Acing_the_GED_Exams.pdf

Acing_the_GED_Exams

ACING THE GED EXAMS

ACING THE

GED EXAMS

®

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions.Published in the United States by LearningExpress, LLC, New York.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

Acing the GED exams

Elizabeth Chesla is the author of many reading and writing guides for students, including TOEFL Exam Success.

She is from South Orange, NJ

Jelena Matic is a chemist and contributing science writer for ACT Exam Success She is from Queens, NY.

Maxwell Antor is a high school math teacher and math writer for SAT Exam Success He is from Oakland, CA.

Margaret Muirhead was social studies contributor for this book and is a history and career writer from

Arlington, MA

About the Contributors

PART I Preparing for the GED 1

Chapter 11 Tips and Strategies for the GED Language Arts, Writing Exam 87

Contents

PART IV The GED Science Exam 203

Chapter 38 Tips and Strategies for the GED Language Arts, Reading Exam 341

Chapter 39 GED Literature and the Arts, Reading Practice Questions 347

ACING THE GED EXAMS

I Preparing for

the GED

Congratulations on your decision to take the GED, tests that can make

a dramatic difference in your life Of course, you want to be prepared forthese important tests—that’s why you bought this book There’s a lot more

to good preparation than just taking a practice exam or two That’s why this book gives youthe opportunity to review the knowledge and build the skills you will need for the exams.But first things first Before you being studying the different subjects tested on the GED,

you need to learn as much as you can about the tests That way, you will know exactly how

to prepare Chapter 1 will tell you all about the GED, including the structure of the exams,eligibility requirements, testing information, scoring, and fees

Your time is valuable, and you will want to make the most of your study time That’swhy the rest of this section is devoted to study strategies and test-taking skills Chapter 2reviews basic, effective study techniques Chapter 3 shows you how to better learn andremember material Chapter 4 provides tips and strategies for tackling standardized testslike the GED Read the chapters in this section carefully so you can create an effective studyplan and study wisely

Edward dropped out of high school at 16 when his mother became ill and could no longer work or take care of Edward and his younger brother He began working full time and never finished high school.

Rajesh came to America with the equivalent of a tenth-grade education from his native country He dreamed

of becoming a computer programmer but had to work full time He often worked extra shifts to help make ends meet.

Marie was a certified nurse in her native Caribbean country But when she immigrated, she found out her ing certification was not valid in the United States She could not apply to a U.S nursing program without a high school diploma.

nurs-Today, after taking the GED and earning their high school diplomas, Edward, Rajesh, and Marie—

like thousands of others who take the GED each year—are able to pursue the education and careers oftheir dreams For more than half a century, the GED diploma has given millions of people the opportu-nity to find better employment, enroll in colleges and training programs, improve their standard of living, and feelbetter about themselves and their futures

the GED

PLANNING TO take the GED? Here’s what you need to know to

get started This chapter covers the basic information about theseimportant exams You will learn how the tests are structured, how toregister, and how the tests are scored

 W h a t t h e Te s t s A r e A b o u t

The General Educational Development (GED)

exami-nation is a series of tests covering the broad range of

knowledge and skills students are expected to master in

high school They are tests for people who wish to earn

a high school diploma but who have been unable to

graduate in the traditional manner Passing the GED

cer-tifies that you have a high school level education and

entitles you to a GED diploma, the equivalent of a high

school diploma For hundreds of thousands of people

each year, the GED is an important stepping stone to a

better job and continued education

Did You Know?

The GED was originally developed for veterans

returning from World War II to help them

complete their educations and earn their high

school credentials The first test was

adminis-tered more than 60 years ago, in 1942 Since

then, an estimated 15.2 million people have

taken the GED

The GED is jointly administered by the General

Edu-cation Development Testing Service, a program of the

American Council on Education (ACE) Center for Adult

Learning and Education Credentials, and the education

department of each participating state or province The

GED exams are actually a battery of five tests that

meas-ure knowledge in five content and skills areas: writing,

reading comprehension (understanding literature), social

studies, mathematics, and science

GED Components

The GED examinations are actually a battery of

five separate tests:

➧ Language Arts, Writing (Parts I and II)

➧ Social Studies

➧ Science

➧ Language Arts, Reading

➧ Mathematics (Parts I and II)

The complete battery of GED exams takes a total ofseven hours and five minutes The level of difficulty is set

so that only two-thirds of traditional high school seniorswill pass On average, at least two-thirds of adults whotake all five exams earn their diploma, and many statesreport even higher pass rates In Utah, for example,nearly three-quarters (74%) of GED test takers passedthe exam last year And Iowa boasts a remarkable 95%pass rate for 2001

In many testing centers, you can take the GED one test

at a time until you complete all five exams In others,you must take the entire battery of tests in one or twosessions

The questions on the GED are all multiple choice withtwo important exceptions Part II of the Language Arts,Writing Test requires you to write an essay, and about25% of math questions are “alternate format” questionsthat may include short written responses You will learndetails about each exam, including the specific materialcovered and the kind of questions to expect, throughoutthe rest of this book

GED Fact Box

According to the American Council on tion, which oversees the GED Testing Service:

Educa-➧Over 860,000 adults around the world takethe GED tests each year

➧Test takers who pass the GED outperform40% of high school seniors on the exam

➧Approximately 14% of the high schooldiplomas distributed each year in theUnited States are issued to adults whopass the GED

➧Over 95% of U.S colleges accept studentswith GED credentials, and over 95% ofU.S employers offer GED graduates thesame hiring, compensation, and promotionopportunities as employees with a tradi-tional high school diploma

➧Approximately 1 in 20 first-year collegestudents are GED graduates

 W h o Ta k e s t h e G E D — a n d W h y

The 860,000 people who take the GED each year are a

very diverse group who come from a rich variety of

back-grounds As different as their situations and experiences

may be, their main reasons for taking the GED are the

same Passing the GED:

■ enables them to apply to colleges and universities

■ allows them to apply for jobs or promotions that

require a high school diploma

■ demonstrates to others the importance of

education

■ is a significant accomplishment that improves

self-esteem

GED candidates range in age from 16 to over 60 The

ACE’s publication Who Took the GED? reports that

slightly over half the GED candidates in 2001 were

between the ages of 20 and 39, with an average age of

25.2 years Two-thirds of the test takers reported

com-pleting tenth grade; one-third had completed their

jun-ior or senjun-ior years Nearly two-thirds of the test takers

reported plans to pursue higher education after earning

their GED diploma

More GEDs Than Ever

2001 was a record year for the GED—over one

million people took all or part of the exams The

record number was partly due to the new GED

2002 test series Test takers had to complete

the old GED by December 31, 2001, or else

begin all over with the new exam Of the

979,829 adults who took all five exams,

669,403 (68%) earned their high school

equiv-alency diplomas

 G E D E l i g i b i l i t y R e q u i r e m e n t s

GED candidates must first meet certain eligibility

requirements set by the ACE and participating states and

territories You are eligible to take the GED if you meet

1 You are not enrolled in high school AND

2 You have not graduated from high school AND

3 You are at least 16 years of age AND

4 You meet the requirements of your state,

province, or territory regarding age, residency, andthe length of time since leaving school Arkansas,for example, requires that you be a “legal resident”

of the state, which means that you must spendmost of your time in Arkansas, pay property taxes,and possess a valid Arkansas driver’s license orstate-issued identification card Kentucky’s eligi-bility requirements vary depending upon the can-didate’s age Be sure to check with your statedepartment of education or your local testing cen-ter for specific eligibility requirements

