1,001 GED® Test Practice Questions For Dummies®
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Copyright © 2017 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2017940030
ISBN 978-1-119-30098-4 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-119-30099-1 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-119-30100-4 (ebk)
Welcome to 1,001 GED Practice Questions For Dummies. Don’t take the book title personally. In fact, I would like to congratulate you on making two very smart decisions. First, you’ve decided to pursue your high-school equivalency, which is one of the smartest decisions you’ll ever make. Second, by purchasing this book, you’ve decided to put in the time and dedication to practice answering the types of questions that will appear on the GED exam, which will maximize your chances of achieving your goal.
Getting your GED will show that you have the skills and knowledge necessary to handle the rigors of college or professional employment. Many students who have successfully moved on to college, graduate school, or career-level employment consider passing the GED exam the first step in a life-changing process that placed them on the road to success. With that in mind, don’t waste any time. Get practicing already!
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 practice problems in this book are divided into four chapters that correspond to the four sections on the test: Reasoning Through Language Arts, Mathematical Reasoning, Social Studies, and Science. I’ve constructed the questions to closely resemble the actual test in both format and level of difficulty so you know exactly what to expect on the big day.
If you miss a question or guess an answer, be sure to examine the answer explanations for tips on how to improve your approach next time. It’s even worth checking out the explanations for those questions you answer correctly. Often, I reveal not only how to answer the problem but also how to answer it most efficiently, which can make all the difference on test day. Be proactive. This book contains hundreds of questions, so after you’ve taken a bunch of tests and evaluated your performance, review the questions you missed and form your own explanations for why the credited answer is better than yours. Then check my explanations for confirmation. Apply your discoveries to more practice problems. You can benefit from this book all by itself, but it’s even better when you pair it with the in-depth reviews and strategies available in latest edition of The GED For Dummies (Wiley). Either way, this book helps you solidify your approach and confidence in all subject areas. So keep calm, carry on, and score big on the GED!
The first half of this book contains the practice questions for the four sections of the GED exam: Reasoning Through Language Arts, Mathematical Reasoning, Social Studies, and Science. You find the answers and explanations in the second half of the book.
The four sections of the GED exam are detailed for you in the following sections.
The social studies section lasts 70 minutes and is made up of 50 questions from the following content areas:
The science section lasts 90 minutes and contains 50 questions from the following content areas:
The mathematics section lasts 115 minutes and contains 50 questions divided into two parts, and it focuses on the following content areas:
Note that you are not allowed to use a calculator on the first five questions of the GED’s mathematics section. Calculators are permitted for the remaining questions.
The language arts section lasts 150 minutes and is split into two parts: reading and writing.
The reading section consists of 40 questions and contains passages from the following content areas:
The writing section is divided into two parts. The scores are combined and reported as a single score.
The first part contains 50 questions from the following content areas:
The second part consists of writing an essay about a familiar subject. You have 45 minutes to plan, write, and revise your essay. The essay topic will require you to present your opinion or explain your views about the assigned topic. Two trained readers will score your essay based on the following criteria:
Each reader will score your essay on a four-point scale, and the scores will be averaged to find your final score. If you earn a final score of less than 2 on the essay, you must retake language arts, writing.
In writing this book, I assumed several things about you, the reader, including the following:
Your purchase of this book gives you so much more than a thousand (and one) problems to work on to improve your GED performance. It also comes with a free, one-year subscription to hundreds of practice questions online. Not only can you access this digital content anytime you want, on whichever device is available to you, but you can also track your progress and view personalized reports that show you which concepts you need to study the most.
The online practice that comes with this book offers you the same questions and answers that are available here. Of course, the real beauty of the online problems is your ability to customize your practice. In other words, you get to choose the types of problems and the number of problems you want to tackle. The online program tracks how many questions you answer correctly versus incorrectly so you get an immediate sense of which topics need more of your attention.
To gain access to practice online, all you have to do is register. Just follow these simple steps:
www.dummies.com/go/getaccess.If you do not receive this email within two hours, please check your spam folder before contacting us through our Technical Support website at http://support.wiley.com or by phone at 877-762-2974.
Now you’re ready to go! You can come back to the practice material as often as you want — simply log on with the username and password you created during your initial login. No need to enter the access code a second time.
Your registration is good for one year from the day you activate your PIN.
This product also comes with an online Cheat Sheet that helps you increase your odds of performing well on the GED. To get the Cheat Sheet, go to www.dummies.com and type “1,001 GED Practice Questions For Dummies cheat sheet“ in the search box. (No access code required. You can benefit from this info before you even register.)
The solutions to the practice problems in this book are meant to walk you through how to get the right answers; they’re not meant to teach the material. If certain concepts are unfamiliar to you, you can find help at www.dummies.com. Just type “GED” into the search box to turn up a wealth of GED-related information.
Part 1
IN THIS PART …
Practice math questions: number operations, geometry, data analysis, and algebra.
Answer questions on history, geography, government, and economics.
Analyze scientific data to answer questions covering biology, chemistry, and physics.
Tackle reading comprehension questions.
Test your knowledge of sentence structure, organization, usage, and mechanics.
Answer essay questions.
Chapter 1
The GED’s mathematics section lasts 115 minutes and contains 50 questions divided into two parts: a calculator-allowed part and a no-calculator-allowed part. The no-calculator-allowed questions tend to be less math-heavy and more concept-based, whereas the calculator-allowed questions tend to more challenging and require more calculations. In this chapter, you get 285 questions to practice your math skills.
The mathematics section focuses on the following content areas for both the calculator and no-calculator parts:
To increase your accuracy and improve time management, avoid these snags: