If you are over 19 years of age, you can freely take the GED exam in New York State. Those younger must meet stricter requirements. If you are 16 years old, you have reached the age limit for compulsory education and are free to drop out. However, to take the GED exam, you must be enrolled in an Alternative High School Equivalency Preparation (AHSEP) course or have enrolled in college or the military. If you are 17 or 18 years old, you can take the GED if you can show that you are enrolled in an AHSEP, have been out of school for one year, are participating in the Jobs Corps program, have joined the military or a college, are an adjudicated youth in prison or under the control of a parole officer, are in a drug rehabilitation program, have been homeschooled or were a member of a high school class that has already graduated.
The only residency requirement is that you must have lived in New York State for 30 consecutive days prior to the GED exam.
New York State doesn't allow you to have a diploma from a high school or a GED certificate.
If you've already taken the GED exam and did not earn a score high enough to earn your certificate, you can retake it. However, you must wait at least 60 days before taking it again and you cannot take the test more than three times in a year.
You must make a payment to the testing center to cover the costs of the exam. Costs vary by location.
There are three different forms of the English version of the GED test. You can only take each form once per year. If you fail to pass the exam the first time that you take the test, you must take a different form of the test when retaking the GED. This means that you can only attempt the exam three times per year. The French and Spanish versions of the GED only have two different forms, which you must alternate between if you have to retake the exam.