The first thing you'll need to do when a student enrolls in your GED class is give him a pre-test in each of the GED subject areas. This will give you both an idea of the individual's academic strengths and weaknesses. A student may be ready to take the GED math test without any instruction, while needing extensive remediation in reading and writing, for example.
When administering the pre-test, make sure that you are not using a book that contains the answers in the back. Most GED books have this feature. Many students will want to impress you or hide a lack of basic knowledge, so remove the temptation to view the answers.
After you've administered the pre-test, you should sit down with your student and go over the results. Talk about the timeframe in which he can accomplish his goal of taking the GED. Be very specific about what will need to be accomplished during this time. For example, regular class attendance is necessary, as is a dedication to working hard during the time that he is in class.
Many students, having not been successful in high school, will not be accustomed to asking the instructor questions when they are confused about a concept. This is a good time to talk about how asking questions is essential to success in a GED program.
You will have students in your class who have had very little schooling, and others who have had years of high school. Some students will be ready to take the GED test in two weeks, while others may need two years of study before they are ready. You will need to decide how you are going to structure your class so that everyone can make progress.
Many GED programs rely on extensive one-on-one instruction, along with individualized study. You may want to separate your students into study groups, based on which chapter of the GED book they are studying. You can also do a combination of individual study and group work. You may want to spend short periods of time doing whole class instruction. For example, the class could do a short daily grammar exercise as a group, with the lower-level students learning from the students who have mastered the concept.
Most likely, you will have students in your class who have learning disabilities. Many people leave high school for exactly this reason. The learning disability may not have ever been diagnosed, but may cause difficulty with memory, attention, reading, writing and other skills. It is good to be aware of the different learning disabilities and what you can do to assist students who are having academic difficulty because of them. This can make all the difference between success in a GED program and failure.
Students who have documented learning disabilities are able to get accommodations for the GED test. If you suspect a student has a learning disability and may need an accommodation, encourage the student to get documentation of the disability and apply for accommodations at the testing center. Depending on the disability, a student can obtain documentation through a doctor or psychologist. A student may also already have documentation that can be obtained from the high school's special education office.
Even after students have mastered all of the academic concepts necessary to pass the various GED tests, they will need to know some test-taking strategies.
Most of the GED is multiple choice. Students will need to be able to identify distractors and eliminate them from the answers. They will need to be taught the concept of choosing the best answer when none of the choices seem to be correct. A good way to teach test-taking strategies is to do a group exercise with a sample test question every day and demonstrate the process used to identify the correct answer.