Classroom Programs
There are many ways to study for the GED Test. Every school district
in Utah has low-cost programs that can help you prepare for the GED.
Classes are usually free or low cost and are usually offered in the
day and evening. Current
Classroom Programs
GED on TV
The State Office of Education also offers a program that allows you
to study at home for your GED called "GED on TV." Since GED
on TV is done at home, this program requires you to be self-motivated
and does not offer a lot of extra help. If you would feel more
comfortable studying for your GED at home, this program might be right
for you. More information about GED on
TV
Here is some preparation help that is connected to the GED on TV (GED
Connection) series that will help with all forms of GED preparation.
Go to http:// litlink.ket.org/begin_gedconnect.aspl.
GED Preparation Materials
There are a host of GED preparation materials available. Please check out Internet-based sources, most public libraries, and bookstores. Here is a sampling of print materials and Internet
sites.
Check out some tips for taking the GED Tests.
Check out this summary
of key grammar and literary guides and rules
that will assist you with writing your Writing Skills test -- one of
the five test in the GED battery of tests.
Special Help
As you think about your previous schooling or work experiences,
have you ever had an experience like the following:
- Do you regularly flip numbers around like, say, 555-6349 becoming
555-9436?
- Could you do math situations in your head, but you really struggled
to write them down on paper?
- In your mind, could you easily think of a story or something to
write, but you really struggled in writing it down on paper?
- Or how about testing situations? Do you regularly freeze up -- not
because you don't know the material? Rather, for you, the testing
situation is so tense that your mind just goes numb and you cannot
think or write clearly.
- Are you easily distracted and have a rough time staying focused
on the test due to the things in the testing room?
If you have one of these or other challenges, you know that testing
is not fun at all. For whatever reasons, what you "know" in
your head seems to be held back by some physical or emotional challenges.
You're feeling like you would like to plow through the problems and
do well on the tests, but something is holding you back.
Some people have seeing (visual) problems and obtain eye glasses to
help themselves see well. Having a seeing problem does not mean that
they are "dummies." It just means that they have eye problems
that glasses, contacts or surgery, in many cases, help fix.
The same is true with learning disabilities. If you have a learning
disability, you are also NOT a dummy. You just process information around
you differently than others do.
With appropriate assistance (we call it "special accommodations
for GED Testing"), it is possible that you could do better on GED
Tests than you would without the appropriate accommodations. One of
the highest Utah scores on the GED in 2002 is from a young man who had
emotional and learning disabilities. When given an appropriate accommodations,
he did an outstanding job in taking the GED, getting one of the highest
scores not only in Utah, but in the nation.
If these or related challenges are causing you major grief and are
holding you back from (1) taking the GED tests or (2) from doing as
good as you could if you could overcome your challenges, please check
with a local GED testing site to obtain a form
to be completed that might help you receive appropriate help during
testing situations.
If you were diagnosed as having a learning disability in the last
5 years, please take the information with you to the testing site. Begin
to fill out the paper work to request a special accommodation. If you
do not have any information from a licensed diagnostician (IE: doctor,
psychologist,...), please check with me (Murray
Meszaros) to discuss a way that we may be able to help you pay for
your visit to the psychologists.
In the end, if you think you qualify, you and a Chief
Examiner will need to send a filled out form
to me (Murray Meszaros) at the Utah State Office of Education for appraisal
and approval. The Chief Examiner should know which form to use. Also,
please check the SPECIAL ACCOMMODATIONS section of this Internet site.
