GED Practice Test
Free GED practice questions in English, Chinese, and Spanish — mathematical reasoning, reading, language, science, and social studies, with an explanation for every answer.
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Practice questions based on the GED Testing Service Assessment Guide for Educators and standard high-school-equivalency curriculum. GED is a registered trademark of the American Council on Education; this site is not affiliated with or endorsed by ACE or GED Testing Service. Passing scores, fees, retake limits, and age and residency eligibility are set by GED Testing Service and by individual states and change over time — confirm current requirements for your state before testing. Note that the Reasoning Through Language Arts test also includes an extended-response essay, which multiple-choice practice cannot cover.
About the GED test
The GED is the test that stands in for a high-school diploma. It is taken by adults who left school early, by people who moved to the United States with schooling that does not transfer, and by anyone who needs the credential to apply for a job, enlist, or enrol in a college programme. That makes it unusual among the exams on this site: it is not a licence to practise a trade, it is the door that other doors sit behind. The credential is national, so one published blueprint decides what is tested rather than fifty state variations — though each state does set its own rules for who may sit it and when, which is why nothing on this page states them. The test is also offered in Spanish, and a large share of candidates study in a language other than English at home, which is why this bank exists in English, Simplified Chinese and Spanish rather than in one. The official test covers four subjects: Mathematical Reasoning, Reasoning Through Language Arts, Science, and Social Studies. This practice bank splits those into six sections, because two of them are really two tests wearing one name. The Assessment Guide divides Mathematical Reasoning explicitly into quantitative and algebraic problem solving, weighting the algebraic side more heavily, and Reasoning Through Language Arts asks two different things of you — reading a passage closely, and editing written English correctly. Studying them separately is how most people find out which half is actually costing them marks. What is tested here is durable. The mathematics is relationships and derivations you perform on figures the question gives you. The reading questions print the passage in full and ask what it says and how it argues. The language questions quote the sentence and ask what edited English requires. Science is built on practices — variables, controls, whether the evidence supports the claim — rather than on findings that get revised. Social studies asks you to reason over a source that is printed in front of you rather than to recall a list. Nothing that moves is ever a keyed answer: not scores, not fees, not the eligibility rules your state sets. Every question is self-contained, so no item depends on a chart or passage you cannot see, and every question comes with an explanation of why the answer is right.
How to study for the GED
Find out which half of each subject is costing you before you study anything. The two maths sections here are the official split, and the two language sections separate reading from editing. Take one section of each at full length, and let the results decide where your time goes. Most people discover the damage is concentrated: strong on arithmetic and lost on algebra, or a confident reader who cannot reliably spot a comma splice. Studying evenly across four subjects when the losses sit in two halves is the most common way people waste a month.
In mathematics, work the problem rather than recognising the type. Every question in these two sections is solvable from figures printed in the stem, which is deliberate and mirrors how the test is built: you are not being asked to recall a value, you are being asked to do something with the values you are given. When you get one wrong, do not just read the explanation and nod. Redo it from the beginning with the explanation covered up. Understanding why an answer is right and being able to reach it yourself under time pressure are different states, and only the second one shows up on test day.
For reading and social studies, answer from the text in front of you and nothing else. Both sections print the passage, excerpt or data they ask about, and the correct answer is always the one the source actually supports — not the one that is true in general, and not the one you happen to agree with. The most common wrong answer in both sections is a statement that is perfectly accurate about the world but goes further than the source does. Train the habit of pointing at the words that justify your choice. If you cannot point at them, it is not the answer.
Treat science as a method rather than a body of facts. The questions here turn on identifying which variable was changed and which was measured, spotting what was not held constant, and deciding whether the result actually supports the conclusion drawn from it. That is why a science section you can pass does not require memorising content you have not studied for years: if you can read a described experiment and say what it does and does not show, most of the section is available to you. The same habit protects you on test day, where the material may involve a topic you have never seen.
Take the sections you have passed off your study list, and do the essay separately. Because the four subject tests are taken and retaken independently, a pass is banked and should free your attention entirely. What multiple-choice practice cannot give you is the extended response, so set aside separate time for it: write a full answer to a sample prompt against the clock, then have someone read it and tell you whether your argument is clear and actually grounded in the sources. The reading section here builds the analysis the essay needs; the writing itself only improves by writing.
FAQ
Is a GED really accepted the same way as a high-school diploma?
For most purposes, yes — it is a high-school equivalency credential, and colleges, employers and the armed forces widely recognise it as meeting a high-school completion requirement. It is not identical to a diploma, and some specific programmes attach their own conditions on top, particularly selective college admissions and certain military enlistment paths, which may look at additional coursework or test scores. The practical move is to ask the specific institution you are aiming at rather than to rely on a general answer, because the requirement belongs to them and not to the GED. What the credential reliably does is remove the barrier that a missing diploma creates.
Do I have to take all four subjects on the same day?
No. The four subject tests are scheduled and taken separately, and you can spread them out and pass them one at a time. This matters more than it sounds, because it changes how you should study: rather than preparing for everything at once, most people do better taking the subject they are strongest in first, banking that pass, and then giving full attention to the one they find hardest. Retakes are also handled per subject, so a weak result in one area does not put the others at risk. The exact scheduling rules, waiting periods between attempts and any limits are set by GED Testing Service and by your state and do change, so confirm the current ones where you live before planning your order.
Can I take the GED in Spanish or another language?
The GED is offered in Spanish as well as English, and that is a full version of the test rather than a summary of it. This practice bank is written in English, Simplified Chinese and Spanish for the same reason: many candidates think through a problem most clearly in the language they grew up with, even when they intend to sit the English test. Using the Chinese or Spanish version here to make sure you actually understand a concept, then reading the same question in English to get used to the phrasing you will meet on test day, is a genuinely effective way to prepare. One caution: the language and grammar section tests conventions of edited English specifically, so those questions keep the English sentence being edited intact in every language — that is deliberate, not an untranslated string.
Why does this practice have six sections when the GED has four subjects?
Because two of the four subjects are really two different tasks sharing one name, and separating them makes your weak spot visible. The official Assessment Guide splits Mathematical Reasoning into quantitative problem solving and algebraic problem solving and states that the algebraic side carries the larger share of the test — so a single mixed 'math' score hides which of the two is costing you. Reasoning Through Language Arts is the same story: reading a passage for meaning and evidence is a different skill from editing a sentence for grammar and usage, and people are very often solid at one and shaky at the other. Practising them as six sections rather than four tells you where to spend your remaining study time. You still sit four tests on test day; this is a study structure, not a claim about the exam's format.
Does this practice cover the writing essay?
No, and it is worth being direct about that. The Reasoning Through Language Arts test includes an extended response — an essay in which you analyse the arguments in a pair of source texts and write a case for which is better supported. A multiple-choice bank cannot practise that, and no set of four-option questions should pretend otherwise. What the reading section here does prepare is the thinking the essay is built on: identifying a claim, separating it from the evidence offered for it, and judging whether the support is actually adequate. That is the same analysis the essay asks you to write down. To prepare the writing itself, practise composing a response under timed conditions against sample prompts, and get it read by someone who can tell you whether your argument is clear.