There are approximately 3,400 GED testing centersaround the world These centers are typically operated bylocal school boards, community colleges, and/or centersfor adult education Test takers outside the United States,Canada, or their territories may be able to take the GED

at a Thomson Prometric facility

Because test centers are run locally, registration cedures, fees, and testing times vary You need to contactthe center where you would like to take the tests to findspecific registration, fee, and test time information

pro-If you live inside the United States, Canada, or theirterritories, you can find the testing center nearest you by:

1 Calling 1-800-62-MY-GED OR

2 Checking in the blue pages of your local

tele-phone book (look for “GED Testing” under thestate department of education listing) OR

Maine If you reside outside the United States, Canada,

or their territories and wish to take the online exam, you

must be at least 17 years old

For more information on international testing for

the GED, contact 866-776-6387 or Thomson Prometric,

1000 Lancaster Street, Suite 200, Baltimore, MD 21202

Ask for the Regional Registration Center in your

country or province Or visit their website at www

prometric.com

Thomson Prometric has testing centers available in

the following regions:

In addition to the standard English version of the GED,

there are also Spanish and French versions, initially

devel-oped for Puerto Rico and Canada, respectively These tests

are now authorized for use throughout the United States

but may not be available in all areas and are not available

at international testing centers (international GED

can-didates must take the English version) A new version of

both the Spanish and French GEDs went into effect on

January 1, 2004 Any partial scores from individual

Span-ish or French exams taken prior to December 31, 2003,

are invalid, and candidates must take the complete battery

of new exams

The Spanish GED

The structure and content of the Spanish GED is

essen-tially the same as the English GED, with the important

exception that the examples and test questions are based

on Spanish language and culture In the Language Arts,Reading Test, all excerpts are from Spanish-languagewriters with an emphasis on writers from the Caribbeanand Central and South America In the Language Arts,Writing Exam, grammar questions focus on issues spe-cific to the Spanish language, such as gender agreementand multiple-object pronouns The essay is scored byreaders whose first language is Spanish or who are sec-ondary or college-level Spanish instructors

The French GED

The French GED also follows the English GED in formatand structure Like the Spanish GED, it draws its ques-tions and context from French language and culture.Most measurement questions use the metric system.Essays on the French exam are scored by readers whosefirst language is French or who have taught French at thesecondary or college level

 S p e c i a l A c c o m m o d a t i o n s

Special testing accommodations are available for GEDcandidates with documented disabilities that may affecttheir ability to pass the GED These accommodationsinclude:

■ testing in English-language Braille

■ testing by audiocassette

■ large-print test editions

■ extended time

■ frequent, supervised breaks

■ use of a calculator or scribe

■ private testing rooms

Dictionaries and spell checkers are not permitted, nor is

having someone read the questions aloud to the candidate

If you will need special accommodations to take theGED, request the appropriate form from your local test-ing center:

■ Form L-15 for learning disabilities and attentiondeficit/hyperactivity disorder

■ Form SA-001 for emotional and physicaldisabilities

Once you have completed the form and provided the

necessary documentation, return the form to your GED

testing center Be sure to request and complete this form

well in advance of your test date to allow sufficient time

for processing

 G E D Te s t i n g F e e s

Fees for the GED vary widely In some states, you can

take the GED exams at no charge; in others, all testing

centers charge the same fee (usually between $20–$80);

and in others, individual testing centers determine their

own fees (also usually between $20–$80) In

Pennsylva-nia, for example, the fee varies from $25–$55, depending

upon the location of the center In Georgia, the fee at any

testing center is $55

 W h e n t h e Te s t A r e O f f e r e d

Each test center determines when and how often it will

offer the GED exams Some centers may offer the tests

only two or three times a year; others offer them much

more frequently The Paterson Adult and Continuing

Education Center in Paterson, NJ, for example, offers the

tests two or three times a month The Aurora Public

High School System in Aurora, CO, on the other hand,

offers the tests every Thursday and two Saturdays each

month Contact your local testing center to see when the

tests will be offered If the dates and times are

inconven-ient, check other centers nearby Their offerings may

bet-ter fit your schedule

 H o w t h e Te s t s A r e S c o r e d

Each of the five GED tests is scored separately on a

stan-dard scale of 200 to 800 points Each correct answer is

worth one point, but because the individual tests have

different numbers of questions, the score for each test is

converted to this 200–800 standard This allows the

scores on all five tests to be compared The Language

Arts, Writing Test score is a statistical combination of thescores for the multiple-choice questions and the essay,but a high score on Part I is no longer enough to pass the

exam Since 2002, candidates must pass both parts of the

test in order to pass the Language Arts, Writing Exam.The GED score reflects an estimate of your skills andknowledge in each content area as compared to recenthigh school graduates Your score will be reported in twoways: a number from 200–800 and a percentage Thepercentage indicates how your score compares with theperformance of graduating high school students If yourpercentile rank is 85, for example, that means you havescored better than 85% of graduating high school sen-iors Here’s a more detailed example:

Language Arts, Writing 606 Social Studies 688 Science 490 Language Arts, Reading 621 Mathematics 552 Average Overall Score 591 Percentile Rank 81%

What Is a Passing Score?

The minimum score required to pass the GED and earnthe GED diploma is set by individual states, provinces,and territories The passing score is usually a combina-

tion of both a minimum score per test and a minimum average score overall Most testing jurisdictions use the

passing score set by the GED Testing Service:

■ a minimum score of 410 on each test

■ a minimum average score of 450 overall

If you answer approximately 60–65% of the questionscorrectly, you should receive a standard score of about

410 points per exam

Enough to Pass

In most states, you must score 410 on each

exam and an average score of 450 overall in

order to pass the GED

Getting Your Scores

How and when you get your GED results will also vary

from testing center to testing center Most centers,

how-ever, will mail your results for all tests except Language

Arts, Writing in 2–4 weeks Scoring of the essay part of the

exam typically takes longer, so you may have to wait 4–6

weeks for those test results Some centers may also post

test scores or provide a number to call for test results

Getting Your Diploma

Most states will automatically issue your diploma if you

pass the GED The names of candidates with passing

scores are forwarded to the state department of

educa-tion, and you can expect to receive your diploma in the

mail in approximately 6–8 weeks

Retaking the GED

Fortunately, if you do not pass the full battery of tests or

would like to improve your score, you can retake the

GED Most states allow you to retake the tests two or

three times within a specified time period Often, you

can retest only after you have completed all five exams

New Jersey, for example, allows GED candidates to retake

the tests two times, with no additional fee, within six

months of the initial testing date and no more than three

times within one year Georgia’s retesting policy, on the

other hand, depends upon the candidate’s scores If the

candidate earned an average standard score of 430 or

more, he or she may retake the tests at any time If the

candidate’s score was between 400–429, the candidate

must wait three months or provide evidence of remedial

study before retaking the exams Candidates scoring

below 400 must wait six months or present evidence of

remedial study before retaking the tests

Check with your state or providence to find out the

regulations regarding retesting Also, be sure to check

with your testing center regarding fees for retaking the

exams These fees are usually significantly lower than the

initial exam fee, typically between $5–$30

 T h e S t r u c t u r e o f t h e G E D

Each of the five GED tests contains 40–50 choice questions, with the exception of the mathematicsexam, which also contains 25% “alternate format” ques-tions (this will be explained further in Chapter 40) TheLanguage Arts, Writing Test also contains an essay sec-tion The time allotted for each test varies from 45 min-utes (essay) to 90 minutes (math exam) The table on thenext page describes the basic structure of the exams,including length, number of questions, and type of ques-tions You will learn more about the kinds of questions

multiple-on each exam as you read Parts II–VI

 T h e G E D 2 0 0 2

A new battery of GED exams went into effect on January

1, 2002 The tests were revised to include a greateremphasis on higher-level thinking skills such as criticalanalysis and to incorporate reading skills on all of thetests, especially the science and social studies exams.Other specific changes include:

