The first high school equivalency tests were given by the American Council on Education to soldiers and civilians in 1942. The American Council on Education altered the GED in 1978, emphasizing conceptual knowledge and reading evaluation over simple recall. In 1988, the ACE revised the exam again to include an essay and created an exam placing more importance on practical problem solving. Another revision in 2002 made the equivalency test require more knowledge of standard high school material. Subject matter now included questions on English language skills, mathematics, comprehension and analysis.
The Writing portion of the Language Arts section of the GRE has 50 multiple choice questions that cover sentence structure, sentence fragments, run-on-sentences, punctuation rules, adverbs and adjectives. The ability to correct errors in punctuation, capitalization, and spelling is also tested.
The second section of Language Arts involves writing an essay on a given topic. The essay must be 200 to 250 words, in which the student presents her views on a given topic. The reading section of the GED consists of 40 multiple choice questions. The questions test the students ability to understand the reading samples in the exam. The candidate must understand the passages and relate the information to the questions asked. The reading passages include: poetry, fiction from 1920 to 1960,
nonfiction, workplace documents, letters and manual excerpts.
The science portion of the GED exam contains 50 multiple choice questions that test the student's knowledge of life science, earth, space, physics and chemistry. The student must determine the correct answers using a chart, map, graph or paragraph that is given on the exam.
The social studies section of the GED contains 50 multiple choice questions. These questions test knowledge of natural history, civics, government, economics, world history and geography. The questions are answered using information given to the students in the exam itself.
The mathematics portion of the GED is divided into two sections: The first section consists of multiple-choice questions and a calculator is allowed. The second section involves solving a math problem on your own and writing your answer. A calculator is not allowed in the second math section. Math topics covered in the GED are numbers, measurement, geometry, statistics, algebra and patterns.
Receiving a GED certificate offers adults the opportunity to continue their education in their current field of work or to explore other careers. A GED is accepted by colleges and technical schools, and fulfills the high school diploma requirement. Many employers also accept the high school equivalency certificate for employment, offering the GED holder more employment opportunities and career advancement.