GED Test Overview

The General Educational Development (GED) Tests are designed to measure major academic skills and knowledge in core content areas that are learned during high school. The tests reflect current high school curriculum standards that include content relevant to the workplace and community.

In 2002, more than 603,000 adults worldwide took some portion of the GED Tests. Of that total, 510,451 completed the battery of tests, and 360,444 of those (70.6%) earned their high school diploma by passing the GED Tests. Reported reasons GED passers recognize the importance of a GED and/or high school diploma include:

• 97% of colleges and universities accept the GED credential as
  equivalent to a traditional high school diploma (College Board, 2001).
• More than one in 20 college freshmen hold a GED diploma (National
  Center for Applied Statistics, 2002).
• More than 90% of U.S. employers consider those who earned the GED diploma the same as traditional high school graduates with regard to hiring, salary, and opportunity for advancement (Society for Human Resource Management, 2002).

Test subject areas cover Language Arts: Writing, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts: Reading, and Mathematics. The tests, which lasts 7-1/2 hours, measure communication, information processing, problem solving and critical thinking skills. The GED Tests are offered in English, Spanish, and French.

The table below provides the number of questions and time limits on the GED Tests.

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