CANFIELD GED tests draw dozens to center

Next year's new GED test is different but not necessarily more difficult, an education official said.
By RON COLE
VINDICATOR EDUCATION WRITER
CANFIELD -- Dozens of people wanting to take the high school equivalency test by year's end are flooding local test sites this week.
Nearly 40 people registered to take the eight-hour exam today at the Mahoning County Career and Technical Center here, about three times the normal amount.
Choffin Career and Technical Center in Youngstown usually gets about 20 test-takers a month but had 100 people show up Monday and Tuesday to take the five-part exam, which is commonly known as the General Educational Development test, or GED.
"The line was out the door," said Denise Vaclav-Danko, director of Youngstown's Adult Basic Literacy and Education program, which helps prepare people for the GED. "I actually turned people away."
Fifty-four people took the test at the Lawrence County Vocational Technical School in New Castle on Saturday, about double the usual amount, school officials said.
Changes coming: Why the rush? The test, which gives students a high school equivalency certificate, undergoes major changes Jan. 1. Those not passing all sections by Dec. 31 will lose all their points and have to start over again.
Danko said Choffin has tested close to 250 people in the last three months. She said people from as far away as Medina and Summit counties came to the Youngstown site to take the test this week.
"We have had an overwhelming response," she said.
Charlotte Guest, director of adult education at MCCTC, said the school has hired a second proctor to handle the influx of test-takers today.
She said she fears many people are taking the test without enough preparation just to meet the end-of-the-year deadline.
"That concerns me," she said. "Sitting through an eight-hour test for which you're not prepared, if you don't pass it, that can be a real negative," Guest said.
Jennifer of Boardman, who didn't want her last name used, dropped out of high school when she was a senior at Poland Seminary High School and now wants to go to college, for which she needs a GED.
She said she's taking the test today in Canfield because she has heard the new test will be harder.
"I wanted to hurry up and take it," said Jennifer, who has been attending the county's ABLE sessions for about five weeks to prepare for the exam. "I want to catch it before it changes."
Different: But Guest said the new test isn't necessarily more difficult. "It is significantly different, though," she said.
The test, created in 1942 for military veterans who left for war without getting a high school diploma, was revised in 1978 and 1988. The 2002 revision is in response to increased high school academic standards nationwide, says the American Council on Education, which oversees the GED exam.
Among the changes: use of a calculator on parts of the math test, questions that are more business-related, and a writing test with an increased emphasis on organization, ACE said.
cole@vindy.com