■ more questions about interpreting graphics, cially on the math, science, and social studies exams

espe-■ inclusion of business documents and more plete documents (instead of excerpts)

com-■ revised scoring of the Language Arts, Writing Test,

so that the essay is now scored separately, makingwriting skills essential for passing the GED

■ an increase in the percentage of questions abouthistory on the social studies exam

■ allowing the use of calculators for Part I of themath exam (test centers supply all candidateswith a Casio FX-260 Solar Calculator)—bothparts of the test are weighted equally and bothmust be completed to pass the exam

■ inclusion of “alternate format” questions on themath exam (questions that require students torespond in a format other than multiple choice)

■ more questions about higher math concepts dents must know more than arithmetic to passthe math exam)

(stu-You will find out much more about each of the GEDexams in the chapters ahead But first, it’s time to review

NUMBER OF

Language Arts, 50 Multiple choice: 75 minutes Writing, Part I 30% sentence structure

30% usage 25% mechanics 15% organization Language Arts, 1 Essay 45 minutes Writing, Part II

Social Studies 50 Multiple choice: 70 minutes

40% history (25% national history, 15% world history) 25% civics and government

20% economics 15% geography Science 50 Multiple choice: 80 minutes

45% life science 35% physical science 20% Earth and space science Language Arts, 40 Multiple choice: 65 minutes Reading 30–35% analysis

30–35% synthesis 20% comprehension 15% application 75% literary texts 25% nonfiction Mathematics, 50 Multiple choice (80%) and 90 minutes Parts I and II alternate format (20%):

(Note: A standard 75% calculations

calculator is per- 25% set-up (determining the correct way

mitted for Part I of to solve the problem)

the math test Cal- 20–30% geometry and measurement

culators are provided 20–30% number operations and number sense

at the test site No 20–30% algebra, functions, and patterns

calculators are per- 20–30% data analysis, statistics, and probability

mitted for Part II.)

Total: 240 + essay 7 hours, 5 minutes

Maybe it’s been a while since you last studied for an exam, or maybe you have never had to

pre-pare for standardized tests like the GED In any case, you may be unsure about the best way to getready for these important exams Fortunately, there are many strategies that can help you learn and

remember the material you need to know to succeed on the GED There are several important steps to take before you

begin to study

 E n v i r o n m e n t a n d A t t i t u d e

To study means “to give one’s attention to learning a subject; to look at with careful attention.” Notice that the word attention comes up twice in this definition To study well, you need to be able to focus all your attention on the mate-

rial So, the first step is to make sure you have the right kind of learning environment and attitude

The Right Mood

Studying can bring wonderful rewards You can gain new knowledge You can do well on tests—like the GED—thatenable you to achieve your academic and professional goals But it can still be difficult to get in the mood to study

HOW MUCH time you spend studying each week is important But

how you study is the key to your success This chapter shows youhow to set up an effective learning environment, determine your learn-ing style, and create an effective study plan

lead you to procrastinate and put off work that you need

to do But procrastinating can cause lots of trouble at test

time If you procrastinate too much or for too long, you

won’t be prepared for the exams

One of the best ways to beat procrastination is to use

a reward system Everyone likes to be rewarded for a job

well done, and if there’s going to be a reward at the end

of the work, it’s easier to get started So promise yourself

a small reward for each study session For example, you

might promise yourself a trip to the gym or a phone call

to a good friend as a reward for an hour of study You

might promise to treat yourself to a movie after you

fin-ish a chapter or give yourself a nutritious snack after you

finish a difficult lesson You can also think about the

reward you will give yourself when you pass the GED

Make sure this reward is a big one!

You can also get in the mood for studying by thinking

about the short- and long-term rewards you will receive

for your hard work Keep in mind the benefits you will

receive from your GED study time:

■ You will gain or reinforce important knowledge

and skills in five fundamental subject areas

■ You will be able to apply to U.S colleges and

universities

■ You will be eligible for jobs and training

pro-grams that require a high school diploma

■ You will get the education you need for a

success-ful future

Remember that while you are preparing for the GED,

your attitude is very important It can dramatically affect

how much you learn and how well you learn it Make

sure that you have a positive attitude You will study, you

will learn, and you will do well Your study time will be

time well spent

Mood Booster

Whenever you need help getting motivated to

study, try saying the following out loud:

➧ I know more today than I did yesterday

➧ I will know more after I study than I know

now

➧ Every minute I spend studying will help me

achieve my goals

The Right Conditions

You can have the best attitude in the world, but if you are tired or distracted, you are going to have difficultystudying To be at your best, you need to be focused,alert, and calm That means you need to study under theright conditions

Everyone is different, so you need to know what ditions work best for you Here are some questions toconsider:

con-1 What time of day do you work best—morning,

afternoon, or evening? How early in the day orlate in the night can you think clearly?

2 Do you work best in total silence? Or do you

pre-fer music or other noise in the background?

3 If you prefer music, what kind? Classical music

often helps people relax because the music is softand there are no words But you may prefermusic that energizes you, such as rock and roll.Others work best with music that has specialmeaning to them and puts them in a positivestate of mind

4 Where do you like to work? Do you feel most

comfortable sitting at the kitchen counter? At thedining room table? At a desk in your office orbedroom? (Try to avoid studying in bed You will

probably be relaxed, but you may be too

com-fortable and fall asleep.) Or do you prefer tostudy out of the house, at the library or a localcoffee shop?

5 What do you like to have around you when you

work? Do you feel most comfortable in yourfavorite chair? Do you like to have pictures offamily and friends around?

6 What kind of lighting do you prefer? Does soft

light make you sleepy? Do you need bright light?

If it’s too bright, you may feel uncomfortable Ifit’s too dark, you may feel sleepy Remember thatpoor lighting can also strain your eyes and giveyou a headache

7 How does eating affect you? Do you feel most

energized right after a meal? Or does eating tend

to make you feel sleepy? Which foods give you alot of energy? Which slow you down?

8 Can you put problems or other pressing

con-cerns out of your mind to focus on a differenttask? How can you minimize distractions so you

Think carefully about each of these questions Write

down your answers so you can develop a good study plan

For example, say you work best in the morning but need

total silence to work If you have children, you would be

wise to schedule your study time early in the morning

before the kids are up or first thing after they leave for

school If you wait until they are in bed, you will have a

quiet house, but you may be too tired to study well

Sim-ilarly, if you have trouble concentrating when you are

hungry, schedule study time for shortly after meals, or be

sure to start your study sessions with a healthy snack

The Right Tools

Help make your study session successful by having the

right learning tools by your side As you study for the

GED, have:

■ a good English dictionary, such as

Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, Eleventh Edition

■ paper or legal pads

■ pencils (and a pencil sharpener) or pens

■ a highlighter, or several highlighters in different

As you gather your supplies, keep your personal

pref-erences in mind Perhaps you like to write with a certain

kind of pen or on a certain kind of paper If so, make sure

you have that pen or paper with you when you study It

will help you feel more comfortable and relaxed as you

work

Learning How You Learn

Imagine that you need directions to a restaurant you

have never been to before Which of the following would

you do to find out how to get there?

