I am going to take the Ged test,and i really need help for my essay because im not good at writting essays.so it would be a pleasure if you guys help me out with it!

So, I thought it would be a good idea to give some suggestions for the GED essay today! The GED essay isn’t too hard, but it’s important to know what they expect.

The GED essay should be fairly short, about4-5 paragraphs. Don’t make your essay too short, because it has to be an essay. The readers want to see that you can give what you’re writing a structure, and that you can think through what you want to say, not just write something off the top of your head.

Your essay needs a beginning, a middle, and an ending, and it needs to completely answer the GED essay prompt. That’s important. Let’s look at an example. Here’s a GED essay prompt:

Often, important goals require sacrifice.
What is a time when you gave up something to get something else that was important to you? Was what you gained worth the sacrifice? Why or why not? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

This is an easier prompt, if you ask me, because it’s about your own life. But all the GED prompts ask you to use your own personal observations, experience, and knowledge. That means, you use what you know in your essay. You’ve got to show that you can communicate what you think.

The first step, is to figure out what you want to say. That means reading the prompt carefully, and then thinking about your life… think about what you know, what you’ve seen, and what you’ve done. Think of a story in your life that can help you answer the question.

This prompt asks for a story, something you’ve sacrificed. But let’s say it asked your opinion of making sacrifices. You can still think of a story in your own life about someone who made a sacrifice, or about when you made a sacrifice.

Like, a lot of GED students sacrifice time with their children to get their GED. Or, a lot of GED students sacrificed their high school education to help out their families. Your life is full of stories, and you need to think of the stories that will help you answer the question.

Okay… then it’s time to write. You need three parts to your essay.

1) The Beginning: Start out by saying something interesting! Give an overview of what you’re going to write, but don’t just repeat the question. I might write something like this:

When I was in high school, I met the man I thought would be the love of my life. I quit school to marry him. I didn’t think of it as a sacrifice at the time. Now, my marriage is gone, and I fully understand what I sacrificed by not finishing school. Still, I don’t regret the choice I’ve made.

I give an idea about what I’m going to write… and I  talk specifically about my life. I’m talking about something that I know, so it’s easier. And, I’m answering the question: The reader knows what I sacrificed, and that I don’t regret it. I’ve left out why I don’t regret it…. I’ll save that for the middle.

2) The Middle: This is the part that should contain most details. The GED asks you to include good specifics in your essay. That’s easiest if you’re writing about stories in your life. You know the details, because you lived them! Don’t be too general. Say what you mean, and stay on topic. The middle should be about 2-4 paragraphs (3 is a good number). You can either tell a story or write about 2-4 different points you want to make. Here’s what I’d write for this essay:

One day, my son came home from high school with math homework that was giving him trouble. I didn’t understand it at all. It made me realize clearly for the first time that my children were passing me in education. I knew that, without a high school diploma, I wasn’t qualified for many jobs, and I missed high school memories of dances, classes, and graduation night. But realizing that I couldn’t help my son anymore made me feel, for the first time, the cost of quitting school.

Still, I know I’ve gained a lot from my marriage, even though it ended several years ago. I remember another day, when my son got accepted into college. He came into the kitchen waving the letter and jumping up and down. I would have sacrificed anything to give him that.

I’ve got two middle paragraphs. The first one talks about what I missed out on… and the second one talks about why I don’t regret the sacrifice. I added details by telling stories, being specific about the moment that I realized I regretted quitting school and another moment that made me happy to be a mother. Thinking of specific moments and things that have happened in your life makes your writing better.

3) The End. Try to say something new in the last paragraph of your essay, instead of repeating what you’ve already said! Comment on what the issue means to you, and expand that into a bigger picture. If you have something new to say in your conclusion, that will leave a good impression on the reader. Here’s my ending:

Part of me will always regret giving up my high school days to get married, but I gained a lot from my sacrifice. I gained two wonderful sons. Now that I’m older, I am more dedicated to learning, too. I may have gotten a late start, but I’m ready to make new sacrifices to get my education and become a success.

On the GED test, you’ll have scratch paper to use. Use it to come up with your ideas and organize them before you write. After you write, go back and look over your essay. Ask yourself:

1. Did I answer the question completely?

2. Is my essay organized?

3. Did I use details and expand on what I mean?

4. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

5. Did I make any grammar and spelling errors?

Make any corrections that you can before the time is up. I recomment practicing writing timed GED essays before the test, and reviewing them by asking those five questions. Show your essay to other people, to get their opinion and see how you can improve.

