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FYI, I believe the test was originally conceived as a way for G.I.'s to catch up and get a high school degree. I also remember reading something two years ago to the effect that the test had gone through a re-organization in response to the "too easy" criticism. -- Feitclub 16:38, Sep 25, 2004 (UTC)
I'm pretty sure that the "Official Website" listed on this page is a company providing a testing service that has nothing to do with creating or administering the actual GED. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
47.22.4.138 (
talk)
18:36, 3 August 2015 (UTC)
In response to this edit, are the passages in Writing, Part I really translated into French and Spanish? Since the whole purpose is to show an understanding of the English language, that doesn't make any sense. I thought they just gave the directions in French/Spanish on that section...? – Beginning 01:54, Feb 4, 2005 (UTC)
The section "Criticism of the GED" is full of vague attributions. "Some" are said to think this, and "some" to think that. Comments about the value of the GED, positive or nagative, should be attributed to specific individuals or organizatiosn, and sources for thsoe views cited, if at all possible. DES (talk) 21:37, 21 November 2005 (UTC)
November 19, 2005
Re: Letter to the Editor, (Wikipedia Article), GED
Dear Editor: We are writing to share our comments on an article that appears on your online Website about the GED Test. in this article is a section titled “ Criticism of the GED”. Our comments are in regards to this section.
First, the section mentions that some employers see the test, as being a lower degree than an actual high school diploma because the test is easier than it should be. We understand that some employers have their concerns about the test. However, some of us took the test in the early 1990s before the 2002 revision and found it to be difficult to the pass.
Secondly, the section mentions that there are too many basic operations on the mathematics portion of the test and not enough advanced algebra questions. We understand that some professions in our society use algebra. However, consider that not every test candidate is seeking a career that employs the use of algebra; algebra is not a required subject to take in some high school programs, so it shouldn’t be emphasized on the test like is currently.
Lastly, the section mentions that the test was revised in 2002 by the GED Testing Service in Washington D.C. to make it more difficult to pass. We understand that the testing service is trying to appease its critics, with most of its critics being that of higher social and economic groups than those actually taking the test. However, the testing service must not just appease its critics, it must also appease the ones preparing to take the test as well. The testing services own statistics: http://www.acenet.edu/AM/Template.cfm? Section=GEDTS&Template=/CM/ContentsDis… shows a decline in the number of candidates who tested, completed, and passed the test from 2001 to 2003; one theory for this decline maybe that potential candidates became dissatisfied with the 2002 revised version of test and complained that is was too difficult.
Since the 1940s, the test has been a great way for an individual to finish their high school education in an expedited way. But the test seems to be more and more becoming an entrance exam for collage and not an exam to finish one’s high school education. The Testing Service must reconsider the direction it wants to take its test in, without such reconsideration the service risks losing the very individuals they’re trying to help and attracting competition to compete with their test.
Thank you for reading our comments on this subject.
Sincerely, Concerned Group of American Citizens
So does a GED equal a high school diploma? So insted of finishing high school you can just pass this easy test and leave school after say 10th or 11th grade?--BorisFromStockdale 05:20, 14 March 2006 (UTC)
I believe it is suposed to but some colleges/employers will be less likely to let ged people in
I think bigger colleges will generally accept GEDs, but you will still need highschool transcripts. I have my GED and although I dropped out of school, I'm doing better than all of my friends who did graduate.
Well, I dropped out of school in grade 9, and I'm working on getting my GED, and I'm going to a community college, then going to a 4 year school.
You don't need transcripts, you might need to take SATs though. -matthew
you basically won't be getting into any ivy league schools with it, unless your SAT's are amazing. 70.248.145.145 04:53, 2 April 2007 (UTC)
I DONT KNO BUT I WOULD RETHER HAVE HIGH SKOOL DIPLOMA THAN GED I MEAN IT DEPENDES ON HOW HARD U WANT TO WORK IN SKOOL. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.242.130.148 ( talk) 21:50, 15 January 2010 (UTC)
You know what? I think employers should have to take the GED just to see how easy or hard it is before they say how easy it is or not. They should know first hand. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.27.60.32 ( talk) 05:18, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
Isn't it General Equivalency Diploma? Andre ( talk) 23:31, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
The GED is the same, but some employers/schools view it as "The easy way out"
Good Enough Diploma.
