GED Articles

Cheat Sheet / Updated 12-08-2022

If you don't have a high school diploma, consider taking the General Educational Development (GED) exam. The GED exam is a series of four tests ― covering language arts, social studies, science, and math ― that evaluate your abilities at the high school level. If you pass the test, you earn a high school equivalency diploma. The key to passing the GED test is preparation: Review the GED test's format and content; learn tips strategies you can use to succeed on the test; be aware of what you can and can't take with you to the test; decide if using your own calculator is beneficial; and reduce your anxiety on test day.

Article / Updated 09-27-2022

The probability of a probability question appearing in the GED Mathematical Reasoning test, is, well, pretty good. If you get one, it will either ask you to calculate for simple (one-time) events or compound (two or more) events. The following practice questions ask you to calculate the odds of drawing a certain number in a lottery, and of drawing a certain card from a deck. Practice questions Harry was interested in the lottery draws and compiled the following table of winning numbers. Assuming that there are 49 possible numbers in the set to be drawn, what are your chances of drawing a 1 in your first draw? A. 1 in 343 B. 3 in 343 C. 3 in 7 D. 1 in 49 The probability of an event taking place, P, is equal to the number of ways a particular event can occur, N, divided by the total number of ways, M, or To test this theory, a student removes all the picture cards from a 52-card deck with 4 cards representing each of 1 to 10. What is the probability that a card less than the number 6 will be drawn? (Aces are low in this case.) Answers and explanations D. 1 in 49. If there are 49 possible numbers that can be drawn and 1 is one of the possibilities, your chances are 1 in 49 to draw 1 in your first draw. The table is extra information, and if you read the question carefully, you would see that the answer is in the question and not in the table. 1 in 40. With the picture cards removed, 40 cards remain. Twenty of those cards are less than 6. The odds of drawing a card with a value less than 6 is 1 in 40.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-28-2022

Getting your GED will show that you have the skills and knowledge necessary to handle to rigors of college or professional employment. One of the best ways to maximize your exam performance is to continually expose yourself to questions that mimic the ones you’ll encounter on the GED. The following are the four sections on the test: Reasoning Through Language Arts, Mathematical Reasoning, Social Studies, and Science.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

To prepare for the GED Science test, you should have a basic understanding of the different types of energy, as well as the two main categories these energy types fall into: potential and kinetic. Practice Questions Complete the sentence by filling in the blanks. As an object falls from a table to the floor, it loses its stored (__________) energy and gains __________ energy as it begins to speed up. When the object hits the ground, it loses its energy of motion, which is converted into __________ energy. Which type of particle is emitted in the nuclear decay reaction shown here? A. alpha decay B. beta decay C. gamma decay D. nuclear fusion Answers and Explanations The correct answers are potential, kinetic, and sound and heat. As an object falls from a table to the floor, it loses its stored (potential) energy and gains kinetic energy as it begins to speed up. When the object hits the ground, it loses its energy of motion, which is converted into sound and heat energy. The correct answer is A. The question stem shows an alpha particle—a helium nucleus, —being emitted in the nuclear reaction, making Choice (A) correct.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

To prepare for questions on the GED Science test that deal with cell theory, you should understand the basic tenets of cell theory, and also be able to identify the different parts of a cell. Practice Questions Which organelle is found only in plant cells and helps the plant to produce its own food via photosynthesis? A. cell wall B. vacuoles C. mitochondria D. chloroplasts Which of the following statements describes the role of DNA in a cell? A. DNA is the material that the cell wall is constructed from. B. DNA provides the energy that fuels the cell's activities. C. DNA provides information to make proteins for the cell. D. DNA is the building block for proteins in the cell. Answers and Explanations The correct answer is D. Plant cells contain organelles called chloroplasts that contain the chlorophyll needed for photosynthesis. This is how plants produce their own food. Cell walls [Choice (A)] and vacuoles [Choice (B)] help support the plant but aren't involved in photosynthesis. Also, both plant and animal cells contain mitochondria, so Choice (C) is incorrect. The correct answer is C. DNA provides information to make proteins that the cell needs, so Choice (C) is correct. Cell walls are made from cellulose, not DNA, so Choice (A) is incorrect. DNA doesn't provide the energy for the cell's activities (ATP does), so Choice (B) is wrong. DNA isn't the building block for proteins in the cell (amino acids are), so Choice (D) is wrong.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

The GED Science test will often contain questions about Earth's layers and landforms. The following practice questions deal with continental drift and plate tectonics. Practice Questions Use the following information for both practice questions. Scientists believe that Earth's continents were once joined together into a single landmass called Pangaea. This supercontinent began to break up 175 million years ago and slowly drifted apart in a process known as continental drift to form the separate continents we see today. This diagram shows what Pangaea is believed to have looked like and how the continents drifted apart to appear as they do today. What was the main cause of continental drift? A. Convection currents within the Earth's fluid mantle caused the tectonic plates floating on the mantle to move relative to each other and separate B. Thermal expansion of the rock due to human-caused global warming C. The meteorite that killed off the dinosaurs smashed into Pangaea 65 million years ago, causing it to split and drift apart D. Tremors left over from the Big Bang that created the universe Which of the following statements does NOT support the Pangaea theory? A. Identical deposits of minerals have been found at corresponding locations along both the African and South American coasts. B. The shape of the west coast of Africa seems to fit perfectly with the shape of the east coast of South America. C. Paleontologists have discovered matching fossils from identical species of land animals at corresponding locations along both the African and South American coasts. D. The Big Bang theory states that all matter in the universe expanded outward from the same point in space. Answers and Explanations The correct answer is A. Continental drift is caused by convection currents within the Earth's mantle, which made the tectonic plates (that float on top of the mantle) separate. Hence, Choice (A) is right. Although human-caused global warming is a serious problem, it has only happened quite recently (within the last two centuries), whereas continental drift began 175 million years ago, making Choice (B) incorrect. The meteorite that may have killed off the dinosaurs smashed into Earth 65 million years ago, but Pangaea began drifting apart 175 million years ago, so Choice (C) is wrong. Similarly, the Big Bang happened 15 billon years ago, so Choice (D) is incorrect. The correct answer is D. The Big Bang theory refers to the beginning of the universe, not the breakup of Pangaea, so Choice (D) is your answer. All the other choices add support to the single supercontinent theory.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