That’s my best GED essay advice! Good luck on the test, everyone!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

The one thing that I think this needs is a stronger conclusion. What general thing… philosophical idea… big thought… can you tie it to? What does it tell you about the world in general? What did you learn about human nature or the world from this experience? If you had something to add at the end that said… “I learned how dependent people’s safety and feelings are on the world around us, and so I realized that helping make a better environment is really helping people.” Or something like that. That’s just an example. But if there’s something like that at the end, it would really tie the whole thing together.

The essay still has a few grammar problems, but they’re not too big a deal. I mean, there aren’t too many, and they don’t interfere with me understanding the essay, and that’s the most important thing. The organization is there, and the story is there. I’ve marked in ALL CAPS some grammar things to be aware of in the essay below.

See if you can make improve this essay… and try to write one of your own on the same topic!

Topic: How does the climate in your region affect you and the other people who live there?

Dry temperatures and no rain affected people and I around central Florida. As of result no rain, [MISSING SUBJECT...YOU COULD ADD 'THE WEATHER' HERE, OR CHANGE THE SENTENCE TO SAY 'A LACK OF RAIN BROUGHT...'] brought forest fires and dry air. this [NEEDS CAPITAL T IN 'THIS'] situation occurred during pollen season. Two months ago, in reference to dry temperatures, a forest fires occurred and I got depressed, agitated, and worried. This forest fire occurred only (forty-minutes distant drive) ['A FORTY-FIVE MINUTE DRIVE'] from where I live.According to the weather forecast the fire was spreading very rapidly because [OF] lack of rain and dry temperatures. [THE] Weather forecast also informed [US] that there would not be any rain for the rest of the week.

During this incident which was during pollen season and dry air brought breathing complications. [YOU CAN DELETE 'DURING' AND 'WHICH'...'THIS INCIDENT WAS DURING POLLEN SEASON...'] We had all these complications from the dry weather
climate.

If I were to go and make an er ran [ERRAND] people were either depressed or angry. A lot of confusion and caos [CHAOS] resulted because no one knew who or what provoked these forest fires.

I feared for myself and neighbors while this was going on. This dry weather lasted for a month, until it finally rain. [RAINED]

For more information on the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

Here is the essay:

Why do people continue doing harmful to themselves? I believe that doing harmful activities come from childhood and continue through adulthood. A child is always curious with doing bad or good activities. The bad activities pertaining to kids are: playing with matches, tasting alcohol, trying smoking cigarets, or turn on a vehicle and try to drive it. These such activities can lead to death or can put a child’s health at risk.

 

These activities are taught from adults. Adults have big influence to these activities. The kids admire adults and they would like to be as they are. All adult activities are fascinating for them; while a child can play with toys or any other sort may find it boring. Moreover; if they have an older relative in their household, a child would do the learned activity. Any child is innocent because of the person whom they tend to admire, might find that is o.k. to do any such activities.

 

In my perspective; I learned a lot from different adults. Any adult who would care of myself, taught me from right to wrong. Adults gave me a lot of advice such as not to smoke, drink, steal, and even not to play with fire because you may get burnt from such consequence. Until one day I really got burned with a match and it hurt. While I was given these advices, I believe in them. Since the consequence from burned incident prove their advice.

 

My advice to people should give all the attention to youngsters. And while growing up and they did not learned the good, the consequence will do bad activities. This is why people continue doing bad activities, even though; they know is bad.

Whenever I look at an essay, I look at the same things the GED readers look at. Here they are:

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

I think you did a pretty good job staying focused on the question of why people continue to do things, even though they know they’re harmful or bad. You say that it starts in childhood and that the behavior continues to adulthood, and then you tell how you think children get into bad behaviors. I wonder, though, if you could take one specific example and follow it through from beginning to end? At least one of the examples you give of bad behavior for children don’t really apply to adults…it’s not dangerous for an adult to drive a car. I think that if you really make the connection between the bad childhood behavior and bad adult education, it would be a stronger essay. For example, you mention that a child might want to taste alcohol. You can talk about how that behavior starts, grows, and becomes bad adult behavior…a child sees a parent drinking, wants to try alcohol, and then when they’re an adult they become an alcoholic. If you follow the specific example through, it’s easier for the reader to see what you mean.

