Get It Together, GED


If you have ever known someone trying to get their GED, you know how stressful it can be.  First, 4 years of high school is condensed into 4 tests.  Second, there is probably a stressful reason why these folks dropped out of school to begin with (bad student, pregnancy, stressful time in life, had to go to work, etc.).

I have been tutoring a young man via Skype to prepare him for his GED exams. He has some learning disabilities and found high school to be too challenging.  For some reason, he was advised to drop out of school and get his GED.  For any struggling student, this would sound like a great idea.  But, of course, the reality has been bad.

With an EdD in adult education, I thought I could help.  So far, so good.  My young friend has passed 3 of the tests!  He is having a bit more of a challenge with the math test, but I am confident he will get there.

Now for the eye opening information:  The tests are difficult!  As we study box and whiskers graphs and how to figure the volume of a cylinder, I wonder who thinks this is necessary information for a GED?  Would these students not be better prepared for the world if they leaned more of business math?  Maybe those college bound students should take a certain set of GED tests and those not interested in college could have a more applications based set of tests.

Now for even more disturbing news:  The prep study materials (not published by GED)  are full of poorly worded questions, wrong answers and confusing material.

Why are students, who already have educational concerns and challenges, having to deal with these additional stumbling blocks?  Does any one in authority care about these students?

After my student passes his last test, I will spend my extra time writing the appropriate parties to make them aware of this situation.  In the meantime, if you know someone preparing to take the GED exams, please be supportive and helpful.  It is not as easy a task as one might imagine.

UPDATE:  My student passed ALL 4 tests!  Way to go, my friend!  You did good!