The GED® Social Studies test focuses on four major content areas:
- Civics and government (50%)
- United States history (20%)
- Economics (15%)
- Geography and the world (15%)
The test assesses key reasoning skills, balancing conceptual understanding, procedural skill and fluency and the application of the reasoning skills to realistic situations. Each item on the Test is aligned to one social studies practice and one content topic.
The practices are skills that are key to both textual and quantitative social studies reasoning. The test also measures statistics and data interpretation skills.
Breakdown of the Social Studies test by time and content:
Test Topics:
Reading for Meaning in Social Studies
Analyzing Historical Events and Arguments in Social Studies
Using Numbers and Graphs in Social Studies
Analyzing Historical Events and Arguments in Social Studies
Using Numbers and Graphs in Social Studies
Time (to take test):
70 minutes
Includes 2 minutes of instructions and final review
No break
Includes 2 minutes of instructions and final review
No break
Format:
No calculator allowed
Access to calculator reference sheet
Multiple choice and other question types (drag and drop, fill in the blank, select an area, and drop down)
Access to calculator reference sheet
Multiple choice and other question types (drag and drop, fill in the blank, select an area, and drop down)