■ Look at a map

■ Ask someone to tell you directions

■ Draw a map or copy someone’s written directions

■ List step-by-step directions

from the world around them But most of us tend to

use one way more than others That’s our dominant

(strongest) learning style How you would handle gettingdirections, for example, suggests which learning style youuse most often:

■ Visual Visual learners learn best by seeing If you

would look at a map for directions, you are ably a visual learner You understand ideas bestwhen they are in pictures or graphs You maylearn better by using different colors as you takenotes Use a highlighter (or several, in differentcolors) as you read to mark important ideas.Mapping and diagramming ideas are good learn-ing strategies for visual learners

prob-■ Auditory Auditory learners learn best by

listening If you would ask someone to tell you

directions, you are probably an auditory learner.You would probably rather listen to a lecture thanread a textbook, and you may learn better byreading aloud Try recording your notes on a tapeplayer and listening to your tapes as one of yourmain study strategies

■ Kinesthetic Kinesthetic learners learn best by

doing (Kinesthetic means feeling the movements of the body.) They like to keep their hands and bod-

ies moving If you would draw a map or copydown directions, you are probably a kinestheticlearner You will benefit from interacting with thematerial you are studying Underline, take notes,and create note cards Recopying material willhelp you remember it

■ Sequential Sequential learners learn best by

organizing If you would create a step-by-step list

of driving directions, you are probably a tial learner You may learn better by creating out-lines and grouping ideas together into categories.Think carefully about how you learn Which is yourdominant learning style? Keep it in mind as you readabout learning strategies in Chapter 3

sequen- C r e a t i n g a S t u d y P l a n

If English Is Your Second Language

by creating a project plan Follow these four steps to

cre-ate a successful study plan for the GED:

1 Get the correct information Your first step is to

find as much as you can about the exams Get all

the details about the GED Contact your local

testing center to find out:

■ specific state eligibility requirements (make sure

you are eligible to take the exams)

■ when the tests will be offered

■ where they will be held

■ what you need to do to register

■ when you need to register

■ how much the tests cost

In addition to these administrative matters,you need to learn as much as possible about thetests What exactly will be tested on the exams?What subjects? What kinds of questions? Chap-ter 1 provides general information about thebasic structure of the GED exams Parts II–VIeach begin with a summary of the content cov-ered on each exam and the type of questions youwill be asked on the tests Be sure to read thesesections carefully

2 Find out what you already know and what you need to learn To create an effective study plan,

you need to have a good sense of exactly whatyou need to study Chances are, you alreadyknow much of the test material well Some of it

Whatever your general learning style, most of

us learn to speak and understand language

best by listening If English is not your native

language and you need to improve your

read-ing and writread-ing skills, take some time to build

your listening skills, too The more familiar you

become with the sounds and rhythms of the

language, the more quickly you will learn

Spend as much time as possible around

peo-ple speaking English Go to places where you

will see and hear English, such as to plays or

to the cinema The more you hear the

lan-guage, the more comfortable you will be

thinking in that language This will make it

easier to understand written English and to

write effectively

Of course, the best thing you can do to

improve your English writing and

compre-hension skills is to read Read as much as

you can in English to learn the structure and

style of the language Rent movies based on

novels Watch the film to build your listening

skills, and then read the book to improve your

reading comprehension and writing skills

Good novel/movie combinations to try are

those by John Grisham, including:

A Time to Kill The Client The Firm The Pelican Brief

Of course, there’s more to movie adaptationsthan legal thrillers Here are some more goodchoices, from classics to contemporary, fromAmerican to world literature:

Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt The Cider House Rules by John Irving The Color Purple by Alice Walker The Commitments by Roddy Doyle The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexander

To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

You can also read English versions of booksthat you have already read in your native lan-guage The plot and characters will already

be familiar to you, so you will be able tounderstand more as you read

the beginning of each section or take a practice

GED to get an idea of how you would do on the

exam How did you score? What do you seem to

know well? What do you need to review? What

do you need to study in detail?

3 Set a time frame Once you have a good sense of

how much studying is ahead, create a detailed

study schedule Use a calendar to set specific

deadlines If deadlines make you nervous, give

yourself plenty of time for each task Otherwise,

you might have trouble keeping calm and staying

on track

To create a good schedule, break your

study-ing into small tasks that will get you to your

learning goals A study plan that says “Learn

everything by May 1” isn’t going to be helpful

However, a study plan that sets dates for learning

specific material in March and April will enable

you to learn everything by May 1 For example,

take a look at the following five-month study

plan created by a GED candidate who needs to

focus on both Language Arts exams:

Week 1 Study math Focus: geometry and

Week 4 Study science Focus: life sciences,

start physical sciences.

Week 5 Study science Focus: physical

sci-ences, and Earth and space sciences.

Week 6 Take practice science GED Review

errors Review math.

Week 7 Study social studies Focus: national

history.

Week 8 Study social studies Focus: world

history.

Week 9 Study social studies Focus: geography

and economics Take practice social

studies GED.

Week 10 Review errors Review math and

science.

Week 11 Study grammar/writing Focus:

sen-tence structure, usage.

Week 12 Study grammar/writing Focus:

Week 17 Study reading/literature Focus:

comprehension and application.

Week 18 Study reading/literature Focus:

analysis and synthesis.

Week 19 Take practice reading exam Review

errors.

Week 20 Review all subjects.

Notice how this schedule builds in time to

review each subject and establishes different

top-ics to focus on each week

As you set your deadlines, think carefullyabout your day-to-day schedule How much timecan you spend on studying each week? Exactlywhen can you fit in the time to study? Be sure to

be realistic about how much time you have andhow much you can accomplish Give yourself thestudy time you need to succeed

4 Stick to your plan Make sure you have your

plan written on paper and post your plan whereyou can see it (Don’t just keep it in your head!)Look at it regularly so you can remember whatand when to study Checking your plan regularlycan also help you see how much progress youhave made along the way

It’s very important that you don’t give up if

you fall behind Unexpected events may

inter-problem at home, or you may even come down

with the flu Or, it might just take you longer to

get through a task than you planned That’s okay

Stick to your schedule as much as possible, but

remember that sometimes, “life gets in the way.”

For example, if you have a family problem

that’s keeping you from concentrating, you may

need to postpone your studies to resolve that

problem And that’s okay—as long as you

reschedule your study time Better to study later

when you can concentrate than to waste time

“studying” when you are unable to focus

So if you miss one of your deadlines, don’t

despair Instead, just pick up where you left off

Try to squeeze in a little extra time in the next

few weeks to catch up If that doesn’t seem

possi-ble, simply adjust your schedule Change your

deadlines so that they are more realistic Just be

sure you still have enough time to finish

every-thing before the exams

 H o w D o Yo u K n o w

W h a t Yo u K n o w ?

