GED and HiSET science — science calculations

Science questions on the GED and HiSET tests often end with a number to work out from a small data set. The GED Testing Service notes that you do not need to memorize science formulas, because the question gives you what you need; what you do need is to handle the arithmetic calmly and to know which calculation a question is asking for. This material practices those calculations in adult settings: water use in an office, the thickness of metal plates on a production line, radon readings on a street, phosphorus in a county lake, a delivery driver's speed, a block found in a salvage yard.

The quiz covers the calculations that come up again and again. You find the mean of a set of measurements, the median of an even-numbered set, the mode and the range, and you decide when the median describes a data set better than the mean because one reading is far from the others. You compute the probability of a single event and of two independent events happening together, and you learn to tell 'both' from 'at least one'. You work out a speed after converting minutes into hours, a density from mass and volume and whether the object will float in water, a percent change measured against the original value, a temperature conversion from a given formula, and a proportion for mixing a fertilizer. Every wrong option comes from a real, common mistake, and each explanation shows the full computation.

The flashcards collect the definitions and relationships: mean, median, mode, range, the multiplication rule for independent events, speed, density, percent change, the Celsius-to-Fahrenheit formula, the effect of an outlier and the floating rule.

The written work asks you to lay out a calculation step by step with units and then say what the result means, as a science question expects: for example, computing a mean with and without an outlier and deciding which to report, or finding a density and explaining why an object floats. In the oral exam an examiner gives you short problems one at a time, asks you to explain each step and to check your units, and closes with brief feedback on accuracy and method.

A calculator is useful for this practice, as it is on the tests. This is independent practice material based on the publicly described content of the two tests; it is not produced or endorsed by GED Testing Service or by ETS.

• Compute mean, median, mode and range and explain what each describes
• Choose the median over the mean when a data set has an outlier
• Find probabilities of single events and of two independent events
• Calculate speed with unit conversion, and density with the floating rule
• Compute percent change against the original value
• Substitute into a given formula and solve proportion problems

Practice material written by Zestly, based on the published descriptions of the GED Science test (ged.com: measurements, data sets, formulas provided) and the HiSET Science subtest (hiset.org: interpret and evaluate scientific information).