Over 700,000 people take the GED each year…not surprising, considering that 39 million American adults lack a high school diploma. But almost half of GED candidates fail the tests on their first try. Why? According to the GED Academy, the key is critical thinking.

Over 700,000 people take the GED high school equivalency exam each year, but only around 400,000 pass the test. Why do so many people fail on the first try? Many students believe that learning facts is more important than learning how to think about information, but according to The GED Academy, the thinking process is much more important than learning facts.

“The problem is that many people study the wrong things,” says Michael Ormsby, president of The GED Academy. “The good news is that you don’t need to do boring memorization. The GED is primarily a test of thinking skills.” The GED consists of five subject area tests in reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. However, the emphasis of these tests is not generally on remembering facts or knowing specific pieces of information. Instead, the tests focus on test-takers’ thinking skills, such as the ability to solve problems, interpret information, and evaluate explanations.

“Critical thinking is the term that you hear all the time,” says Ormsby. “But what does it mean? How can you think critically? Really, it just means that you can think about something clearly. Clear thinking is something anyone can learn.”

The GED Academy’s GED prep program emphasizes teaching critical thinking skills. Students learn to approach problems in several ways and target thinking skills like application and evaluation. “The GED asks you to understand cause and effect, to come to conclusions about information, to understand different points of view, and to see the difference between facts and opinions,” Ormsby says. “That sounds like a lot, but it’s all a part of clear thinking.”

Critical thinking techniques are taught throughout the GED Academy’s passGED Study Program, in every discipline, through learners’ interaction with virtual students in a virtual classroom. “The best way to learn thinking skills is to get inside other students’ heads, to watch and listen, and think through things with other learners,” says Ormsby. “It’s a lot easier than people imagine. It’s even fun.”

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com, or call 1-888-880-2164.

The GED test is a high school equivalency exam. But what does that mean? How can a test be the equivalent of high school? And what is it, exactly, that we expect high school graduates to know?

Over 39 million disenfranchised American adults have no high school diploma, and so the doors to higher education and better job opportunities are closed to them. As a group, these Americans make about $350,000 less in their lifetimes than high school graduates or people with GEDs. Instead of moving the economy and their lives forward, Americans without high school degrees. The most widely accepted option for adults without a high school degree is a GED—a high school equivalency exam. What is this examination? What is the GED really testing? Can it truly be the equivalent of high school?

The skills that the GED is designed to measure are core skills that all high school students should learn, including communication, mathematics, problem solving, critical thinking, evaluation, and information processing. The GED test designers identify skills that are demanded by employers and by colleges or vocational schools, and the GED test is created to measure these real-life skills. According to the American Council of Education (ACE), a successful GED candidate must score better than 40 percent of traditional high school graduates.

The GED test is divided into five sections: reading, writing, mathematics, science, and social studies. The GED tests competency in understanding important documents and communicating through writing—essential skills in any workplace or learning environment. It also tests fundamental math concepts, which are important in dealing with financial management and business issues which affect all adults.

However, perhaps the most important skills that the GED measures are thinking skills. Most GED questions are not focused on knowledge of facts. Instead, many questions on the GED measure the test-taker’s ability to carefully think through a problem and use reasoning to come to a correct answer. GED test-takers are asked to use critical thinking, problem solving, evaluation, and analysis skills, along with fundamental knowledge of the nature of science, language, math, and social sciences. Because thinking skills can be applied to any discipline or workplace, these are the most crucial skills for any adult to master.

This is good news for the GED test-taker. It means that studying for, and passing, the GED doesn’t need to involve memorizing four years’ worth of high school textbooks. Instead, GED test-takers can focus their learning on essential skills. It’s also good news for employers. The ACE states that many employers find that they “get a more educated, more committed workforce” by hiring GED graduates.

Michael Ormsby, president of The GED Academy, cites test preparation as the most important component in passing the GED. A wide variety of GED study programs are available, including test prep books, classes at adult learning centers, workplace programs, and local college programs. However, Ormbsby warns, “Be wary of any program that claims to award a GED or high school diploma through an online test. These ‘diplomas’ are usually worthless.”

About 95% of colleges and employers accept a GED credential, opening closed doors for the millions of adult Americans who never completed high school.

For more information about the GED test or GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy.

Education has become a critical issue in America. 39 million Americans lack the most basic educational achievement: a high school diploma. What skills do these Americans need in order to earn their GED and move ahead in today’s economy?

