GED is a popular standardized test in USA. One in every seven individuals has taken this test. This exam has been developed for high school dropouts to achieve equivalent credential and exhibit their academic proficiency. Many individuals are not able to complete their high school education due to one or the other reason. This test avails them an opportunity to bridge that gap and achieve higher education. Around 95 percent of colleges and universities in United States accept GED diploma. After certifying, you can get admission into any two year college program without any fuss. If you are seeking admission in a four year college, you may be enrolled in a two year program by a college which can be extended to four year program later. This is a series of five tests- science, mathematics, social science, language arts reading and language arts writing. Candidates require passing all five tests in order to obtain a ‘certificate of general educational development’ or GED diploma. The certificate holders are considered equivalent to high school graduates. Their percentile ranks in individual tests directly compare them in a position among high school pass outs. Qualifying this exam makes you eligible for a number of jobs and careers where high school graduation is required.
You must take test preparation sincerely. Once you have passed a test, you are not allowed to retake it. Therefore, your score in a test you passed is your final score in that particular assessment. It is the reason that many states have made GED pre-test mandatory. Pre-tests are conducted to evaluate eligibility of an applicant for taking the actual test. If an applicant underperforms in a pre-test, he/she might be asked to go through a review course and take the pre-test again.
Practice tests are a vital part of preparation for such exams. You must have solved GED practice tests before you appear in a pre-test. Solving practice tests has a number of advantages. Practice tests helps you familiarizing with the pattern of questions asked in test and estimate the difficulty level of exam. Several test takers underscore because they are not familiar with the exam and have underestimated difficulty level of the exam. Obviously, if you have any exam anxiety, these sample tests will take it away. You get used to with exam once you have gone through enough practice tests. These sample tests are best way to self assess exam preparation rather than you come to know that you are unprepared for test after a pre-test. While you solve practice tests, you are able to identify and pinpoint the topical areas, you are weak on. Thus, you can re-plan your studies and emphasize on topics you are unfamiliar with. So, you can keep a check on your test preparation by using GED practice test time to time. You may also be able to judge whether you should continue with self study or require a preparatory course or classes.
You can find practice test in study guides, test preparation books or online. If you will have joined a preparatory course, coaching classes or online classes, practice tests will be a part of it. American Council on Education (ACE) itself sells official practice tests. These tests can be obtained in either print or in form of electronic book. ACE official practice tests include six booklets covering all the five tests. If you are willing to spend on purchasing a study guide or test preparation books, it will be worth to buy official practice tests as well. If you have planned to use two study guides (as many test takers go for two exam-preparation books for better preparation and to ensure that they do not lack anywhere), official practice tests must be your second study guide other than your first choice. You should prefer those study guides which offer explanation of answers to practice questions and questions in sample practice tests and contain sufficient number of practice tests and practice questions.
Many websites on internet offer free GED practice tests. You can also find online classes and paid practice tests. Many online GED practice tests are timed. It is recommended that whether you are solving a timed practice test online or a practice test from test-preparation book, study guide, or online, restrict yourself to time limits imposed in actual test. This will be true self assessment as you will be facing the test questions in same conditions that you will encounter in actual exam. Without implementation of this ‘timed practice’, GED practice tests will become limited to practice questions. If an online practice test offers explanation to test questions, it will be an advantage and it will allow clearing concept based confusions.
Remember, GED is not like routine exams, you might have faced in your school times. It focuses on understanding of a subject and requires application of knowledge gained through books into day to day life.
Practice tests also allow you getting used to various exam tricks and tactics. Like, in mathematics test, if you are stuck with a difficult question, leave it and move to other questions. You will sometimes find tricky questions in test which may supply unnecessary information to confuse you or may have insufficient information and include ‘Not sufficient information given’ as an answer options. Such tricky questions will be often encountered in GED mathematics test. For mathematics test, you must practice to do calculations mentally. Calculators are not allowed in the exam. It also implies that there will not be complex calculations and if you have arrived to complicated calculations while solving a problem, you have headed a wrong way. You should get familiar with questions which use graphical information such as graphs, charts, cartoons or tables.
You must employ time management techniques while solving practice tests. You should evaluate the time required per question on the basis that how many questions are there in exam and how much time is allotted. You should try to solve each question within time margins. So, you will be able to complete the test. You must also save some time for revision of test and for looking back at difficult questions you were unable to solve.