GED and HiSET
Two different exams that do the same job: proving that your academic skills match those of a high school graduate. Which one you can sit is decided by the state you are in, not by you.
The two exams
The GED, run by GED Testing Service, is four subject tests, taken separately and in whatever order and at whatever pace suits you:
- Reasoning Through Language Arts — 150 minutes, three sections, including 45 minutes for a written essay.
- Mathematical Reasoning — 115 minutes, in two parts, with a formula sheet and a calculator reference sheet provided and an on-screen calculator available on the second part.
- Science — 90 minutes, no break.
- Social Studies — 70 minutes, no break.
The HiSET, run by PSI Services, is five subtests, because it splits language arts in two:
- Language Arts — Reading — 65 minutes (80 in Spanish), multiple choice.
- Language Arts — Writing — 120 minutes, multiple choice and an essay.
- Mathematics — 90 minutes, multiple choice, calculator permitted.
- Science — 80 minutes, multiple choice.
- Social Studies — 70 minutes, multiple choice, covering history, political science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, geography and economics.
Both can be taken at a test centre or at home with an online proctor, and both are available in English and in Spanish.
What counts as passing is not the same number
This is the single most useful thing to get straight before you start, because the two exams score on completely different scales.
GED: each subject is scored from 100 to 200, and 145 is the pass mark on every one of the four. There is no averaging and no compensation between subjects — you need 145 or higher on all four. Above that, two further bands mean something to colleges: 165 to 174 is reported as College Ready, which can earn a waiver from placement testing, and 175 to 200 is College Ready plus Credit, which can be worth up to ten college credit hours.
HiSET: each subtest is scored out of 20 and 8 is the pass mark on each. But passing the five individually is not enough on its own: you also need a total of at least 45 out of 100 across all five, and on the Language Arts — Writing essay you need at least 2 out of 6. A subtest score of 15 or better, with 4 or better on the essay, is reported as college and career readiness — the level at which you scored the same as or better than 75 per cent of graduating high school students.
So the GED asks you to clear one bar four times. The HiSET asks you to clear a lower bar five times and to add up to a total, which means a strong subtest can carry a weak one in a way the GED never allows.
The state decides, and the state decides more than you think
Neither organisation issues the credential. Your state does, and it sets the rules: which of the two exams it accepts, what the minimum age is, whether you must be out of school, how soon you may retake a subtest you failed, and what the test costs. Some states add a further requirement of their own — a civics exam, for instance — before the high school equivalency diploma is issued.
Check your own state's page before you book anything. Every other decision depends on it, including which of these two exams this track is about for you.
What these materials cover
Four categories, one for each subject area the two exams share. Language arts comes first because both exams weight it heavily and because it is the only place where either of them asks you to write. Then social studies, then science, then mathematics.
Within each, the material is written to the overlap between the two exams rather than to either one exclusively — the same reading, reasoning and computation is being tested, and the differences are mostly in length and in scoring rather than in content.
What they do not train is the essay, on either exam, and the essay is not a small part: it is a scored component of GED Reasoning Through Language Arts and a pass requirement in its own right on HiSET Language Arts — Writing. For that, write one to time and have someone read it against the published scoring criteria. Both organisations publish free practice tests, and those are the right place to meet the real interface and the real timing.
How to work
- Read your state's requirements first. Which exam, what age, what price, what else. It takes ten minutes and it decides everything else.
- Take the subjects one at a time. Both exams are designed for it, and there is no advantage whatever in sitting four or five tests in one week.
- Start with the subject you are furthest from passing, not the one you like. On the GED especially, where every subject must reach 145 independently, your weakest subject is the only one that can stop you.
- Learn what the formula sheet contains rather than memorising what is on it. Both maths papers provide one, and the marks are in knowing which formula the question calls for.
- Write the essay under a timer at least twice. It is the part of both exams that cannot be practised by recognising answers, and it is the part most often left until last.
Official sources
- The four GED subjects, with timings and formats: ged.com — test subjects
- GED score bands, including the 145 pass mark: ged.com — test scores
- Free GED practice: ged.com — free practice test
- The five HiSET subtests, with timings and formats: hiset.org — about the HiSET
- HiSET scoring, the 8-out-of-20 pass mark and the 45-out-of-100 total: hiset.org — get your scores
- HiSET practice tests: hiset.org — practice tests
- State-by-state rules, which decide which exam you can sit: hiset.org — state requirements
Zestly is an independent study tool. It is not affiliated with GED Testing Service, which owns the GED, nor with PSI Services, which owns the HiSET, and it is not a test centre. Every question here is written by Zestly; no official test material is reproduced. Eligibility, fees, retake rules and the issuing of the credential are matters for your state and for those organisations.