The GED Language Arts test: reading, grammar and one essay

What's on the GED Language Arts test?

Reading passages run from 400 to 900 words. GED Testing Service's Assessment Guide for Educators (March 2016 edition) puts it at about 75% informational texts, from science, social studies and workplace documents like memos and letters, and 25% literature. U.S. founding documents, such as the Bill of Rights, and later writing about American civic life are required texts.

• Reading for meaning: main ideas, details, inferences and what words mean in context
• Identifying and creating arguments: claims, evidence and whether the reasoning holds up
• Grammar and language: editing a short passage using drop-down menus
• One essay, called the extended response

How the time works

150 minutes in total, including 3 minutes of instructions and review. The essay has its own 45 minutes, timed separately. After part 2 you get a 10-minute break. There's no calculator on this test.

Grammar and English

Grammar questions come in short workplace or community documents, 350 to 450 words long, with drop-down menus where you choose the correct version of a sentence. The passages are the kind of thing you'd read at work or in your community, such as a memo or a letter.

If you take the test in Spanish, these editing questions aren't included. The rest of the Spanish test is a direct translation.

Question types and scoring

You'll see multiple choice, drag and drop, select an area and drop-down questions, plus the essay. Like every subject, it's scored from 100 to 200 and you need 145. The essay counts for up to 12 raw points, so it matters.