The specific purpose of the GED Test is the measurement of the educational development of adults who have not completed their formal high school education. Adults may earn a High School Equivalency Certificate and thus qualify for admission to colleges or other educational institutions, meet educational requirements for employment or promotion, satisfy educational qualifications for induction into the armed services, fulfill requirements of local or state licensing boards, or gain personal satisfaction.
Due to the rapid spread of the COVID-19 virus, and its impact on physical testing locations, GED Testing Service is piloting an online-proctored option for the 2014 Series GED® exam.
If you are interested in taking the GED® exam online, please read this information carefully as eligibility and testing requirements differ from the in-person GED® exam.
ELIGIBILITY
Age:
An individual is eligible to take the GED® Test given they meet all of the following conditions:
- 18 years of age or older*
- does not have a high school diploma or high school equivalency credential and is not currently enrolled in a secondary school
- is a resident of the State of Illinois
Note: *If an individual is 17 years old and has been enrolled in a public, private, or a home school setting in the last 12 months, they must present a withdrawal letter from the last school enrolled in before taking the GED® tests.
Withdrawal letters must be on school letterhead and signed by a school official, must include the candidate’s full name and date of birth, and must include the formal withdrawal date/last date of attendance. Transcripts are not acceptable as proof of withdrawal unless they include a formal withdrawal date and the signature of a school official.
If home schooled, the candidate must provide a letter from the person responsible for the home schooling [e.g., instructor, tutor, parent, guardian, etc.] stating the program has been completed, the individual is no longer required to be home schooled, and the individual has been cleared to take the GED® exam. The letter should include the candidate’s full name and date of birth. Letters from home schooled students must include a physical signature from the individual responsible for the home schooling.
Proof of withdrawal can be emailed to hse@illinois.gov or faxed to 217-558-6700.
Candidates will receive an email to the email address used on their GED account once the alert has been cleared.
16 year olds are not eligible to take a high school equivalency exam unless currently enrolled in a Regional Safe Schools Program, an Alternative Learning Opportunities Program, or the Lincoln’s Challenge Academy. Those programs must petition on the student’s behalf for the student to be approved to take a high school equivalency test.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If the test taker qualifies to take the online-proctored test as a minor (under age 18), their parent or guardian must be present during the check-in process without exception. Please review the registration and check-in policies on GED.com closely before scheduling an online exam.
Residency:
Pursuant to the Illinois School Code, all high school equivalency test takers in Illinois must be a resident of Illinois for a minimum of 30 days prior to testing. Candidates will be required to certify their residency at the Illinois address they provide during registration.
If it is found that a candidate has falsified their address and does not meet the residency requirements, the candidate’s exam scores will be revoked and the candidate may not be eligible to retest through the online-proctored model.
GED Ready Practice Test Score:
All candidates who wish to take the online-proctored version of the GED exam must first take the GED Ready practice test and score within the Green (“ready to test”). The Green GED Ready score must be achieved within the past 60 days in the subject area in which the candidate will be testing. A GED Ready Green score is required for each subject of the exam the candidate will be taking through the online-proctored GED option.
The GED Ready practice test must be purchased through GED Marketplace. Candidates should log on to their GED.com accounts, then access the GED Marketplace store located here to purchase their practice test(s).
TECHNOLOGY REQUIREMENTS
To take the online-proctored GED® exam, you will need:
- A laptop or desktop computer with a microphone and camera. The camera (webcam) may be internal or external and connected to the computer.
- A stable internet connection with a speed of 3 Mbps down and 2 Mbps up. Internet cookies must be enabled. All pop-up blocking settings must be disabled.
- One of the following operating systems: Windows 10, Windows 8.1, Mac OS 10.13 and above.
- One of the following internet browsers: Microsoft Edge, Safari, Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer 11.
Candidates may not use a tablet for the online-proctored GED exam unless the tablet has a physical keyboard and also meets the operating system requirements listed above. Candidates will be required to complete a system test to ensure their system is compatible with the OnVUE proctoring system. Candidates are able, and strongly encouraged, to complete the system check in advance of scheduling their exam and/or at any time in advance of their scheduled appointment. A link to the system check will be available both before and after scheduling an online-proctored GED exam in multiple spaces in your GED profile. You can also access the system test directly here.
On test day, the candidate will be required to download the OnVUE software required to complete their exam. The check-in process will provide the candidate with a link to download the OnVUE software and an access code necessary to authorize the candidate to start the exam check-in process.
REGISTRATION
During the pilot of online proctoring, candidates may receive communication from GED Testing Service indicating they are eligible to take the GED test online.
Eligible test takers may receive two types of email communication from GED Testing Service informing them of the pilot and their ability to register for the exam:
- A “Get Ready” email may be sent to candidates who meet eligibility requirements to introduce the pilot, inform the candidate they will likely be eligible to participate, and inform the candidate that a GED Ready Green score will be required to schedule their test.
- Once scheduling is available, candidates who meet the eligibility requirements and have a GED Ready Green score within the past 60 days will receive a second email acknowledging they are ready to schedule their exams.
Candidates who have opted-in to text messaging from GED Testing Service may also receive limited communication via text message. Messaging about the online-proctoring pilot will also be available on an eligible candidate’s GED.com account.
Through the messaging that acknowledges scheduling availability, candidates will be directed to GED.com to schedule their test. The candidate will be asked to complete demographic information, then to click “schedule test”. Once the candidate clicks “schedule test” they will see their testing options: online-proctored testing and in-person testing (if the latter is available).