One of the keys to successful studying is knowing what

you know, and knowing what you don’t know Practice

tests are one good way to measure this, but there are alsoother ways

One of the best ways to measure how well you knowsomething is to see how well you can explain it to some-

one else If you really know the material, you should be

able to help someone else understand it Use your ing style to explain it For example, if you are an auditorylearner, talk it out If you are a visual learner, create dia-grams and tables to demonstrate your knowledge.Rewrite your notes or make up your own quizzes withquestions and answers like those on the exam Provide anexplanation along with the correct answer

learn-How do you know what you don’t know? If you feel

uncertain or uncomfortable during a practice test orwhen you have difficulty explaining it to someone else,you probably need to study more Write down all of yourquestions and uncertainties If you write down what youdon’t know, you can focus on searching for answers.When you get the answers, you can write them out next

to the question and review them periodically Notice howmany questions you answer along the way—you will beable to see yourself making steady progress

If you are avoiding certain topics, it’s a good sign thatyou don’t know those topics well enough for the exams.Make up your mind to tackle these areas at your nextstudy session Don’t procrastinate!

Stay Away from Cramming!

By creating a study plan, you can avoid cramming—trying to learn everything at the last minute

Cram-ming can make you very nervous, and for good reason If you wait until a few days before the tests,chances are, you won’t be able to learn everything And if you stay up all night trying to get everythingdone, you will be too tired to study effectively

Create a study plan that spaces out your learning goals Give yourself plenty of time to learn and time

to review Learn at a pace that is comfortable for you

Trouble Getting Started?

Sometimes, it’s just plain hard to get started on a big project If you are having trouble getting going, startwith an easy task, such as creating flash cards for review That way, you will be able to accomplishsomething quickly and easily And that will motivate you to move on to harder tasks Or, try starting yourstudy session by reviewing or copying your notes from last session This way, you will better rememberwhat you have already learned while you ease into study mode

How successful you are at studying usually has less to do with how much you know and how much

you study than with how you study That’s because some study techniques are much more effective than

others You can spend hours and hours doing practice tests, but if you don’t carefully review youranswers, much of your time will be wasted You need to learn from your mistakes and study what you don’t know.The best method is to use several of the following proven study techniques They can help you make the most of yourlearning style and store information in your long-term memory

 A s k i n g Q u e s t i o n s

Asking questions is a powerful study strategy because it forces you to get actively involved in the material you want

to learn That, in turn, will help you better understand and remember the material And there’s another importantbenefit—asking and answering your own questions will help you be comfortable with the format of the exam.For example, when you are reading a short story, you can ask yourself questions like those you might see on theGED, such as:

Strategies

ONCE YOU have created an effective learning environment and a

detailed study plan, you can begin to review the material that will betested on the GED But how can you remember all that you need toknow? This chapter reviews several key learning strategies, includingeffective note-taking, outlining, and memory techniques

3 Why is the setting important?

4 Which adjective best describes the narrator?

5 What is the narrator’s main motivation for her

actions?

6 What is the significance of the empty basket?

7 What is the narrator’s relationship to the woman

in the window?

Similarly, if you are analyzing a diagram of the human

ear, you can ask:

1 What is immediately below the auditory tube?

2 What is the scientific name of the ear drum?

3 Where is the incus located?

4 What parts of the ear must a sound wave travel

through to get to the pharynx?

5 How many bones are in the middle ear cavity?

Of course, you may not be able to answer all of your

questions right away You may need to do some extra

work to find the answer

 H i g h l i g h t i n g a n d U n d e r l i n i n g

Here’s a good habit to get into: Whenever you read, have

a pen, pencil, or highlighter in your hand That way, as

you read, you can mark the words and ideas that are

most important to learn or remember Highlighting and

underlining help make key ideas stand out Important

information is then easy to find when you need to take

notes or review

The key to effective highlighting or underlining is to

be selective Don’t highlight or underline everything If

you highlight every other sentence, nothing will stand

out for you on the page Highlight only the key words

and ideas

But how do you know what you should highlight or

underline? As you study for the GED, you should

high-light or underline:

■ words that are defined in the text

■ main ideas

■ key details that support or explain main ideas

■ words, grammar rules, and other items that you

need to remember

■ ideas or concepts that are new to you

■ unfamiliar vocabulary words and idiomaticexpressions (so that you can look them up andlearn their meaning)

 Ta k i n g N o t e s

Taking notes is a terrific study strategy It helps youunderstand, organize, and remember information Thesecret to taking good notes is knowing what you shouldwrite down As with highlighting, the key is to be selec-tive Take notes about the same things you would under-line, especially main ideas, rules, and other items youneed to learn Whenever possible, include examples so

that you can see the concept clearly For example, below

are some notes on the structure of an animal cell:

Animal Cell Structure

Three parts: plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus.

Plasma membrane: Isolates cell from the

envi-ronment, regulates movement of materials inand out of cell, communicates with other cells

Cytoplasm: Includes water, salts, and enzymes that catalyze reactions Contains organelles such

as mitochondrion, which capture energy from

■ Write questions If you come across something

you don’t understand, write a question What does this mean? Why did the author choose this word? Why is this the best title? How is this differ-

tion in this chart important? What was the impact

of this discovery? Then, answer all your questions.

■ Make connections Anytime you make

connec-tions between ideas, you improve your chances of

remembering that material For example, if you

are studying the Industrial Revolution, you might

make connections between a number of key

inventions by imagining how cotton might move

from a farm in Georgia to a shirt in a British

store: cotton gin, steamboat, steam engine.

Similarly, when you are reviewing the

Consti-tution, you might make a connection between the

Nineteenth Amendment (granting women the

right to vote) and your only female cousin’s age

(she’s 19) (If you then picture your 19-year-old

cousin in a 1920s flapper outfit in a voting booth,

you’ll have a much better chance of remembering

which amendment granted women the right to

vote.)

■ Write your reactions Your reactions work much

like connections, and they can help you

remem-ber information For example, if you are

review-ing the Constitution, you might note the

following:

Why did it take 50 years after the Fifteenth

Amendment, granting people of all races the right

to vote, for the Nineteenth Amendment, granting

both genders the right to vote, to be passed?

 O u t l i n i n g a n d M a p p i n g

I n f o r m a t i o n

Outlines are great tools, especially for sequential learners

They help you focus on what’s most important by

mak-ing it easier to review key ideas and see relationships

among those ideas With an outline, you can see how

supporting information is related to main ideas

The basic outline structure is this:

I Topic

A Main idea

1 Major supporting idea

a Minor supporting idea

i Additional supportiveinformation

Outlines can have many layers and variations, but this

is the general form Here are the notes for animal cellstructure presented in outline format:

Animal Cell Structure

I Three parts: plasma membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus

A Plasma membrane

1 Isolates cell from the environment

2 Regulates movement of materials inand out of cell

3 Communicates with other cells

B Cytoplasm

1 Includes water, salts, and enzymes thatcatalyze reactions

2 Contains organelles

a Example: mitochondrion, which

captures energy from foodmolecules

a Site of ribosome assembly

Mapping information is similar to making an outline.