2. Is my writing organized?

Your writing does have organization. You might look at Unit 6 of the new Writing Fundamentals course online to brush up on how to organize your essay. Still, it seems like you’ve got the basics down.

You start by asking a question, which is a good way to start. The more interesting you can make the question, the better….it’s better to restate the question in your own way than to just repeat the GED question.

Your first paragraph is your introduction. In the introduction, you make your main point, that bad adult behavior comes from bad childhood behavior. That’s good. You list a number of bad child behaviors, but then you don’t really follow through with them in the rest of the essay (and at least one of them doesn’t really become a bad adult behavior, so it doesn’t apply very well to the essay…unless you can make a connection). It might be better to have just one or two bad childhood behaviors and explain how they start and how they become bad adult behaviors.

The middle paragraphs talk about how children learn bad (and good) behaviors from adults, but it doesn’t really relate it back to the main idea…how those behaviors then become bad adult behavior when the child grows up. I’d like to see the middle paragraph talk about a couple of specific examples of bad behavior children might have, where they come from, and how they become bad adult behaviors. One thing that’s good is that you use an example from your life. That’s always something that helps in writing! But it needs to be better connected to your main idea. Could burning your hand have become bad adult behavior? Did adults’ good advice stop you from developing behavior that would hurt you as an adult?

The last paragraph is the conclusion. You give advice…to pay attention to children to stop them from developing bad behavior that will follow them into adulthood. I think the idea for the conclusion is good, but that it could be more clearly stated.

3. Did I give enough good details?

The details that you give in the essay are specific bad things children might do, and the story from your own life about burning your hand. I think that the details is really what needs work in this essay… you need to pick a couple of specific examples that really fit into your main idea (drinking alcohol is a good one, and so is smoking cigarettes, since both of these definitely become bad adult behavior!), and then explain more about what kind of adult behavior kids are imitating, how caring adults might stop them, and how the bad childhood behavior later becomes bad adult behavior (alcoholism, cigarette addiction).

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

You do have some language mistakes that make it a little hard to follow. One thing is that you use semicolons (;) where you need commas. Try looking at Unit 3, Lessons 2, 3, and 4 for more advice on semicolons and commas…but basically, everywhere you tend to use a semicolon, try putting a comma instead. This won’t be a big deal on the test.

What’s more important are grammar issues that make it sort of difficult to follow. When you say “Why do people continue doing harmful to themselves?,” either it should say “harmful things” or the word “harmful” should just be “harm.” “Curious with” should be “curious about,” and “cigarettes” is misspelled.

There are minor errors throughout the essay. The place I think they’ll count against you most is at the end. Like, “And while growing up and they did not learned the good” is a little confused…hard to follow. What you mean is, “While growing up, they did not learn what is good behavior,” or something like that. Maybe by the time you wrote the conclusion, you were tired, or hurried… that happens. Take a breath. Try to write with simple sentences. You don’t need to write anything fancy… just with clarity.

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

I think you did okay with word choice. Most of your choices were good, accurate words. The only problem comes with grammar problems… like “harmful” instead of “harm” in the question at the beginning. Likely, you won’t catch all of these on the GED… but that’s okay. If I were you, I’d focus on having good organization, good details, and writing in clear, simple sentences. You’ve got good word choice, if you keep your grammar simple.

Try listening to Leonard’s solutions for the essays in Unit 7 of the Writing Fundamentals passGED course…it will give you good practice on what types of things to look for and how to improve an essay.

And here are some good links to learn more about commas and organization:

Comma Information:
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/handouts/grammar/g_comma.html
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/commas.asp
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/commas.htm
http://chuma.cas.usf.edu/~olson/pms/comma.html

Comma Practice:
http://www.cfcc.edu/faculty/rhardin/quiz8.html

For organization, a good resource for you is probably the five-paragraph essay. Here are some resources:
http://www.gc.maricopa.edu/English/essay/
http://www.geocities.com/soho/Atrium/1437/
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/GRAMMAR/five_par.htm

And here’s some information on paragraph organization:
http://www.ivcc.edu/rambo/eng1001/paragraph_organization.htm
http://www.indiana.edu/~wts/pamphlets/paragraphs.shtml
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/media/pdf/20080330115046_727.pdf

Of course, I really recommend the passGED Study Program Writing Fundamentals course, Units 6 and 7, and also Unit 3, Lessons 2, 3, and 4. If you are enrolled already, just log in to the study program online, and the new course is there for you to use right away.

