Question to expect

You’ll see three types of questions on the GED. Most questions are multiple choice, which means you’ll be able to pick one answer from a list of possible answers. This gives you test-taking advantages. You only have to recognize the correct answer, instead of calling it up from memory. You can eliminate incorrect answers. And, you can guess. On the GED, you don’t lose any points for marking an incorrect answer, so you should answer every question, even if you have to guess. But multiple-choice questions aren’t the only ones on the GED. In addition, the GED has:

Short-answer questions (in math) The GED math test has questions where you need to calculate an answer, but there are some clues... the answer will either be one point on a graph or a 5-digit or shorter number.

Essay question (in writing) The GED essay is a short (4–6 paragraph) essay that requires you to be able to organize and communicate your thoughts about a topic, with a main idea, a beginning, middle, and end.

The GED exam includes questions about a lot of topics, like U.S. history and life science and sentence structure. But that’s not the only way the questions are divided up. The questions on the GED exam are carefully chosen to include:

• Questions that include pictures, charts, and graphs, as well as text to read
• Questions that test thinking skills including knowledge, comprehension, analysis, application, synthesis, and evaluation
• Questions about important concepts behind the subject areas, such as technology questions in the science test

The best way to prepare for the GED test experience is by taking practice tests, which recreate the experience of taking a GED test. But you don’t need to jump into a full, timed practice test right away. Working up to a practice test gives you more familiarity to build on.

Start by walking through several practice questions to get familiar with what the test questions are like. Why are the questions structured the way they are? What are the questions asking you to do?

Take an untimed practice test. Take as long as you need to. Familiarize yourself with the test format and structure. Practice the whole test, including the essay.

Use your practice test results to study. Time yourself for practice questions while you study, and try to work your time down to about 1 minute, 15 seconds to answer a question.

Before you take the GED, take a timed practice test. Taking practice tests will improve your score on the GED, even if you already know you’re ready to pass. It’s a simple step that can have great benefits.