Before taking the GED, you must meet the following eligibility requirements: you must not have graduated from an accredited high school or received a high school diploma, you cannot be currently enrolled in high school and must be least 16 years of age. Each state has a different set of eligibility requirements for age and residency; please refer to the American Council on Education's website for these age and residency requirements.
The GED has five tests -- writing skills (a written essay), social science, science, mathematics and language arts. Each test has a 40 to 50-minute time limit, with the entire exam lasting about seven hours. Some testing areas require that you take and finish the entire test in one or two sittings; however, testing location policies differ.
In order to pass the GED, you must earn a standard composite score of 410 (60%) and an average score of 450 on each individual exam. Each individual question is worth one point with a total possible score of 800. The test is given two scores, a standard score and a percentile score. The standard score allows you to compare scores across tests, while the percentile score allows you to compare your performance on each test.
The GED requires a score of two or higher in order to pass the essay portion of the test. If you do not pass the essay portion, you must retake both the essay and multiple-choice portions of the exam. Two readers give the essay a score based on organization, sentence structure, mechanics and usage. Based on a four-point scale, the two scores are averaged to calculate your final score.