In Missouri, persons may take the GED only if they meet one of three sets of criteria. Applicants must either be at least 16 years old and have 16 completed units of high school credit and have obtained permission in written form from the superintendent or principal of the last school they attended; or be at least 16 years old and homeschooled, have completed the requirements of Section 167.031 RSMO and have permission of their legal guardian; or be 17 years old or older and have dropped out of school. Test-takers must also be a resident of Missouri and not a high school graduate.
To register for the GED in Missouri, an application must be obtained either in physical form from a school or government representative or downloaded from the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website. This must be filled out and returned to the Treasurer State of Missouri at "GED Office, P.O. Box 480, Jefferson City, MO, 65102-0489" with the $20 money order application fee. Once the application has been processed and returned, the applicant may register with a testing center.
In Missouri, the GED test cannot be taken by means of correspondence or Internet programs. Those wishing to take the GED in Missouri who have completed their application process must find a local testing center and take the GED in person at the certified center. To obtain the location of the nearest Missouri GED certified testing center, use the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education website's list of testing centers and locate the nearest one to your area. The URL for this website is listed below in Resources.
The Missouri GED test is the same standard GED test developed by the American Council on Education and taken across the United States of America. This is made up of five different tests, which include "Language Arts: Writing," "Language Arts: Reading," "Social Studies," "Science," and "Mathematics." The test is said to take about seven hours to complete. To pass the GED test in Missouri, the test taker must score at least 410 on each section and an overall score of at least 2050. According to the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, this means a test-taker's score must be higher than 40 percent of graduating high-school seniors nationwide.