The difference is that maps are less structured You don’thave to organize ideas from top to bottom Instead, with

a map, the ideas can go all over the page The key is thatyou still show how the ideas are related The next pageshows the same example in a map instead of an outline

 M a k i n g F l a s h C a r d s

Animal Cell Structure

materials into the nucleus

Water, ions, proteins, and RNA

Controls flow

of information

to and from DNA

Chromatin

Clusters of DNA and asso- ciated proteins

Nucleolus

Site of some assembly

Paleozoic Age 590–248 million years ago

Algae, invertebrates, fish, fungi, plants, insects, first amphibians andreptiles, conifers

Flash cards are a simple but very effective study tool

First, buy or cut out small pieces of paper (3 × 5 index

cards work well) On one side, put a question or word

you need to learn On the back, put the answer You can

use different colors and pictures, especially if you are avisual learner

For example, if you are studying the history of life onEarth, you could make flash cards like the following:

 M e m o r i z i n g v s R e m e m b e r i n g

Imagine that you need to memorize a list of homonyms

for the GED You go over and over the list until you are

sure you know them Then you take a practice test

Sud-denly, you can’t seem to remember the list The words are

used in context (within sentences), and they are not in

the order you memorized You fail the practice test

What happened? The problem is not that you didn’t

study The problem is that you didn’t study wisely You

focused on memorizing, not remembering You didn’t

learn the words in context You didn’t use the words or

practice them by writing sample sentences with the

cor-rect spelling That’s why, on the test, you couldn’t

remember them

It’s true that “repetition is the key to mastery.” Try

repeating a new phone number over and over, for

exam-ple Eventually you will remember it But it may only stay

in your short-term memory In a few days (or maybe even

a few hours), you are likely to forget the number You

need to use it to really learn it and store the information

in your long-term memory.

While there are some tricks you can use to help

remember things in the short term, your best bet is to use

what you are learning as much as possible and as soon as

possible For example, you can use new vocabulary

words or idioms in your conversations throughout the

day; you can also teach the new word or idiom to others

Likewise, you can share something you learn about

world history or life sciences with a friend

Here are some general strategies to help you

remem-ber information as you prepare for the GED:

■ Learn information in small chunks Our brains

process small chunks of information better thanlarge ones If you have a list of 20 scientific vocab-ulary words, for example, break that list into fourlists of five words each

■ Spread out your memory work Don’t try to

remember too much at one time For example, ifyou break up those 20 words into four lists, don’ttry to do all four lists, one after another Instead,try studying one list each day in several short,spaced-out sessions For example, spend 20 min-utes in the morning studying the new words.Review the words again for 15 minutes atlunchtime Take another 15 minutes while youare waiting at the bus stop on your way home.Add another ten-minute review before bed This

kind of distributed practice is very effective It’s

also a sneaky way to add more study time to yourschedule And, it provides lots of repetition with-out tiring your brain

■ Make connections You learn best when you

make connections to things you already know.(See “Make Connections” on page 19.)

■ Use visual aids, especially if you are a visual

learner Help yourself “see” in your mind whatyou need to learn For example, if you arestudying the Great Depression, you can imagineyourself living in that time period This can help you remember many facts about the GreatDepression

■ Use your voice, especially if you are an auditory

learner Say aloud what you need to learn; youcan even sing it if you like, especially if you canmake a rhyme (for example, you might say

Mesozoic Age 248–65 million years ago

Origin of mammals and dinosaurs, birds, flowering plants; separation ofcontinents

Cenozoic Age 65 million years ago–present

Flourishing of birds, mammals, insects, flowering plants

Evolution of Homo sapiens

“speak, spoke, spoken; break, broke, broken” to

memorize some irregular verbs) Anytime you

are learning grammar and structure, say a sample

sentence aloud several times Try different

varia-tions, too For example, if you are trying to

mem-orize the irregular past tense of verbs like wear

and tear, you can say a sentence like:

My dress has a tear It’s torn.

Her dress has a tear, too It’s also torn.

Thinking of the sentence helps; hearing it

aloud helps even more And if you also write it

down, you take an extra step toward sealing the

material in your memory

■ Use mnemonics Mnemonics are tricks to help

you remember information The most common

trick is to create an acronym Say you need to

remember a list of words Take the first letter

from each word, then make a word from those

letters For example, imagine you want to

remem-ber the three main civilizations of the early

Amer-icas: the Mayans, the Aztecs, and the Incas You

could use the acronym AIM to help you

remember

Another trick is to make a sentence using the

first letter (or first two letters) of each word you

want to remember For example, if you want to

memorize the order of the major historical

ages—Precambrian, Paleozoic, Mesozoic, and

Cenozoic—you could write the following

sentence:

I promised Patty my car.

Of course, the sillier the better (the easier toremember) So you might try something crazy,like:

Prancing pandas make cookies.

There are all kinds of other mnemonic tricksyou can make up on your own For example, to

distinguish between the homonyms where and wear, you might remember the sentence:

You wear an earring in your ear.

If you remember that “wear” includes the word

“ear,” you can remember which meaning goeswith which word

it easier for you to learn

Knowing the material you will be tested on improves your chances of succeeding But it doesn’t

guarantee that you will do your best on the test That’s because the GED doesn’t just test your

knowl-edge of science, math, social studies, reading, and writing in the English language Like all ized tests, it also measures your test-taking skills

standard- L e a r n a b o u t t h e Te s t

One sure way to increase your chances of test success is to find out as much as you can about the exams If you don’tknow what to expect on the tests, you won’t know how to study It is likely that you will be extra anxious about theexams, too The more you know about the tests you are going to take, the better you can prepare—and the morerelaxed you will be on test day

You already know that the GED has five separate exams: Math; Science; Social Studies; Language Arts, Writing; and Language Arts, Reading You know that most of the test questions are multiple-choice and that you’ll have to write an

essay You know how much time you have to complete each section But until you look at actual sample questions,

you still don’t really know what to expect For example, on the Language Arts, Reading Test, what kind of passages

Strategies

YOU HAVE reviewed techniques to help you study effectively Now

it’s time to review techniques that will help you perform well on anexam This chapter covers several key strategies for taking standard-ized tests like the GED You will learn how to prevent and treat testanxiety, how to approach multiple-choice questions, and how to keepyourself healthy for the exams

Getting sample tests and working with skill builders

like this book can help you in many ways You will get

used to the kind of questions you will be asked and the

level of difficulty of those questions You will also

become familiar with the format and comfortable with

the length of the exam

 H a n d l i n g Te s t S t r e s s

Test anxiety is like the common cold Most people suffer

from it periodically It won’t kill you, but it can make

your life miserable for several days

Like a cold, test anxiety can be mild or severe You may

just feel an underlying nervousness about the upcoming

exam, or you may be nearly paralyzed with worry,

espe-cially if there’s a lot riding on the exams Whatever the

case, if you have test anxiety, you need to deal with it

Fortunately, there are many strategies to help prevent

and treat test anxiety

Prevention

The best “cure” for test anxiety is to prevent it from

hap-pening in the first place Test anxiety is often caused by

a lack of preparation If you learn all you can about the

test and create and follow a study plan, you should be in

good shape when it comes to exam time Here are some

other, more general strategies:

■ Establish and stick to routine Routines help us

feel more comfortable and in control Whenever

possible, study at the same time and in the same

place Make your test preparation a habit that’s

hard to break Studying for the GED will become

easier as it becomes routine You will be more

likely to avoid distractions, and others will know

not to disturb you during your GED study time

Set routines for other aspects of your life, too,

such as exercise and paying the bills

■ Keep your general stress level low If there are a

lot of other stresses in your life, chances are, a big

test will make those other stresses seem more

dif-ficult to manage Remember to keep things in

perspective If something is beyond your control,

don’t waste your energy worrying about it

Instead, think of how you can handle what is in

your control

■ Stay confident Remind yourself that you are

smart and capable You can take these tests—andyou can do well on it Remember, you know moretoday than you did yesterday

■ Stay healthy When your body is run down or ill,

your brainpower will suffer, too And you aremuch more likely to be overtaken by worries Takecare of yourself throughout the test-preparationprocess (See more information on page 25.)

