Changes to GED test set to take place in Jan. 2014

Adults who have started working towards their General Equivalency Diploma (GED) are being urged to finish it this year, because the high school equivalency diploma test will be undergoing some changes.

According to Yahoo, if adults fail to finish their GED before the changes take place, then they will need to start all over. The GED Testing Service will be releasing a new version of the test, which will be given nationwide, on January 1, 2014. According to ABC, developers say that these changes are the first major changes since 2002. Developers also say that the new changes will align the test with the new Common Core curricula, which has been adopted by most states to increase career readiness as well as college readiness. According to WIVB, the new GED test will cost almost double than the current GED test, and that is because the new test will be done on a computer, not by pencil and paper. Regular updates have been introduced regularly but none are as dramatic as the updates that will take place in January. People who take the test from Jan. on, then they will have four sections to complete. Currently there are five sections of the GED test that needs to be completed. Kevin Smith, the State Education Department deputy commissioner for adult career and continuing education, said that they are trying to make the transition more seamless.