how to learn. Studying on your own or going to adult education classes might not be right for many adult learners. Test prep books may be frustrating, and going to classes after a long day’s work may seem impossible. Fortunately, modern technology provides options. Computers and the Internet have changed our lives, and they’re also changing the way we learn. Innovative GED study programs are available online that can help students learn at their own pace. Effective programs usually focus on real-life issues and skills, and they engage learners through an entertaining and simple educational experience.

Be wary, though. Websites that offer a “GED” or “high school” diploma in 10 days or a week through an online test are usually scams. These worthless “diploma mills” charge $200 to $1,000 for a piece of paper that has no value. The real GED must be taken in person, at a test center.

Here are tips to make a study plan:

1. Take a practice test to see what skills you need to work on.

2. Find a study program that lets you focus on areas you need to improve and fits into your lifestyle and learning style.

3. Set aside an hour a day to study, starting with the areas that need the least studying.

4. When you’re ready to pass a couple of the GED test areas, schedule a test day… you’ll feel great to have passed some of the tests already.

Soon, you’ll be on your way to a GED credential, more options, and greater earning potential. The most important step in earning a GED is the first one: making a commitment to yourself and getting started on your studying. Can you pass the GED? The answer is yes, if you make the commitment.