”Įmily Watts, ABE program supervisor for Metro North ABE, which serves mostly Anoka County, said she’s already seen “a nice steady flow of students who feel the urgency” to finish in 2013. “You’d expect to see something like that. When the previous version of the test was phased out in 2002, testing centers in Minnesota experienced a 30 percent increase in test takers in the year before the old test expired, said Jim Colwell, GED administrator for the Minnesota Department of Education. Johnson said her program has nearly 200 students who, having taken at least one test in the past few years but not finished their GED, “will all stand to lose something,” she said. Starting next January, computer skills also will be necessary.įinishing can take months or years, Lind added, depending on students’ skill level, first language, motivation and the other things they have going on in their lives.
Math often is one of the most difficult subjects for adults in GED classes. Mateo Favian, 25, wore a big grin after he figured out a math problem during a GED class in Northfield. Thousands of students across Minnesota have passed one or more of the tests, but not all five - so they don’t have their GED. “It’s understandable, but it will be a challenge for people who don’t quite make it to have to start over.”īecause taking all five subject area tests takes more than seven hours, taking one or two at a time is “very common,” said Kathleen Johnson, program administrator for South Suburban ABE, which serves northern Dakota County.
“It’s hard when they have to do that cutoff,” said Eric Lind, Adult Basic Education (ABE) program manager for the Rosemount-Apple Valley-Eagan district. Throughout the Twin Cities suburbs, educators that prepare students to take the test are busy learning about the new system while preparing for a rush of students trying to finish up in time. “It’s easier for me to do stuff on paper than on a computer.”Ī more challenging, computer-based GED test will roll out in January - the tests are taken on paper now - and students who are partway to getting their GED at that point will have to start over. “I heard that the tests are going to get really hard next year, and I struggle already with reading and writing,” he said. He hopes to take and pass the writing and math sections, the two hardest for most students - and he wants to do it now. With three of the five subject tests passed, Gerald Elling of Hastings is past the halfway point to obtaining his GED.