Becca’s GED Social Studies Blog

I said I’d come up with a practice question for GED economics, and since I’ve been talking about supply and demand (who will buy what for how much), here goes. (Read on …)

Here’s something I bet will be on the GED test: supply and demand. That’s because the GED social studies test isn’t just about history… it’s got charts and graphs and stuff about economics (money!) and geography (maps!). So you need to know a little bit about those things. (Read on …)

Last time, I gave you a practice question to answer. Remember this? (Read on …)

I don’t know why, but the GED test social studies section seems hard to a lot of people. I guess it’s because there’s so much history, and economics, and geography in the whole world. And people ask me, what does looking into local history help? Who knows what’s going to be on the test!

And maybe there’ll be stuff about Spain three hundred years ago or something, but the most important thing is figuring out how to think about what you’re reading. That’s why I say, read about anything that interests you! Because you’re learning to read about stuff, learning to learn new information. That’s the most important thing for the GED social science test.

It’s like how I was interested to read about Clara Barton. As I said, you can read about her at: http://www.civilwar.com/content/view/257/53/
Here’s part of what it says about her:

Clara Barton settled in Danville, N.Y., where for several years she was a semi-invalid. In 1877 she wrote a founder of the International Red Cross, offering to lead an American branch of the organization. Thus, at 56 she began a new career.
In 1881 Barton incorporated the American Red Cross, with herself as president. A year later her extraordinary efforts brought about United States ratification of the Geneva Convention. She herself attended conferences of the International Red Cross as the American representative. She was, however, far from bureaucratic in interests. Although wholly individualistic and unlike reformers who worked on programs for social change, she did a great social service as activist and propagandist.

The social studies test might have a reading like that, and probably it’s something you’ve never read about before! Then, there’s a question, and you can probably answer it just by reading the passage carefully. Try it!

Question: According to the information, Clara Barton was most interested in:

1. founding organizations.
2. having an important position.
3. attending conferences.
4. ratifying conventions.
5. social activism.

What do you think?