The GED Academy guides hundreds of test-takers through the GED program. “We see the same stories over and over,” President Michael Ormsby says, “The first questions everyone asks are: What can I expect? What will the GED test be like? What do I need to know for the GED?”

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,” Ormsby states, “is a thinking test. I call 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, Ormsby 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,” says Ormsby. “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 Ormsby insists 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,” he says. “The GED represents essential knowledge and understanding.”

For more information about GED online study programs, visit: www.passged.com

Additional GED Test Information:

http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm?Section=Professionals&Template=/TaggedPage/TaggedPageDisplay.cfm&TPLID=58&ContentID=24092

http://www.dtae.org/adultlit/Perspectives9/testtips.html

http://adulted.about.com/cs/ged/a/GED2002.htm

http://www.testpedition.com/GED/

By Leonard Williams

Most adult learners and GED students want to know what to expect on the GED test, and whether the test is harder than the tests and exams they took in high school.

There’s no question about it—the GED test is difficult. But most passGED graduates say the test isn’t as hard as high school exams since the GED is about essential skills and relevant information. The emphasis of the GED tests is not on memorization, but on thinking skills and the application of practical knowledge. It’s a test of ‘show what you understand,’ not a test that requires recalling knowledge from memory.

So what’s the difference? Just consider how standard high school classes and courses work. Over weeks and months, a student covers lots of information and in most cases, must remember it. While quizzes and tests create a grade, and indicate how well a student is progressing through the material, the real test—or most important grade—probably results from mid-term and final exams. Students who have a tough time with memorization may not test or score well, especially if weeks and months have passed since the information was covered.

Also, many students find it hard to learn and remember information that doesn’t seem important or practical to their lives. For example, a history or social studies test may require that the student remember the date the Magna Carta was signed. The correct answer may not seem relevant to real life; still, the answer could make the difference between pass or fail.

The GED test measures knowledge differently, and requires application skills. Like high school, it addresses science, social studies, basic algebra and geometry, reading and writing. But it’s not memory of knowledge that the test measures. It’s the use and application of it.

Consider the Magna Carta again; suppose it were part of the GED test.

Example Test Passage:

Signed in 1215 in England, this document was coined the Great Charter, and developed by English nobles. The nobles compelled King John to execute the Magna Carta as a means to recognize the rights of noblemen and common Englishmen. It established the principle that no one, including the king or a lawmaker, is above the law. The Magna Carta marked a turning point in preventing tyrannical rule and anarchy. It also marked a turning point in political history, and is considered the first step in the process toward constitutional law.

Example Multiple-Choice Test Questions:

If this were a passage on the GED, one test question might ask for the date the Charter was executed, since knowledge application requires your ability to glean information from material. The answer is in the first sentence of the test passage.

Other questions might stress thinking skills and the ability to make conclusions, asking you what ‘tyrannical rule’ or ‘anarchy’ mean in the passage, or to define the meaning of the phrase ‘above the law,’ The test is also designed to measure judgment—or the ability to apply significant information to a different situation. So you may also see a question on how the Magna Carta is comparable or relevant to a recent civil rights event.

For some people – especially those who have relied on memorization skills in their education, GED testing can seem more difficult than high school because it’s easier to just memorize information than know how to use it. For people who haven’t had much experience in making inferences, analyzing data, and making judgments from information, the GED test can seem difficult. But fortunately, there are strategies test candidates can exercise to make the test easier and net higher test scores.

1. Understand the Test: Get acquainted with the GED test structure: Become more familiar with how test passages and questions are presented and the best way to find the right answer among five multiple-choice options.

2. Practice First: Take some GED practice tests to increase your familiarity and to determine skill weaknesses and strengths. Pre-tests or practice tests can also help you plan a study guide and determine how much time you’ll need to prepare for the GED. The official GED practice tests are best, since these will give you an idea of how you’ll score, identify study areas and they’re similar to the actual tests. To get an idea of what information is on a Practice Test and the real GED test, the ACE provides sample practice questions at Practice Test.

3. Back to School: Consider taking a GED class or enrolling in a GED study program or test preparation course. Most communities offer free or low-cost programs and classes through schools, nonprofits and even libraries. Or you may opt for an online GED program. Do shop, compare and read the fine print; lots of online companies offer fake diplomas or promise results that they can’t deliver.

4. Get Support: Find a community-based support group, study group or online learning community of GED students, student supporters or instructors. Likely, you’ll find test advice, test-taking tips, and encouragement from people who want you to achieve your educational and career goals. Find more information at http://www.passGED.com.

©2006 Essential Education Corporation. / www.passGED.com
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