The GED Test is about to Get Much Harder, and Much More Expensive
The new version of the exam has tougher questions and a higher registration fee--plus it requires computer proficiency
Kiana Rucker dropped out of school when she was 15 years old to look after her younger brothers and sisters. Five years later she had a baby herself. For years, she relied mostly on food stamps, medical assistance, and subsidized housing to get by. But it always bothered her. “I don’t want to rely on anyone,” Rucker, now 35, says. “I don’t want government help.”
So in 2010 Rucker decided to get her General Educational Development certificate. She took classes at Southeast Ministries, a nonprofit in one of the poorest neighborhoods in Washington, D.C. This past June–three years and five attempts later–she got a phone call saying she had finally passed the GED test. “The first thing I said was, ‘Are you sure you have the right person?’” Rucker says, laughing. For the first time she feels she has a future. “So many things I can do now,” she says. “Go to college, get into a trade, just get a job period. Because that’s the first thing they ask: ‘Do you have a high school diploma or GED?’ Now I can say, ‘Yes, I do.’”
For Rucker and for millions of other students, the GED certificate has offered a promise of a better life, a path from poverty into college or a more promising career. Next year, though, the GED test will get much harder, and adult educators are worried that they—and their students—aren’t ready for the changes.
There are approximately 30 million adults in the U.S. without a high school diploma. And almost 700,000 of them, like Rucker, take the GED test each