Treatment

If it’s too late to prevent test anxiety, don’t panic You canstill treat it effectively Here are some strategies to helpreduce test stress:

■ Face your fears Admit that you are worried

about the test and examine the reasons why Yourfears won’t change the fact that you have to takethe test, but they can paralyze you and keep youfrom studying and doing well on the exam.Acknowledge your fears, put them in perspective,and refuse to let your fears hurt you

One very helpful strategy is to write your fearsdown When you put your worries on paper, theyoften seem more manageable than when they arebouncing around in your brain and keeping you

up at night Once you write down your fears, youcan then brainstorm solutions For example,imagine you are worried about not being able tofind enough time to get your work done and fin-ish studying Once you put this fear down onpaper, you can begin to figure out how to squeeze

in the hours you will need to get everything done.And you will feel more in control

■ Keep things in perspective Yes, the GED is a big

deal But even if you don’t pass the tests, is it theend of the world? Will your family stop lovingyou? Will you be less of a person? Of course not.And you can always take the tests again later.Perspective is very important to performance

Of course you should be serious about ing But don’t lose sight of other importantaspects of your life

succeed-■ Be sufficiently prepared Anxiety often comes

from feeling insecure in a new situation But ifyou prepare well, using this and other books, theGED will not be new to you And if you follow

your study plan, you will know how to answer the

questions you will face on the exams If you have

fallen behind, remember that it’s not too late to

catch up

■ Stop making excuses Excuses may give you some

comfort in the short term, but they don’t take

away test anxiety—and they won’t help you do

well on the exams In fact, excuses often make

things worse by making you feel guilty and

pow-erless Don’t let yourself feel like a victim You

may have a lot of things going on in your life and

many things may interfere with your studies, but

you have the power to choose how you deal with

your circumstances

■ Imagine yourself succeeding Highly successful

people will often tell you that one of their secrets

is visualization In their mind’s eyes, they see

themselves succeeding They imagine the

situa-tions they will face, and they imagine themselves

handling those situations beautifully

Visualization is a very powerful tool It’s a way

of telling yourself that you believe you can do it.

The power of this kind of belief is staggering If

you believe you can accomplish something, you

are far more likely to accomplish it Likewise, if

you believe you can’t do something, you are far

more likely to fail to achieve that goal Positive

visualization will make it easier for you to study

and manage your entire test-preparation process

Anyone can use the power of visualization

Picture yourself sitting calmly through the exam,

answering one question after another correctly

See yourself getting excellent test results in the

mail Imagine yourself telling family and friends

how well you did on the exams Picture yourself

receiving the college acceptance letter or job offer

you desire

■ Stick to your study plan Test anxiety can

para-lyze you if you let it And before you know it, you

have missed several deadlines on your study plan

Guess what? That will only make your test anxiety

worse As soon as you feel your stomach start to

flutter with test anxiety, go back to your study

plan Make an extra effort to stick to your

schedule

 B e H e a l t h y

It’s difficult to do your best on a test when you are not

feeling well Your mind and body need to be in good

shape for the test If you let your body get run down, youmay become ill That, in turn, will set you back on yourstudy schedule And that may lead to test anxiety, whichcan make you feel run down again This is a downwardspiral you need to avoid If you do feel run down, take aday or two to rest and feel better Maybe you will be twodays behind your study schedule, but when you con-tinue, your studying will be more effective As long as it’snot a constant problem for you and as long as you arenot using illness to avoid studying, you will do yourself

a favor by resting

Take good care of yourself throughout the entire preparation process and especially in the week before theexam Here are some specific suggestions for stayinghealthy:

test-1 Get enough rest Some of us need eight or more

hours of sleep each night Others are happy withjust five or six You know what your body needsfor you to feel clearheaded and energized Makesleep a priority so that you are able to concen-trate on the day of the exams If you have troublesleeping, try one of the following strategies:

■ Get extra exercise during the day A tired bodywill demand more sleep

■ Get up and study If you study in the nightwhen you can’t sleep, you can cut out studytime from the next day so you can take a nap

or get to bed earlier (Of course, sometimesstudying will help you fall asleep in the firstplace.)

■ Relax with a hot bath, a good book, or inducing foods A glass of warm milk, forexample, may help you fall back asleep

sleep-■ Do some gentle stretching or seated forwardbends Try to touch your toes with your legsoutstretched This posture stretches tensemuscles, improves circulation, and helps relaxthe whole body Or, practice a few simplerelaxation poses from yoga: child’s pose,corpse pose, or cat stretch (see www.yoga.comfor details)

■ Spend a few minutes deep breathing Fill your

lungs slowly and completely Hold your breath

for a few seconds and then release slowly and

completely You can practice deep breathing

any time you need to relax or regain focus

■ Write down your worries Again, putting your

fears on paper can help make them more

manageable

2 Eat well Keeping a healthy diet is often as hard

as getting enough rest when you are busy

prepar-ing for a test But how you eat can have a

tremendous impact on how you study and how

you perform on the exams You may think you

are saving time by eating fast food instead of

cooking a healthy meal But in reality, you are

depriving your body of the nutrition it needs to

be at its best You may think that a couple of

extra cups of coffee a day are a good thing

because you can stay up later and study But in

reality, you are “tricking” your brain into

think-ing that it’s awake and makthink-ing yourself more

dependent on caffeine

Foods to avoid—especially at test time—

include high-sugar, high-calorie, low-nutrition

foods, such as donuts, chips, and cookies

Instead, find healthy substitutes such as the

following:

INSTEAD OF EAT

donuts low-sugar, multigrain

cereal

chips carrot sticks

cookies natural granola bar

ice cream low-fat yogurt

sugary soda fresh-squeezed fruit juice

giant-sized coffee green tea

3 Get exercise You hardly have the time to study,

so how can you find the time to exercise? As

dif-ficult as it may be, it’s important to squeeze

exer-cise into your busy schedule Even light exerexer-cise,

such as a brisk walk to the store, can dramatically

improve your brainpower For one thing,

exercising can help you clear your head, cially if you are preoccupied with many thingsand need to get focused on your work Foranother, if you exercise, you will have moreenergy during the day and sleep better at night.That means all your study time will be moreproductive In addition, your exercise time canactually double as study time For example, youcan review material while you are riding an exer-cise bike You can compose an essay in your head

espe-as you race-walk around the park If you exercisewith a friend who is also studying for the GED,you can quiz each other on test material Andhere’s another bonus: Exercise helps relievestress So, especially if you are dealing with testanxiety, make exercise a priority

 M u l t i p l e - C h o i c e Te s t S t r a t e g i e s

Multiple choice is the most popular question format forstandardized tests like the GED and understandably so:Multiple-choice questions are easy and fast to grade.They are also popular because they are generally consid-

ered objective: They are questions based solely on

infor-mation and don’t allow the test taker to express opinions

Multiple-choice questions have three parts:

Stem: the question Options: the answer choices Distracters: the incorrect answers

Here’s an example:

Stem: The narrator knew her mother was lying

because

Options:

a her mother was acting strangely.

b what her mother said goes against her

mother’s character

c her mother was always lying.

d she has ESP (extrasensory perception).

