GED Stories

Hi, I’m married for 23 years. We raised one son who graduated from high school in May of 2005. My husband and I are very proud of him. I have a new puppy named Babi, so cute. Mostly I was a stay at home mom, but my son is gone in his own place and has returned to college.

I was asked to leave home in 10th grade by my stepmother. Came to Tampa in 1970, started night school on my own. Having only 5 credits to go, I thought I could get it done. But work and life have stood in my way way too long.

I have always wanted and have tried several times to finish high school, and as of 2006 the GED. I was 3 points in math away from finishing. This is very disturbing for me. There’s a great job I would love to try to get, with a large hotel chain. This job is on-line and offered in my area. The only thing that has stopped me from applying is passing my GED Math.

It would help to have a free GED course study online. I plan to take the test here in Tampa.

Thanks for this chance to tell my story.

Deann, 54, Tampa, Florida

Deann,

You’re so close to your GED! Now’s the time to get the math over with. We hear from a lot of students who are almost done, but struggling with their last test. Okay, here’s some advice:

You’ve got an almost passing math score. That means a few questions can put you over the edge! The best thing to do is identify 2 or 3 things that you know will be on the math test and that give you trouble. Then, learn them. By zeroing in on a couple of areas, as specific as possible, you can focus your studying and bump up your math score.

How do you find out what to study? If you can, remember math questions you couldn’t answer when you took the test, or find questions from a GED practice test. Does graphing equations give you trouble? You’re likely to run into that. What about figuring the angles of triangles? That’s usually on the test. How about multiplying, dividing, adding, and subtracting with positive and negative numbers? That’s one that can cause all kinds of problems. Factoring quadratic equations? That’s probably the thing that throws most people…but the down sides are, it’s pretty hard for most people and there won’t be a lot of it on the test.

The other things to do are (1) practice understanding word problems! (2) slow down and pay attention to details, like keeping track of negative numbers; and (3) practice estimating answers in your head…it can save a lot of time on easier problems.

Hope this helps! Check out Curtis’s math blog, too, at http://www.passged.com/student_blogs/curtis/. You can find information about the GED math test, links to resources, and practice problems there. You can also leave Curtis comments to ask specific math questions.

The GED Academy