Best Ways To Get Your GED Online: Free GED Classes Online and Paid Classes

Thinking about getting your GED online and need some help getting started? No worries, we have found convenient online schools to get you moving in the right direction. Whether you are looking for free GED classes online or a normal school, the easy options for you can be found in this guide.

GED

Thinking about a professional career is something that many people around the world share, regardless of gender and age. So, if you ever felt the need to improve your working condition, don’t feel alone. Did you convince yourself that you’ll never have the chance to get a better job because you dropped out of school before you got your diploma? We’ll help you change your mind.

US citizens have many possibilities to make up for the lost time. In the US, in fact, you have the opportunity to demonstrate your academic knowledge by taking specific exams that, once passed, will allow you to get your high school diploma. One of the most popular is the GED test, generally called GED. Let’s analyze in detail what is GED, who is eligible for this test and how you can prepare for your exam.

What is the GED

The General Education Development (GED) test is a set of exams that measure the knowledge in maths, science, social studies, and writing of an individual. The GED test was invented in 1942 by the American Council on Education under the request of the United States Armed Forces Institute to help all the veterans who could not complete their education because they enrolled in the US army. Soon, however, the test became accessible to everyone, and it was revised many times to adapt it to the school system.

Earning a GED diploma can seriously improve your life because this certification allows you to get into college or even to get a better job. True, typically universities require a high school diploma for admission, but most colleges also accept GED certification and consider this diploma as an equivalent. And if you do well on your exam, you could even earn some college credits.

The GED test consists of four exams, each of which focuses on a particular subject. Since one is different from the other, their duration varies too. Candidates will have to answer questions about:

  • Science Students have to complete the test in 90 minutes maximum. The exam concerns reading for meaning, designing and interpreting science experiments, using numbers and graphics. During this exam, people can use a calculator.

  • Mathematical Reasoning Candidates must finish it in 115 minutes. It comprehends quizzes about basic math, geometry, basic algebra, graphs, and functions. The exam consists of two parts. Students have access to mathematical formulas throughout the exam and they can use the calculator in the second part of the test.
  • Social studies Students have up to 70 minutes to complete it. People will deal with reading for meaning, the analysis of historical events, and they will have to demonstrate they can use numbers and graphics correctly.
  • Reasoning Through Language Arts It’s the longest one (students have up to 150 minutes to answer all the quizzes). It is an exam about reading and writing, so the skills that will be put to the test are reading for meaning, how you create arguments and how you use grammar and language.

Exam order and GED test passing score

There is no fixed agenda to take your GED test. Students,in fact, can take the exams both all at once or separately. Because it takes up to 7 hours and a half to finish all the tests, taking all the quizzes on the same day requires a high level of concentration, so we suggest doing it only if you can stand many hours of tension.

Needless to say, your performance will be evaluated by a committee and you will be given a score. In particular, you can earn 100 to 200 points per subject, and you have to reach at least 145 points on each test to get your equivalency diploma. The good news about scores? If you achieve 175 points and up you could get some college credits. Nice!

How to prepare for the GED test online

The GED test involves all the subjects you learn during high school, so the solution is just to study, and study hard! According to a report published on the GED website, only 60% of the candidates pass the test and get their equivalency diploma. Where to start then? Read our review of the most popular free and paid GED online prep courses and GED prep tests to decide which service suits you the best!

GED official website

The GED official website offers students two different tools, GED ready and GED flash.

GED ready is a set of prep tests that recall the structure of a GED test. Each of the GED ready tests, in fact, contains multiple choice quizzes, drag and drop exercises, and essay writing sections. Plus, you have to finish the exercise in time, or you will not score enough points to pass. The differences with the real exam? The test length is half of the original one, and if you do not feel prepared enough to answer questions you can pause the test and finish it in other sessions.

Each test regards a single subject, and people can purchase one for 6$. Tests can be taken only once, but if you want to practice more you can buy voucher packages. Be careful when purchasing: vouchers have an expiration date, and if you buy them on the GED official website, you have to use them within 12 months. Since GED ready’s goal is to provide students an idea of how the real exam will feel like, you can take the GED ready prep test through your PC only, and you have to log in to the GED platform.