^ a lot people the pass high school can't pass the GED test, it's a true fact.
...considering you can't get it unless you score higher than 60 percent of graduating High Schoolers would, I'd say so. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.156.67.35 ( talk) 02:12, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
I have my GED and can't find information on this anywhere, but is it possible for me to go back and get a diploma from an adult learning center (for HS) or am I stuck with this GED now?
Why would you want too? - shorelinetrance
1. There's not much point to doing it, but yes you can. They are equivalent, and treated (mostly) as such, but not the same thing. They aren't going to scream at you for trying to get a High School diploma. Ex: My mother was in a High School completion program at one point; they sent her to take a GED test at one point because they thought she "would like the challenge." She passed, not knowing what it was. They knew she had a passing score, yet didn't tell her what it meant, so for a time she kept going. Ultimately a college friends of hers found out what had happened, explained it, and she ditched the equivalency program and started taking college classes. Point: She passed it and they still wanted her to take the equivalency classes.
They aren't usually gonna keep people from getting their diploma; the real HS certificate is sentimentally important for some people. They are always able to go back and get that. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 168.156.67.35 ( talk) 02:18, 4 March 2010 (UTC)
American GEDs represent what you would've learned in an American public high school, which isn't much. Thus explaining why it's "too easy".
I do not know who wrote the previous paragraph, but I would ask for his citations. I went to school, so I cannot claim any personal experience with the GED, but right now I am tutoring a home-schooled artist-type who needs his GED to go to an art program in Florida. We're using a Barron's GED book, which if the SAT books are any indication, should be harder than the actual test. I covered the entire math section in 38 hours over the course of a month and a half. Based on what was in that book, I would be very disappointed if there were a freshman from my high school who could not pass this test. In September.
Mind you, the suburbs of New Jersey are pretty good in terms of public education, and I like to think that my school is a little better than average (don't we all?), but even so I am not ready to believe that around where I live, eighth graders are smart enough to pass high school math.
Of course, the Barron's book I'm using never mentions any calculus, which according to this wikipedia article is part of the math section, so maybe I'm just woefully ignorant and being snooty about it. 0702034.
Also keep in mind that the GED is about practical knowledge and using critical thinking skills. Not saying high school doesn't have it, but I remember being able to memorize enough to pass a test and then forgetting it later. I've looked at GED texts and realized that is harder to get away with. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.27.60.32 ( talk) 05:09, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
The section on famous people who've received GEDs should contain sources, or it may violate WP:BLP
Has Brittney Spears received her GED yet? I thought she was still studying for it. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.116.5.63 ( talk) 00:13, 10 January 2008 (UTC)
Just changing the section's name from "Trivia" to "Popular culture" is insufficient. This trivia section must be removed and integrated into the rest of the article. -- KJRehberg ( talk) 17:52, 21 January 2008 (UTC)
For example, a typical mathematics question will not ask what the second leg of a right-angled triangle is when the lengths of the first leg and the hypotenuse are given, but instead will ask for the formula that should be used to find the correct answer; this requires the student not only to know the correct answer, but also to explain how to find it; it also uses both algebra and geometry, as opposed to just one discipline of mathematics.
That would not require the student to know the correct answer. Knowing the formula and applying the formula are completely different concepts. It may be argued that a student who knows the formula can trivially determine the requested length, but it is certainly not necessary that they have done so in order for them to know the formula by which to arrive at it. Further, knowing the formula requires neither algebra nor geometry knowledge; it merely requires that one has memorized the formula and a description about what it is supposed to do. The above statement is therefore conceptually erroneous. -- 70.131.82.165 ( talk) 22:49, 15 September 2008 (UTC)
In the History section, the second paragraph starts: "ACE revised the GED Tests for a third time in 1988." That's a little confusing, as there's no mention of the first or second revisions. -- NixonB ( talk) 13:33, 4 May 2009 (UTC)
Any persons who hold Bachelor, Master or Doctorate degrees CANNOT take GED tests even though these persons dropped out of high school and did not earn high school diploma or high school equivalency certificate.
I had Secondary School Graduation Diploma from Sir James Whitney School for the deaf in Belleville, Ontario on June 13, 1985 and suddenly lost this diploma as result of someone accidentally destroyed my ENTIRE school file includes my official transcript on April 4, 1996.