Space science is an exciting and growing field, so you can expect to see some questions about the study and exploration of outer space on the GED Science test. Practice Questions Use the following information to answer the first practice question. Some of the stars you see in the night sky are so far away from Earth that the light from them has taken millions of years to reach you. So what you are really seeing is what those stars looked like millions of years ago. You are actually seeing into the past. To help us handle these huge distances, we use a special unit of measurement called a light-year to describe them. As its name suggests, a light-year is equal to the distance that light travels in one year. Light travels at 300,000 km per second in the vacuum of space. Sirius is the name of a star that is approximately 86 trillion kilometers (8.6 light-years) away from the Earth. How long does the light from Sirius take to reach the Earth? A. 86 trillion seconds B. 300,000 seconds C. 8.6 seconds D. 8.6 years What can you deduce about a star if the light from it has been blue-shifted? A. The star is cooler than most other stars. B. The light from the star is traveling faster than light normally travels. C. The star is moving away from Earth. D. The star is moving toward Earth. Answers and Explanations The correct answer is D. Because Sirius is 8.6 light-years away from Earth, the light from the star takes 8.6 years to reach the Earth. The correct answer is D. According to the Doppler effect, the frequency of the light emitted from moving objects will shift toward either the red end of the spectrum or the blue end (depending on the direction of motion). Objects that are moving away from Earth are red-shifted. Objects that are traveling toward Earth are blue-shifted, making Choice (D) the correct answer. Blue-shifted light doesn’t tell you how hot the star is, so you can reject Choice (A). Light always travels at 300,000 km per second in a vacuum, so Choice (B) is incorrect.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

Earth’s atmosphere is a layer of gases—mostly nitrogen and oxygen—without which our planet would be in serious trouble. With this in mind, you can expect some questions on the GED Science test to cover this topic. Practice Questions Use the following information for both questions. Earth’s atmosphere can be divided into several layers, including the troposphere, the stratosphere, the mesosphere and ionosphere, and the thermosphere. The temperature and altitude of each layer is listed in the following table. In which layer of the atmosphere do most humans live? A. troposphere B. stratosphere C. mesosphere and ionosphere D. thermosphere Which layer has the coldest average temperature? A. troposphere B. stratosphere C. mesosphere and ionosphere D. thermosphere Answers and Explanations The correct answer is A. Most humans live close to the Earth’s surface, so they live in the layer that has the smallest altitude (the troposphere), making Choice (A) correct. The correct answer is C. From the table, you can see that the temperature of the mesosphere and ionosphere can be as low as –212 degrees, which is colder that any of the other layers, making Choice (C) the correct answer.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

Some questions on the GED Science exam will test your knowledge of the laws of physics. The following practice questions focus on Newton’s law of motion. Practice Questions Use the following information for both questions. A student is testing out Newton’s laws of motion by applying different forces for 3 seconds to different-colored toy cars of the same mass (2 kg each). The cars start at rest. She records the data for the toy cars in the following chart. What is the value of the unbalanced force acting on the green car? A. 0 N B. 4 N C. 6 N D. 10 N Which car has the greatest unbalanced force acting on it? A. red B. orange C. green D. blue Answers and Explanations The correct answer is A. You can calculate the unbalanced force acting on each car by multiplying the mass by the acceleration (using F = ma). The green car has zero acceleration; therefore, the value of the unbalanced forces acting on it must be zero. The correct answer is Choice (A). The correct answer is A. You can calculate the unbalanced force acting on each car by multiplying the mass by the acceleration (using F = ma). Because all the cars have the same mass, the car with the largest acceleration must have been subjected to the largest unbalanced force, making Choice (A) the correct answer.

Article / Updated 11-30-2017

The GED Science test will probably contain a few questions that test your knowledge and understanding of genetics. The following practice questions focus on using a Punnett square. Practice Questions Both practice questions are based on the following information. A gardener is interested in growing pea plants of a particular height. He draws a Punnett square to display all the possible combinations of alleles when two hybrid pea plants are crossed to help him determine the possible genotypes of the offspring. T represents the dominant allele for tall plants, and t represents the recessive allele for short plants. The genotype of one parent plant is shown on the top of the square, and the other parent's genotype is shown on the left of the square. The genotypes of the offspring are shown in the boxes. The Punnett square is shown here: What is the probability that an offspring will be tall? A. 0% B. 25% C. 75% D. 100% Fill in the blanks to correctly complete the sentence: The genotype of both parent plants is __________, which means that both parents will be __________. Answers and Explanations The correct answer is C. Because the allele for tall plants (T) is dominant, any genotype that contains it, (Tt) or (TT), will result in tall plants. The Punnett square shows that three out of four (or 75%) of the offspring have genotypes containing the dominant allele; therefore, 75% of the offspring will be tall, making Choice (C) the correct answer. The correct answers are heterogeneous and tall. The genotype of both parent plants is heterogeneous, which means that both parents will be tall. Both parent plants have the genotype Tt, which means they are heterogeneous (one allele of each type). Because they both contain a dominant T allele, which represents tall plants, both plants will be tall.