Pros

  • Very similar to the real test
  • Cheap
  • You can complete the test in various sessions

Cons

  • Its duration is half of the real test
  • No score for essays

As you can guess from its name,GED flash, instead, is a service designed for those who can only practice a few minutes a day. In GED flash, students can find over 1000 GED test-related questions that they can answer via PC or smartphone. Moreover, the platform provides users a step-by-step explanation of the topic, so the candidates can easily understand where they went wrong. The subscription to a subject costs $15 per month.

Pros

  • You can practice via smartphone
  • Useful if you do not have much time to practice

Cons

  • Questions are available in English only
  • 15 $ to access questions on a singular subject

Kaplan

Kaplan has been dealing with student training since the ‘40s, and it’s one of the most important companies in this industry. Even in this case, people who want to prepare for the GED test canchoose among two different options, GED live and the self-paced course.

GED live, made in collaboration with the GED Testing Service, is an online course that features 60 - 90 minutes live lessons concerning the test topics. All the live lessons are recorded and uploaded on the Kaplan platform, so if you can’t take part in the lessons you can watch them on-demand afterward. Moreover, you can watch the contents on the device you prefer (smartphone, tablet, PC, etc.) In addition, if you choose this package, you can benefit from complimentary teacher support via email. Cost: 59 $.

Pros

  • You can take part in live lessons
  • Contents are always available
  • You can watch videos on the platform you prefer
  • Free tutor assistance via email

Cons

  • Pricey

The self-paced course is tailor-made. The first time you access the platform, in fact, you are asked to take a test so that the staff can understand your preparation level and provide you the right materials. The course features 30-minutes-long video lessons, prep questions, free teacher support via email, and a full-length final test. Moreover, students have at their disposal a comprehensive textbook, which contains in-depth explanations and exercises. The cost for 3-months-long access to the platform is $129.

Pros

  • Full-length test
  • You can track your progress
  • Free tutor assistance via email

Cons

  • Pricey

Ugo Prep

Ugo Prep’s offering is completely different. The bundle that you can purchase on the Ugo Prep website includes study guides that feature over 200 slides written by GED test experts, important concepts and vocabulary for the exam,over 1500 prep questions (375 per subject), and many different prep tests.

The highlight is really the prep tests, which are structured on the GED model. Specifically, there are thirteen 90-minute math exams, eight 80-minutes-long science exams, six 65-minutes-long reading exams, two 75-minutes-long writing exams, and six 80-minutes-long social science exams. The cost for all these practice tests and useful stuff? $69.99.

Pros

  • Extended tests
  • Many different tests
  • Study guides with useful slides and concepts to pass the test

Cons

  • Pricey

Essential education

GED Academy is a mobile-friendly course created with the help of the GED® Testing Service.This service is one of a kind: instead of proposing standardized classes,it focuses on your own skills. At the beginning of the course, in fact, you will be asked to complete a test that allows the algorithm to create your personal step-by-step training path. This will make the time you spend practicing useful.

During the course, you will also take prep tests. Although they are half the length of the official GED test, the advantage is that the system used to score the tests is the same. The course is alsoavailable for those with visual, hearing, or motor disabilities.Cost:$23 per month.

Pros

  • Personal training path
  • They adopt GED official score method for tests
  • Mobile friendly
  • Available for people with impairment disabilities

Cons

  • Tests duration is half of the official one

Union test prep - Free Online GED Resources

On the Union Test Prep website, you can access some fully free resources. In particular, you can find flashcards, study guides explaining the structure of the various tests, and some prep tests. The only negative aspect is the quantity. The flashcards are only 15 per subject, while the study guides are quite short. All of the materials, however, are available for download. In addition, the prep tests contain lots of quizzes. Specifically, there are 65 math questions, 85 questions on Reasoning through arts, 70 science questions, and 40 social studies questions.

Pros

  • Fully free resources
  • Downloadable resources
  • Prep tests are quite long

Cons

  • Flashcards and study guides are not enough to prepare for your test

Free GED Classes & Adult Programs

Need more affordable options? Finishyourdiploma.org helps you find GED and adult program learning centers near you that offer free classes. Some of these centers offer online learning options, so be sure to check it out.