I am deaf and autism spectrum disorder man and was offered PhD in Computer Science by Ministry of Education through correspondence from resume consultant. I wrote PhD comprehensive examination at University of Ottawa and was able to pass that exam. I am exempted from write PhD dissertation because I have autism spectrum disorder prevented me from properly write the dissertation. I got direct PhD degree by honorary and courage in December 2008!!!!!
Since I have PhD degree in my possession, I cannot take GED tests anymore for life. Fortunately, I can use PhD degree as high school diploma for the employment that requires high school diploma. I can also use PhD degree as Bachelor and Master degrees in Computer Information Systems as well.
Danielcg ( talk) 07:26, 6 August 2009 (UTC)
I found out that Ontario Education System DID NOT ALLOW PhD degree to be given as honorary degree. Only D. Univ., LL.D. and other doctorate degrees can be given as honorary degree. In Ontario, PhD degree can only be given as earned degree! I am EXTREMELY shocked that I GOT earned PhD degree!!! Ministry of Education informed me that even though I got PhD degree as earned degree, it was done through "Express" track rather than Honorary. That why I had to show FULL PhD knowledge to the University through PhD comprehensive examination, though I am extremely lucky to qualify for special education (IEP). I am qualified to use IEP feature to receive far less rigorous special education version of university curriculum because I STARTED Grade 9 in Sir James Whitney School for the Deaf BEFORE Year 1984 changeover. I am exempted from mandatory PhD dissertation for autism spectrum reason as the university did not have special thesis for autism spectrum students. If the university do offer special thesis, I can do that fairly easily but take couple months to be complete!
I am EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY, EXTREMELY lucky to have earned PhD degree!!! This degree IMPLIES secondary school honor graduation diploma as well as Bachelor and Master degrees so therefore, I CANNOT take GED tests for life!
UPDATE: I got many news that I did not remember before as result of major nervous breakdown when I graduated on the spot with PhD degree on Wednesday, November 26, 2008. Very major nervous breakdown caused massive repressed memory. I was NOT exempt from do PhD dissertation. I am only exempted from "WRITING" on the dissertation by reason of autism spectrum. I already DID PhD dissertation via telepathic on Wednesday, November 19, 2008. As result of news given by Ministry of Education, I am finally RECALLED my lost memory about PhD dissertation. I am turned out to be studied in Computer Science, not Computer Information Systems. I studied computer programming and software development at home for 15 years! I am now FULL PhD degree in Computer Science (FULL Doctor) holder IMMEDIATELY!
Danielcg ( talk) 06:41, 10 September 2009 (UTC)
This is puzzling: "To pass the GED Tests and earn a GED credential, test takers must score higher than 60 percent of graduating high school seniors nationwide." Do most graduating senior take the GED? How would anybody know what percentage can pass? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.220.135.34 ( talk) 22:51, 27 September 2010 (UTC)
They must have taken it. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.27.60.32 ( talk) 05:14, 3 March 2014 (UTC)
To avoid the usual Wiki talk page speculation and general bull%#@!, could someone who actually administers and/or scores the GED exam please tell us how they check an examinee's background for a high school diploma or other degree which should disqualify one from taking the GED test? Please convince us of your credibility by explaining your expertise on this matter. Thanks. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 204.58.246.49 ( talk) 01:48, 17 November 2010 (UTC)
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Can you take it while still a minor? — Preceding unsigned comment added by Lenosy ( talk • contribs) 15:53, 29 November 2011 (UTC)
I submitted a major edit to the article about the GED. I have citations and will add them later. Still learning how to do all this and I ran out of time for tonight.
I will also be adding other information and responding to some requests on the discussion page.
--Planetgazer 06:23, 5 January 2012 (UTC) — Preceding unsigned comment added by Planetgazer ( talk • contribs)
how hard are the questions on the test? 68.55.112.31 ( talk) 01:20, 18 April 2012 (UTC)
"GED" is being redirected to "General Educational Development." This is incorrect and the page should link directly to "GED."