Good writing!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

Despite great sales, flurry of activity, without notice we were told our jobs had come to an end. Due to a sell out and our company losing a client. Project managers were unsuccessful in booking a new client.

One project manager, angry over the loss of the account began to try to save valued employees by making a small budget to keep us employed within the firm. Knowing that the budget was small I reiterated that this would be ongoing employment with possibility of advancement. I was assured it was.

Going against my better judgment I stayed with the company, and when the budget ran out so did my job for the second time. I was lucky to have had such a great position in marketing with no degree for five years.

Now was the time to make priorities, now I had to find a job and knowing my luck ran out, it was also time to look into getting a degree. I used my motivational skills and techniques to ensure that I would land a position within another great company.

Finally a new position opened up for me in Food and Beverage. My work week consists of sixty hours. Sometimes I work till 3:00 am. I allow two hours for my drive into work, normally that will allow me one hour of study time. I am using my study time to work on getting my GED and then going for my associates degree in marketing.

I know this is a big compromise and it surely does take a lot of my energy, however, my big picture keeps looking better and better. I am starting to feel like a true leader.

First let me say, I think this essay is pretty good. As a GED essay, it’s better than passing, maybe a 3. Telling a story is a good choice for the GED…and we always have stories about our lives. And this is an interesting story…the kind of thing that you might tell a new friend. Here’s what the GED reader will look at:

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

This is a hard question to answer about this essay. The topic is “compromise.” The GED will give you a prompt that’s longer, and you’ll need to definitely address the topic. So, what does this essay say about compromise? It starts out with a story… and it builds up to the point of the story at the end, the compromise that you’re making by taking this job. I think I’d like to see it more clearly say why it’s a compromise…what was the choice? What’s being given up? What’s being gained? Like, to say: “I could have more time by taking a worse job, closer to me, or by giving up my studying. But I’ve decided to compromise my time by myself and with my family, for the sake of our future. Compromise is about giving up something to gain something else, and in the long term, my education is worth the sacrifice.” Of course, that’s my words, and you’ll have your own… but I feel like I want the essay to really sum up something about the idea of compromise.

2. Is my writing organized?

Yes! The essay tells a story, and then it ends by giving the point of the story. And it starts with something interesting. “Despite great sales, flurry of activity, without notice we were told our jobs had come to an end.” Wow. What a great start. It catches my interest right away!

Now, a traditional essay tells the reader in the first paragraph what the essay is about. I wouldn’t give up your great start to do that, but you might consider saying something about where you’re going near the beginning. Like, if you said at the end of the first paragraph: “This tragedy has lead me to make some tough choices and taught me a lot about compromise.” That way, the reader knows right away that you’re really talking about compromise.

3. Did I give enough good details?

This essay is excellent on details. Again, the opening sentence is fantastic. By telling a story, you’ve got a lot of details that you can give…things you know, because they happened. The only place I wondered about it was when you talked about motivational techniques. What motivational techniques did you use? But, then again, I realize that’s not the main idea of the essay, and it doesn’t need to be longer.

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

You did good in this area, too. There are some mistakes, but they don’t make the essay difficult to read. That’s what the GED readers will use…whether it makes the essay difficult to read. Here’s what I saw:

• I would probably say “a flurry of activity” instead of “flurry of activity.”
• “Due to a sell out and our company losing a client.” is a fragment. Really, it should be part of the sentence before it.
• On a really minor note, I would add commas after phrases at the beginning of sentences like: “Going against my better judgment,” and “Knowing that the budget was small.” By the way, these are really good ways to start sentences to keep a variety of sentence structures.
• “Now was the time to make priorities, now I had to find a job and knowing my luck ran out, it was also time to look into getting a degree.” is a run-on. Probably, there should be a period after “priorities,” and a new sentence starting with “Now” Also, “my luck ran out” sounds a little wrong. I think saying “my luck had run out” is clearer (because the luck “had run” out BEFORE it “was” time… saying “ran out” seems to say it ran out at the time you’re talking about, not before).
• “I allow two hours for my drive into work, normally that will allow me one hour of study time.” is also a run-on… there’s two sentences here, so the comma should either 1) be a period, 2) be a semicolon, or 3) have “and” after it.