Candidates who complete a GED Ready practice test and score in the Green (“ready to test”) will also see the option to select online-proctored testing, provided they meet all other eligibility requirements, when they click “schedule test”.
Candidates who select an online test will be required to acknowledge and certify their residency status within the State of Illinois and to agree to OnVUE online exam policies. Candidates will then be asked to select the content area in which they would like to test. Candidates will only be able to schedule a test in one subject area at a time.
Once the candidate has selected a test subject, they will be shown open appointment dates and times. Once an appointment date and time has been selected, candidates will be required to acknowledge GED specific testing policies for the online exam option prior to entering payment information.
Once the candidate has paid for their exam, they will receive a confirmation screen and a confirmation email with their appointment subject, date and time, and receipt of payment.
COST
The cost to take the GED test is $30 per test module. A total of 4 test modules comprise the GED Test. Test fees must be paid online at the time of registration.
RESCHEDULING OR CANCELING AN ONLINE EXAM
Candidates are eligible to reschedule or cancel their test up to 30 minutes prior to their appointment time by logging into their GED.com account. If a candidate cancels at least 30 minutes prior to their appointment time, they will be provided a full refund.
Candidates will be unable to cancel their appointment after their appointment time and will lose their payment if unable to test. Therefore, it is strongly encouraged to thoughtfully select an appointment time and to complete a system check in advance of the scheduled appointment.
Minors (under age 18) whose parent or guardian does not appear during the check-in process will be considered a “no show” to their exam. Those candidates will be eligible for rescheduling, but will not receive a refund for their exam. Therefore, if you are under the age of 18, it is extremely important to only schedule an online exam at a time when your parent or guardian will be available for the check-in process.
TEST CONTENTS
The 2014 GED Test consists of four content areas:
Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA)
- Test Topics:
- Reading for Meaning
- Identifying and Creating Arguments
- Grammar and Language
- Test Time:
- 150 minutes total
- 10 minute break between parts 2 and 3
- 45 minutes for the extended response/written essay
- Test Topics:
- Basic Math
- Geometry
- Basic Algebra
- Graphs and Functions
- Test Time:
- 115 minutes
- Short break between parts 1 and 2
- Test Topics:
- Reading for Meaning in Science
- Designing and Interpreting Science Experiments
- Using Numbers and Graphs in Scienc
- Test Time:
- 70 minutes
- No breaks
- Test Topics:
- Reading for Meaning in Social Studies
- Analyzing Historical Events and Arguments in Social Studies
- Using Numbers and Graphs in Social Studies
- Test Time:
- 90 minutes
- No breaks
Tests administered through the online-proctoring pilot are only available in English. Tests delivered in physical testing centers are administered in English and Spanish. Candidates may mix and match the English and Spanish language options, as well as the online and in-person formats of the exam.
CHECK-IN PROCESS
Candidates should check-in for their online-proctored exam 30 minutes ahead of the scheduled appointment time in order to leave enough time for a system test and the check-in process. If candidates are late to their appointment, they will not be able to reschedule the online exam and will lose their payment.
Test takers who are minors (under the age of 18) must have a parent or guardian present during the check-in process. The parent or guardian will be asked to introduce themselves to the individual conducting the check-in, present a government-issued photo ID to the camera, and provide permission for the minor to test before exiting the room. If a parent or guardian does not attend the check-in process with an underage test taker, that test taker will be considered a “no show” and will not be able to complete their exam. No refunds will be provided for “no show” exams.
Instructions for launching the exam are available in the candidate’s GED.com account after scheduling an exam. All test takers should review those instructions carefully prior to their exam.
DURING THE TEST
Candidates must be in a private, walled room with a closed door. No one is permitted in the room with the candidate for any reason, and candidates may not leave their work areas for any reason. Unscheduled breaks are not allowed during the online-proctored GED® test.
Candidates may not use an external calculator or scratch paper, take physical notes, or talk.
- Candidates will be able to use an onscreen calculator during the exam. A tutorial on the onscreen calculator is available at: https://ged.com/practice-test/en/calculator/
- Candidates will be able to use an onscreen scratch pad to take notes and perform math calculations.
Personal items, mobile phones, headphones, and watches must be kept out of reach. Food, drinks, smoking, and gum are prohibited during the test.
Breaking any exam rules will result in the exam being revoked, loss of payment, and a ban from online-proctored testing in the future.
RETAKES
If the candidate does not pass their online-proctored GED exam subject, they will not be able to retest for the same subject using the online-proctored exam format. A failed online-proctored exam may be taken at a physical test site once testing is available.
Due to the cost of supporting the online-proctored options, discounted retakes are not available for exams taken on the online platform.
Candidates who do not pass their online-proctored GED exam subject may request a discounted retake to be taken in a physical testing center from GED Testing Service. Information on requesting a discounted retest at a physical testing location will be available on the candidate’s account after their failed test attempt.
GED TEST PREPARATION
GED® preparation classes are offered free of charge at local adult education programs. For more information call 1-800-321-9511 or you can visit the Program Locator. GED® study materials are also available through the MyGED® portal at GED.com.
CONSTITUTION TEST REQUIREMENT
Constitution Test Requirement
The Illinois Community College board has suspended the administration of the U.S. and Illinois State Constitution and Flag Test effective February 1, 2021 through December 31, 2021. Please click the link below to learn more about this suspension and what it means for you.
U.S. and Illinois State Constitution and Flag Test
ORDERING GED® TRANSCRIPTS AND/OR HSE CERTIFICATES