The GED® battery of tests were initially known as the “tests of general educational development,” a term coined by ACE in the 1940’s. However, the GED® branded test option has become so popular that there is widespread misuse of the term. GED® does not mean “General Educational Development,” “general equivalency degree” “graduate equivalency degree,” “general equivalency diploma” or “graduate equivalency diploma.” The GED® mark is a branded term owned by the American Council on Education for a proprietary battery of tests.— Preceding unsigned comment added by 159.182.1.4 ( talk • contribs) 21:16, 14 January 2013 (UTC)
Blah blah blah. Acronyms have a history of morphing into whatever people want them to mean (viz. US government's GAO) and given that multiple online dictionaries DEFINE, in part, the term GED as "General Equivalency Diploma" speaks to the fact that a large number of people believe, and use, GED to mean exactly that. Horse is out of the barn here folks. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 98.246.193.39 ( talk) 04:15, 15 April 2013 (UTC)
Audio cassette tests? Do they exist outside a museum? Francis Hannaway ( talk) 18:02, 15 September 2015 (UTC)
Ok, I've heard GED used for decades now, and I've never heard the expansion as "General Educational Development". I'll take it as a given that that expansion is accurate as of now, but I've always heard expansions in the vein of "Graduate Equivalency Degree", "Graduate Equivalency Diploma" or "General Equivalency Diploma". What's more, these terms return plenty of hits on Google search. So why isn't any of this other terminology listed in the article? It's confusing to not find any mention of these terms in the article. Can these alternate names be integrated into the article as per typical good practice? I'm not suggesting giving them undue weight, but having only a single expansion in the lead feels dismissive and POV, giving undue weight to that one expansion. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 47.32.217.164 ( talk) 00:28, 19 August 2017 (UTC)
The line at the end of section 4 (Effects on Employability) that references Heckman's research is a gross misrepresentation of his findings. The general tone of Heckman (and coauthors)'s writings is incredibly skeptical of the value of the GED, and largely suggests that it does far harm than good. Even the source quoted in this article states "His [Heckman's] work has shown that GED recipients earn less than other high school dropouts with similar ability levels," a statement that squares with his more recent book The Myth of Achievement Tests.
I'm not personally tied to the value of a GED one way or the other, but including Heckman's research in this article in tacit support of the value of the program throws the entire piece's credibility into serious question. If nothing else, I'd advocate removing that statement entirely, though adding a criticism section with many of his writings as a base may be a more valuable change. 136.167.9.178 ( talk) 14:26, 28 August 2017 (UTC)
As a perhaps more damning quote from the source included in this article in support of the value of GEDs: "GED recipients are ‘wise guys’ who lack the ability to think ahead, persist in tasks or to adapt to their environments." This really needs to be reworked, and some actual criticism of the program included. 136.167.9.178 ( talk) 14:30, 28 August 2017 (UTC)
Given the lack of response on this front, and how inaccurately the article summarizes Heckman's research as it currently stands, I'm going to delete the sentence in question. If anyone disagrees and would like to revisit the issue, I'd be more than happy to! 136.167.250.206 ( talk) 12:01, 8 September 2017 (UTC)
(I apologise in advance for any mistakes here; I haven't done much on Wikipedia.)
I appreciate that this is pedantic and trivial, but:
How is 'GED' pronounced? (I have no clue: I'm from the UK.)
The second paragraph says: "... which owns the GED trademark, coined the initialism to identify "tests of general..."
If it's pronounced "G, E, D" then 'initialism' as used here is correct.
If it's pronounced "GED" (ie as a word) then it should be 'acronym'.
-- Pendant ( talk) 13:34, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
Hi This is Reza Akrami from afghanistan Current living in texas USA . and Am intresting to have more information about this amazing program . 162.246.212.62 ( talk) 05:48, 22 November 2021 (UTC)
" requires an average sub-test score of 500[clarification needed] in addition to the certificate" -- How does this square with an earlier statement that each [sub]test has a range of 100 to 200? Kdammers ( talk) 14:53, 20 August 2023 (UTC)
I feel like this article is about two separate things:
1.) The General Educational Development test operated by Pearson, and
2.) Certificates of high school equivalency.
Certificates of high school equivalencies are documents produced by U.S. state, Canadian provincial, and perhaps other governments attesting that someone has passed a test showing high school equivalency. The main test is, of course, the GED, but as the article itself states, it isn't the only one. 2013creek ( talk) 20:02, 27 September 2023 (UTC)