Is GED test about to undergo some changes?
Certification: Test Prep GED - General Education Development
The high school equivalent test in the United States, GED (General Education Test), administered by the GED Test Service has been upgraded from January, 2014. The objective of the GED test is to assess the college readiness of a candidate and their ability to take up a career.The GED Testing Service is committed towards constantly improving the standards of the GED test to produce candidates who can perform and succeed in the current scenario of college education and job market.
The test has been updated four times since it was started in 1942 with the last updation being in 2002. In the previous GED tests including the 1942 series, the 1978 series, the 1988 series, and 2002 series no changes were made in the academic content areas. The changes in the previous series were minor and mainly driven towards evolving the assessment procedures of the test and matching up with the evolvement of secondary education in the country. However, the changes made in the 2014 series of the GED test are much more radical in comparison to the previous updatesand is designed to cater to the 21st century marketplace.An analysis of the 2002 series and 2014series will help in better understanding of the significance of the changes made in the new series.
About 2002 GED Series
The 2002 series of the GED test, fourth test series developed by the GED Testing series, was delivered in both pencil and paper, and computer based testing formats. Paper Testing is only available as an accommodation, which is an initiative by the GED Testing Service to provide GED Test access to all the individuals including those with documented disabilities.There were five academic areas of the test including social studies, mathematics, language arts reading and language arts writing.Apart from the multiple-choice questions with five answer options that formed the majority part, the test also included grid and essay format questions.The essay questions are scored on a four point scale using a scoring guide and given a combined score based on judgement of two readers.
About 2014 GED Series
The 2014 series GED Test is a completely computer based test and thus, costs double the cost of the previous version of the test. The 2014 series comprises of four academic areas including Reasoning through Language Arts, Mathematical Reasoning, Science and Social Studies.The answering item types in the new series includes drag and drop, fill in the blanks, multiple choice, extended response, short answer, drop down and hot spot. In 2014 series, the short answers are scored on a three point scale, extended response questions of Reasoning through Language Art on 12-point scale and extended response questions of Social Studies Section on an 8-point scale.The scoring of short answers is done by reader first and then through an automated scoring engine, and in extended responses the answers go through the automated scoring engine first and then double checked by readers. The overall score report of the new series of GED test is enhanced to have two levels including GED Passing Score for validation of high school level proficiency in knowledge and skills, and GED Passing Score with Honours to validate the readiness of the candidate for college and career.
Difference in Academic Areas of 2002 series and 2014 series:
- Reading and Writing - In the 2002 series, the Language Art Reading test section is mostly based on prose, poetry and prose and Language Art Writing test section is based on idea development, clear thesis, sentence structure, word choice, grammar and organisation. The Reasoning through Language Arts section combines the reading and writing section of the 2002 series. The reading section test of the 2014 series is informational based including workplace and non-fictional contexts and the writing section is based on analysis of English language command and clarity, idea development and organisation, and ability to use of evidence to support arguments.
- Social Studies -The areas covered in social studies section of the 2002 series are divided US History (25%), Geography (15%), Economics (20%), World history (15%) and Civics and Government (15%).In the 2014 series, Geography and World History is combined to form 15% of the test content, U.S History (20%), Economics (15%), and majority of the test content is from Civics and Governments (50%).
- Science -The science section of the 202 series covers 45% content from Life Science, 35% from Physical Science and 20% from Earth and Space Science. The 2014 series gives equal importance to Life Science and Physical Science with 40% content each from both the topics in the science section and 20% from Earth and Space Science.
- Mathematics –The topics covered in both the series remain the same. However, instead of the scientific calculator allowed in the 2002 series, the 2014 series provides a virtual on-screen scientific calculator for the test takers.
Overall, the main inclusion in the 2014 series is the short answers and main exclusions include poetry from the Reasoning through Language Art section and basic formulae like perimeter and area from the virtual formula sheet provided to the candidates.
Objective of 2014 GED Test Series
The new comprehensive 2014 GED test program has been developed to match with the latest trends and developments in the field of education. The program is designed on the basis of the recommendations of researchers, business leaders, former test-takers and workforce investment groups who suggest that basic knowledge and skills of technology is important for a successful career in current market scenario.This new series would effectively raise the education standards and help the colleges and employers to get the candidates with right set of skills and knowledge for the current job market.