In this question, the correct answer is b The other

options are all distracters

Here are some strategies to help you answer

multiple-choice questions correctly:

1 Identify key words in the stem These are the

words that help you search for the correct

answer For example, in the stem:

Clinically depressed patients have all of the

following symptoms EXCEPT

the key words are “clinically depressed,”

“symp-toms,” and “except.” You need to look in the

pas-sage for the symptoms of clinical depression

And you need to find the answer that is not

specifically mentioned in the passage

2 Immediately eliminate all answers you know

are incorrect of This will help you find the

cor-rect answer It is an especially important step if

you have to guess at the answer

3 Beware of distracter techniques Test developers

will often put in look-alike options, easily

con-fused options, and silly options For example, in

the question about the narrator’s mother, choice

a may be true according to the passage, but it

may be that the narrator’s mother often acts

strangely, or that there’s another reason that she

is acting in this way A careful reading of the

story would show that what the mother said

con-tradicts her usual values Choice d is the silliest

option and is the one you should probably

elimi-nate first

4 Read stems carefully to be sure you understand

exactly what is being asked Watch for tricky

wording such as “All of the following are true

EXCEPT.” You will find distracters that are

accu-rate and may sound right but do not apply to

that stem For example, if you don’t notice the

“except” on the clinical depression question

stem, you might choose a distracter that is a

symptom of clinical depression The answer

would be accurate but wrong because you did

not read the question carefully

5 Beware of absolutes Carefully read any stem

that includes words like always, never, none, or

all An answer may sound perfectly correct and

the general principle may be correct However, it

Should You Guess?

If you aren’t sure about the answer to a choice question, should you guess? On theGED, you will not be penalized for any incorrectanswers So YES, you should guess when you

multiple-do not know the answer But whenever

possi-ble, make it an educated guess Eliminate any

answers you know are incorrect choice questions usually have four or fiveoptions, only one of which is right That givesyou a 20–25% chance of guessing correctly Ifyou have four options and eliminate one dis-tracter, that increases your chances to 33% Ifyou eliminate two distracters, you have a 50/50chance of getting the right answer—and boost-ing your score

Multiple- A l m o s t T h e r e : S t r a t e g i e s f o r t h e

F i n a l D a y s b e f o r e t h e E x a m s

Your months of preparation will soon pay off You haveworked hard, and the tests are just a week or two away.Here are some tips for making sure things go smoothly

in the homestretch

The week before the tests:

■ Be sure you know exactly where you are takingthe tests Get detailed directions Take a practicedrive so you know exactly how long it will takeyou to get there

■ Review everything you have learned

■ Get quality sleep each night

■ Practice visualization—see yourself performing

well on the GED

The day before the tests:

■ Get to bed early

■ Get light exercise Don’t work out too hard Youdon’t want to be sore or physically exhausted theday of the exams

■ Get everything you will need ready: pencils/pens,admission materials/documentation, any mints

■ Make a list of everything you need to bring so

you don’t forget anything in the morning

The day of the tests:

■ Get up early Make sure you set your alarm Ask a

family member or friend to make sure you are up

on time

■ Eat a light, healthy breakfast, such as yogurt and

granola or a low-fat, low-sugar cereal and fruit

■ Dress comfortably Wear layers so that you can

take off a shirt or sweater if you are too warm in

the test room

■ Don’t drastically alter your diet For example, if

you drink coffee every morning, don’t skip it—

you could get a headache However, don’t go for

that second cup or super-sized portion Too

much caffeine can make you jittery during the

exams, and you can “crash” when the caffeine

wears off

At the test site:

■ Chat with others, but not about the tests That

might only make you more nervous

■ Think positively Remember, you are prepared

■ Avoid squeezing in a last-minute review Instead,visualize your success and plan your reward forwhen the tests are over

■ Make sure you read and understand all test tions clearly How should you fill out the answersheet? What should you do if you want to change

direc-an direc-answer? What is the time limit? What if youhave technical difficulties during the exams?

Don’t hesitate to ask questions about anything

that is unclear

After the tests:

■ Celebrate!

II The GED

Language Arts, Writing Exam

In this section, you will learn about the Language Arts, Writing Test, Parts I and II:

what the test is like, what kind of questions to expect, and how to tackle those tions You will also review the fundamental grammar and writing skills you need to

ques-do well on the exam

Before you begin Chapter 5, take a few minutes to do the pretest that follows The passage and questions are the same type you will find on the GED When you are finished,check the answer key carefully to assess your results Your pretest score will help you deter-mine how much preparation you need and the areas in which you need the most carefulreview and practice

 P r e t e s t : G E D L a n g u a g e A r t s ,

W r i t i n g

Directions: In the passage below, the paragraphs are

let-tered, and the sentences are numbered Read the passage

carefully and then answer the multiple-choice questions

that follow Choose the best answer for each question

To practice the timing of the exam, take 15 minutes to

complete this pretest Record your answers on the answer

sheet provided below Make sure you mark the answer in

the circle that corresponds to the question

Note: On the GED, you are not permitted to write

in the test booklet Make any notes on a separate piece

of paper

Questions 1 through 10 refer to the following passage.

Batman

A

(1)Year after year, one of the most popular

Hal-loween costumes for children and adults alike is

Batman (2)In fact, this superhero, was created in

1939 and known worldwide, continues to be one of

the most popular comic strip characters ever

created

B

(3)Batman was the brainchild of comic book artist

Bob Kane (4)Who was just 22 years old when he

was asked to create a new superhero for DC

Comics (5)Superman was a phenomenal success,

and DC Comics wanted another hero, just as

pow-erful, to appeal to it’s readers (6)Kane’s idea for

Batman reportedly came from Leonardo da Vinci’s

and the heroes in the Shadow and Zorro series whowore masks

C

(7)Kane’s Batman was a success that was big rightfrom the start (8)The masked hero soon movedfrom comic books to its own newspaper strip, and

in 1943, Batman episodes were aired on the radio.(9)In 1966, live-action Batman shows hit the TVscreen (10)The series was wildly popular, and thesyndicated show still airs today on channels like theCartoon Network

D

(11)Batman is really Bruce Wayne a millionairewho witnessed the murder of his parents as a child.(12)Why was Batman so popular? (13)The answermay lie in the background Kane gave his character.(14)He vowed to avenge their deaths and the bring-ing of criminals to justice (15)He didn’t have anysupernatural powers (16)Instead, he devotes hislife to training his body and mind to fight crimeand used his wealth to develop high-tech crime-fighting tools and weapons, like his famous Bat-mobile (17)Thus, Kane created a superhero who isjust as human as the rest of us (18)In Batman,Kane gave us an image of our own superheropotential

1. Sentence 2: In fact, this superhero, was created in

1939 and known worldwide, continues to be one

of the most popular comic strip characters evercreated

Which is the best way to write the underlinedportion of this sentence? If the original is the

best way, choose option a.

a this superhero, was created in 1939 and

known worldwide, continues

b this superhero, having been created in 1939

and known worldwide, continues

c this superhero, created in 1939 and known

worldwide, continues

d this superhero, was created in 1939 and

known worldwide, and continuing

e this superhero, who was created in 1939 and

being known worldwide, continues