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Tue 20 Jul, 2004 04:42 pm
How do you read a GED scoring form?
Specifically, if one's score in "writing skills test" is 47, and "Percentile rank for US" is 41, how do I interpret that?
Is it good, bad, or average?
Thanks,
General Tsao
I'd guess the "47" is the raw score (i.e. the number of questions answered correctly). The Percentile rank means that the score is equeal to or higher than the scores of 41% regular high school graduates in the US.
According to the
GED WWW site the minimum passing score must = the scores of 60% of graduating High School seniors. 41% is...
Are you sure your score wasn't 470?...each of the five GED tests are scored from 200 to 800. Language Arts, Writing, Part I & II are both factored into the 'Writing Test' score (your essay accounts for between 35% to 40% of that result).
To pass the GED you need to get a score of at least 410 on all 5 tests, and an average score of at least 450.
A percentile rank of 41% is, to be honest, well it's not very good, but the important thing is simply passing it...I don't think anyone ever really checks what score you got. Whether you get a perfect score or a barely passing score, you pass just the same. Check your (or whoever it was who took the test) scores & see if it averages 450 or more. It can take quite a while to get the actual diploma saying you've passed.
Monger my raw scores were in double digits (varied) and the percentiles were 99, so I'm sure that some test raw scores can top out in double digits.
I took my test in Texas.
I took mine in New Jersey and my percentiles were all 99 as well. I was not told what my raw scores were (only got numbers in the 200-800 score system)....but given that there are a total of 50 questions in the Writing test, a raw score of 47 would not give you a percentile rank of 41% (unless you completely flunked your essay, I suppose).
There may be places where the scoring has been changed. The LSAT (for example) changed from a 200 - 800 system to a 30 - 50 system and now it's a 120 - 180 so it's entirely possible that older scores will not correspond to newer ones. It also appears that, unlike the LSAT, there may be differences from state to state.
This page is about the Ohio GED:
http://www.amable.oxonet.com/ged_faq.htm
This page describes different scores for different states, about 3/4 of the way down the page:
http://about-the-web.com/shtml/reports/09-018.shtml
Thanks, everyone. I looks like this applicant didn't do too well. I guess I'll have to ask him specific questions to determine his fitfulness for the job he's applying for.
HARGD<
General
oooh, what's GED...sounds interesting
BTW, I found out that this year's GED is in fact a new one with a new scoring system.
http://cnn.com.tr/2004/EDUCATION/07/26/high.school.equivalency.ap/
According to that article I think they changed it back in 2002. (By the way, I took the test about 3 months ago.)
Yeah, I meant different now from when I took it (in 98 or 99).
Percentile For Ohio G.E.D
What That Means Is That You Score Was The Same As Or Below Than 40% (What Ever The Number Is)Of Graduating Seniors In your State...(Thats Almost Half Of Seniors In Your State, Right Out Of High School Who Scored The Same As You Or Below.....I Would Say Even If Your Number Was 27 That Would Mean That 27% Of Seniors In Your State Got The Same Amount Of Questions Right As You Or Below That....Basically Your "Standard Score" Would Mean The Most, Because If You Got 450 Or More, On At Least Three You Would Probably Pass, So 450 Or Above On The Standard Score, Would Give You A Better Idea Of How You Did...Also, Remember When You Take Test Sometimes Your Under Alot Of Pressure So Don't Be To Hard On Yourself...Alot of People Don't Ever go And Take The G.E.D...Its A Hard Test....Good Luck, Doxology....
The G.E.D. is an equivalent to a high school diploma, if you pass. The test report should tell you what the passing score is, and if you pass then you have demonstrated an education level equivalent to high school. Your percentile score describes your cohort position relative to that which is passing. To have a 99th percentile score means that only 1% of those taking the test scored higher. Your percentile score of 40 something indicates that more than half those taking the test did better. Passing the test is the thing for most purposes. High percentile scores may have some weight if a G.E.D. holder wants to pursue higher education.
I was a high school dropout and took the test back in the 1950's. My scores across the various topics were also in the 99th percentile. When I entered college I took the S.A.T. test and did well, 1600 if memory serves), and my G.E.D. scores combined got me in. Once you begin to accumulate college degrees, the scores on the quadzillion tests taken mean practically nothing beyond an ego trip. Sorta like a high IQ score, especially for those with poor academic credentials.
Consider anyone who presents a G.E.D. document the same as you would a high school diploma. The better their percentile scores, the better they would have done against other high school graduates. Given the deplorable education of so many high school graduates, the G.E.D. is a minimal sort of document, especially if the percentile scores are low.
@fishin,
Im not positive on this but what I found when trying to compare my husbands GED scores from 1988 and my sons from 2011 was the older tests were scored with double didgets and to add a zero to the end. So a 47 would be a 470 on todays test. The percentile works something like this or so I found online:
GED Score Est. Class Rank
700 Top 1%
670 Top 2%
660 Top 3%
640 Top 5%
610 Top 10%
580 Top 15%
570 Top 20%
550 Top 25%
530 Top 33%
520 Top 40%
500 Top 50%
460 Top 55%
450 Top 60%
so a 64 or 640 would put you in the TOP 5% of all USA graduating seniors meaning you would have scored better than 95 out of 100 Grad seniors. Hope this helps
@Sebrina,
Awww, I bet you are the smartest person they know. The older you are, the wiser and smarter you are too =). Being smart doesn't have to be the convential test taking, A and B, smarts.
@GeneralTsao,
there is a raw score to standard score converison chart so if you have a 47 you ether 20-22 right on multiple choice with a score of 10 on your essay witch is a 1-6 score put together by two readers so one reader gave you a 6 and the other gave you a 4 so 4+6=10 so on the chart if you 20-22 on mc and 10 on e the numbers meet at 47 for a standard score