I just received my scores from my GED test that I took in 3/1997. It shows my total score was 252. I know the scoring system changed after that and minimum score is 410. I was hoping someone might know what was the score req for 1997. I saw some old docs that said 225 but I am not sure....PLEASE HELP
Nikki, the score of 410 you're talking about is a minimum score on any one of the 5 tests (reading, writing, math, science, or social studies). The TOTAL score to pass these days is 2250, or an average of 450 on each of the tests.
In the old scoring system, a passing score was 225 total, an average of 45 on each test. (Sort of like they just added a zero to the scores.) The minimum score per test was I believe 40, but it might vary among states. As long as none of your scores dipped below 42, you should be fine.
40? do you mean 40 percent out of the 50 questions? If its 450 to pass on that subject and it's 50 questions per subject how many point(S) are their per question...
Hi, Arrin! The "40" score I was talking about is in the OLD GED scoring system. Nikki's question was about test scores from 1997, when they had a different scoring system. Basically, a 40 in the old system was kind of like a 400 in the current system, and the requirements for passing were a little different.
I know GED scoring can be difficult to understand. That's because it's not graded by percentage correct. It's graded based on a type of curve grading. Depending on what version of the test you take, the same number of correct answers could mean a different score, based on how hard or easy the questions on that test version are. To go into a little detail, you need an average score of 450 per test to pass, and a minimum score of 410 on each test. So, if you get a 410 on math and a 500 on all the other tests, you pass. But thinking of 450 as the passing score is useful... if you don't get below 450 on any test, you definitley pass.
That said, you can get a general idea of how many questions you'll need to get right. Out of 50 questions, on most tests you'll need between 30 and 38 right to score a 450, depending on the difficulty of the test. I find that a good rule of thumb is to aim for 70% correct answers. That's about 2 out of 3 questions right. If you're doing that consistently, you're in good shape!
The best way to put the GED scores into perspective is by comparing them to the percentile ranks for those scores. There's a pretty significant difference between a 225 and a 271. A 225 means an average score of 45 on each test, and that puts the test-taker in the top 70% of test-takers (for the 1988 series, the one being administered in 1997). A 271 means an average score of 54 on each test. That doesn't sound too much higher, but actually it puts you in the top 33%... that's the top third of GED test-takers. Not bad!