Overall, these aren’t very big issues. You might want to investigate run-ons and fragments:

http://depts.dyc.edu/learningcenter/owl/sentences.htm

http://www.unc.edu/depts/wcweb/handouts/fragments.html

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

This area is also good. Words like “flurry” are really expressive, and you used the word “reiterated,” which is much better than something like, “said again.” Also, the word “assured” really means exactly what you’re trying to say.

You also use words for good effect, like saying “when the budget ran out, so did my job.” When you say “Now was the time… now I had to find a job…” the repetition of the word “now” works really well to emphasize what you’re saying.

Overall, good job! And a really inspiring story. Keep going, even though it’s hard, and get on to better things!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

There is one person that has impacted my life greatly and whom I respect and love dearly, my best friend Heather. We became friends at the age of sixteen and have been close friends ever since. There have been many ups and down in both of our lives. But we have always been there for one another. We can always count on the other one being there even if its just because we need to have a good laugh. To have someone who knows you for you, and respects you for who you really are can make for a great friendship.

Heather and I meet while working at McDonalds. Right away something clicked. Our friendship started as just casual talking while we were working. Soon after we became very close and almost inseparable. Together there was nothing that the two of us couldn’t do. Heather’s family became my family. We truly were the sister that neither of us really had.

Along the way of our relationship there have been many ladders to climb, but there was and always will be the certainty that we will have the other by our side to help us through. Even in the darkest of times in our lives, we some how find something to laugh about. Laughter is what gets us through.

Heather is truly my rock, my best friend, and my sister. As we are getting older, and building our own families we don’t get to talk or visit one another as much as we would like. But because we are so close we know that were there for one another and always will be. We know the others thoughts, happiness. and pain. How could you not gravitate to someone who know to be a great person and friend.

To have a friendship as close as Heathers and mine, is one of the closest bonds you can have with another person. She knows me for me, and I know her for her. This truly is a powerful thing. Together there is nothing we cant face and overcome.

Yolanda, I think you did a good job with this essay. Let me go over the things that a GED reader looks for when they read the essay.

1. Did I answer the GED question and stay on topic?

Yes! This is a very important part of the grading, and you’ve done a good job. The only thing I might say is that you talked a lot about your friendship, but how well did you describe Heather? Why do you get along so well? Is she funny? Smart? What kinds of things do you have in common?

2. Is my writing organized?

Yes! I’d say organization is one of the best parts of your essay. You start off right away with the answer to the question. In the middle,  you tell the story of your friendship. You begin at the beginning: where you met. Then, you go forward to where you are today: both starting families, but still close friends though you don’t see each other as often. Then, you have a nice conclusion. I like the organization!

3. Did I give enough good details?

This is what I’d like to see more of in your essay. You have some good details, like the fact that you met at McDonald’s. But it seems like some are missing. Like you say “we had many ladders to climb,” but then you don’t say what? One good example of a hard time that she helped you through is worth a LOT in an essay like this. So, I’d say you did medium on this area.

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

Mostly, you did really well with this part. Grammar, spelling, and all that are the most difficult parts sometimes. There are only a few small errors, so you probably wouldn’t be graded down much for them. Here are what I noticed:

•  ”…if its just because…” in the first paragraph should be “…if it’s just because…” (you mean ‘it is,’ which has an apostrophe.)
• Also in the first paragraph, I’d either take out the comma before “and” in the last sentence (you don’t need one if “and” is joining only two things that aren’t whole sentences), or add a comma after “are” (putting commas on both sides would make “and respects you for who you really are” a kind of extra information or extra thing you want to say).
• In the beginning of the second paragraph, you mean “met” (in the past) instead of “meet” (in the present.)
• At the end of the second paragraph, I think you should say “sisters” (you were sisters to each other).
• In the fourth paragraph, you don’t need the comma before “and building our own families…” This is the same as the other comma in the first paragraph, so maybe it’s something to watch out for.
• Oops! You’ve got a period instead of a comma after “happiness” in the fourth paragraph.
• The last sentence in the fourth paragraph is a question, and it should have a question mark.
• The word “others” is missing an apostrophe: “other’s”
• In the last paragraph “Heathers” should be “Heather’s” (possessive)
• You also don’t need the comma after “mine”
• “cant” is missing the apostrophe: “can’t”

I know that sounds like a lot but REALLY it’s minor. These aren’t big deals that will annoy people while they’re reading or make it tough to understand. Don’t stress over it! The things you might want to brush up on are when to use commas and when to use apostrophes.

