How To Get Your GED At Home

GED vs High School Diploma

Young kids are typically enthusiastic and eager to learn about everything around them. Just ask any adult - many of them may get annoyed by kids' neverending questions about everything. Some people have speculated that this desire to learn fades as a person grows older, but this is not the case at all actually. It's part of human nature to want to know as much as we can about our surroundings.

As people grow older, they become more independent in their thinking, they want to do things their own way, and don't want to just blindly accept information anymore. A kid who got straight A's in lower school grades might start getting B's and C's, and gradually start failing in high school. This doesn't mean that they're becoming less intelligent, or that their desire to learn is fading. It just means that high school isn't stimulating their mind enough. They need freedom and independence, not rigid curriculums and boring classes. They simply want more control over what they're learning and how and when they go about learning it. There is nothing wrong with that.

Unfortunately, schools aren't really set up to cater to independent individuals all that much, so their options are somewhat limited, and always depend on their parents' approval. There's homeschooling, which requires your parents to teach you stuff, there's online schooling, which is basically all the same high school stuff, except you can do it at home... and there's unschooling. Which means you teach yourself whatever you want, whenever you want. Of course, your parents and the college you apply to (if you choose to do that), or a future employer, is going to want to see some kind of a diploma or certification that you can do certain basic things. This is where the GED comes in. It's essentially equivalent to a high school diploma. Most colleges and universities will accept it without a second thought. So will most employers. Some people seem to think it's somehow "less valuable" than a normal high school diploma, or that people with a GED are somehow less intelligent, or more prone to giving up, but you probably wouldn't want to work for someone like that anyway.

How to get a GED

Before you tell your parents that you're considering dropping out (assuming you haven't yet), you should probably do as much research as you can first. Find out what the age requirements are where you live, where the testing center nearest to you is, find out exactly what you need to know for the test, do some practice tests, and just generally make sure that you're confident you can pass and that you know everything you need to know. Because if your parents are like most parents, they'll probably be somewhat aversive to the whole idea.

Different states have different age requirements for taking a GED test. There are other general requirements too.

In order to take a GED test, you must:

Not be currently enrolled in high school
Not have graduated from high school
Be old enough (according to the state's requirement)

There may also be some other requirements that depend on where you live, such as how long you've been out of high school, and how long you've lived in whatever state you're in. This differs depending on where you are, so this article won't cover that here.

How to earn your GED online

Short answer: You can't. You have to physically attend a testing center and take the test. What you can do online though is take practice tests. This is a good idea to do, because taking the proper test isn't free, so it's best if you pass it the first time around, and the only way to be sure that happens is to practice. There are also study classes and study guides and various other things to help make sure you pass, so there's really no reason why you should ever fail a GED test.

The GED test itself contains questions about Math, English, Science and Social Studies. Once you pass, you are awarded with a GED diploma. Yes, some people might think it's somehow inferior to a high school diploma, but they are wrong. Anyone who doesn't accept the GED as equal to a high school diploma probably isn't worth your time anyway.

You can definitely attend college if you have a GED. You can even get into college earlier than other kids your age if you are in a state that will allow you to take a GED test before you're 18. This might be a bargaining chip you can use to help convince your parents that a GED isn't such a bad idea after all. :)

A GED will also be fine for any employers when you're looking for a job. Also, if you leave school and get your GED early, you can accumulate more job experience earlier than other kids your age who are stuck in school until they're 18. Yet another of those convenient bargaining chips. :)

About 97% of colleges and universities accept a GED, and about 95% of employers do. The ones that don't accept it, well, I guess they're more interested in students or employees that are good at the whole public high school thing: sit still, do as you're told, and don't ask questions. Doesn't sound like a fun job to me. :)

Just because you can't do well in high school, or can't stand it, doesn't mean you're a failure. It just means high school isn't for you. And let's face it, there's nothing wrong with that. There's no shame whatsoever in getting a GED instead. Especially considering all the time you're saving yourself.