GED TEST CHANGES IN THE WORKS

Adult learners working to earn a high school equivalency diploma have less than a year to successfully complete testing or risk starting the process over.

The General Educational Development test, or GED, is being rewritten to reflect the current academic expectations of graduating high school seniors. This will be the fourth retooling of the GED test since it was created in 1942.

Adults currently may retake portions of the test as needed for passage, but any scores earned in the past two years will be erased Dec. 1, and adults will have to start on the new form of the test.

"The difficulty of the test is not supposed to be any more severe than it was in the past," said Nancy Branson, adult education and literacy coordinator at the Cape Girardeau Career and Technology Center. "We do recommend they complete it as soon as possible," she said.

The test currently is comprised of five parts -- nearly all multiple-choice questions -- that test writing skills and knowledge of social studies, science, literature and math.

The new test will feature mostly short-answer questions and an infusion of graphic illustrations, said Bill Poteet, Missouri director of GED testing. Adults will have to demonstrate knowledge in subject areas using documents traditionally found in work settings such as employee handbooks, memos, job orders and letters to prospective employees.

They must also have an increased knowledge of algebra and geometry and be able to use a scientific calculator.

"The new test will be very workplace-oriented," said Poteet. "What they're wanting are people competent in the skills they need, especially reading and writing skills."

High school seniors will develop national norms for the test this spring. Poteet said about one-third of the high school students probably will not pass the test.

"A person who actually takes the GED and is successful will do as well if not better than the average high school student," he said. "The intent is not for it to be a shortcut to an education; It's to be considered a second chance for people who didn't have the opportunity to finish in a normal fashion."

Poteet said Missourians taking the GED usually perform well because of high participation in adult learning classes similar to those operated in Cape Girardeau by the Adult Education and Literacy Center.

Free classes are offered from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at the Career and Technology Center, 301 N. Clark.

About 70 percent of the 15,000 Missourians who take the GED test annually participate in adult education classes. Comparatively, only about 40 percent of national test-takers prepare formally.

Missouri issues more than 10,000 GED certificates each year..