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

Here’s another area that you did good in! I like the word “gravitate” to talk about how you’re drawn to each other. Great choice! Part of what I like is that you use rhythm in your writing.  You say, “She knows me for me, and I know her for her.” That’s great. It’s got a rhythm…the language sounds good. That’s the point. The words are simple, but they’re really good words!

Normally, I would say avoid saying things like “she is my rock,” because they’re cliches (common phrases people use.) But I like it in your essay. I like the way it works in the sentence: “Heather is truly my rock, my best friend, and my sister.” It’s because you add more to it, and you’ve got that nice rhythm that I like. Good job!

The only comment I might make is to avoid saying “There is” at the beginning of a sentence. Usually, “there is” or “there are” doesn’t add a lot to the writing. You could just say “The one person that has impacted my life greatly and whom I respect and love dearly is my best friend Heather.” “There is” seem just like extra words, you know?

Over all, really good job. The main thing that you might want to do is try to add more specific details. Thanks for coming to my blog! And let me know when you pass your GED!

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

Here’s the GED practice essay question:

Sometimes, we don’t know in advance how we’ll react to a new situation.

Describe a time when you were faced with a new or difficult situation and explain your reaction. Do you wish you’d acted differently? Why or why not? Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

And here’s my GED essay draft:

The unhappiest time in my life was when I didn’t talk to my son for a year. The reason was that I reacted bad to my son getting engaged. His engagement was surprising and shocking to me, and I wish I had reacted differently.

My son came over one day for dinner, and he bought a girl I never met before. He didn’t even tell me he was bringing anyone. Than he told me they were getting married. I was very upset! I thought he was too young. When he saw I wasn’t happy, my son got very angry at me, we had a fight.

Because I couldn’t be happy about their getting married, my son wouldn’t talk to me. He said he would talk to me, if I accepted him getting married. But I got stubborn. I thought he was making a big mistake. Finally, though, his wedding date came up. I was sad that I might miss his wedding, and I called him. It was hard for him to trust me, after how angry and stubborn I was. But we both wanted to get along. I spent some time getting to know the girl he was engaged too and I figured out that I liked her. I was able to go to their wedding, and now, I love my extended family.

Because of my own bad reaction to being surprised, I almost missed my son’s wedding and missed out on having a new daughter-in-law who I love. It teached me that I need to think before I react and not let my feelings get in the way of what’s important. I really wasn’t looking at things from my son’s point of view, because I was so sure I was right. By stopping and listening to my son, I could have made all of our lives happier.

Now’s the hard part… looking at what I wrote critically… so that I can find things that are wrong with it and improve. That’s important for the GED. I’m going to ask some questions, based on how the GED grades essays for the test:

1. Did I answer the question and stay on topic?

2. Is my writing organized?

3. Did I give enough good details?

4. Are there language mistakes, like spelling and grammar?

5. Did I choose the best words to say what I mean?

That’s what a GED reader looks for… so that’s what I’m going to look for. Look through the essay yourself, and try to answer these questions, like you were a GED reader. What do you think? I’ll start going through it one paragraph at a time next week.

To find out more about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at passGED.com.

What is one important goal you would like to achieve in the next few years?

In your essay, identify that one goal and explain how you plan to achieve it. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your essay.

Now here’s my essay:

Much of my life has been about caring for other people. I cared for my husband and my children. Now, I am on my own. I need to care for myself and think about who I am. The GED is my first step toward my goal: finding something meaningful to do with my life.

This goal is not as clear-cut as goals like becoming a nurse or a pharmacist. However, defining what the goal means is part of the goal. The first step I will take is to try to understand what it most meaningful to me. Do I want to work toward a greater social good? Should I concentrate on bringing small pleasures to people?

Once I understand my priorities, I need to look for an activity that will work with my priorities. This may mean finding a new career, or it may mean finding volunteer work to fit into my life. Either way, the skills I’ve learned while studying for my GED will help me write a resume, apply for positions, and talk with people.

I look forward to using my growing skills in something that I find fulfilling. I am happy to have spent my life caring for my family, and I am equally happy to now have time to pursue new interests. Defining those interests is a journey that is just beginning.

Let me know what you think!