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 Language Arts, Writing, Part I

The GED Language Arts, Writing Test has two parts. Part I requires candidates to demonstrate the ability to revise and edit workplace and informational documents by answering multiple-choice questions. Part II assesses the candidate’s ability to write an essay. The scores earned on both parts of the test are combined and reported as a single score.

Content Areas

The content areas in Part I of the GED Language Arts, Writing Test include:

Context

The subject matter for the GED Language Arts, Writing Test, Part I includes topics with which the candidate is likely to be familiar. Part I passages are based on these types of documents:

• Workplace and community documents, which are part of the adult’s everyday environment. These documents, which include letters, memos, meeting notes, reports, executive summaries, applications, and similar correspondence, consist of approximately 200 to 300 words (12 to 22 sentences).
  
  
• “How to” texts, which provide instructions or directions. These documents consist of 200 to 300 words (12 to 22 sentences) and focus on such topics as securing a job, writing a resume, dressing for success, leasing a car, getting to a specific location, and so forth.
  
  
• Informational texts, which provide an analysis of a particular topic. These texts, which have 200 to 300 words (12 to 22 sentences), include position papers, critical evaluations, support papers, and the like.

Possible topics include why the rainforests should be saved, the growing popularity of mega-malls, the building of a monument, and examining the transit needs of a local community.

Format

Part I directly measures the candidate’s proofreading skills based on the three document types described under Context. These documents are 12 to 22 sentences long and, when corrected, are examples of good writing. The errors to be corrected are those most likely to hinder effective communication to various audiences.Several of the sentences within each paragraph contain errors that candidates must identify and correct, such as a faulty verb or misplaced comma. In some cases, however, the sentences do not contain specific errors but require revision for the sake of clarity or logic. This revision may entail restructuring the sentence, moving the sentence to another position in the document, or removing the sentence from the document. Other revisions may require paragraphs to be divided or paragraphs joined. In each question, the sentence to be corrected or revised is presented and the five possible alternatives (or answers) are presented in the order in which they occur in the sentence. On occasion, the fifth alternative is “no correction is necessary” or “no revision is necessary.” In other types of questions, the first alternative may be exactly the same as in the sentence, requiring the candidate to recognize that no revision is necessary. In at least half of the questions, the alternatives do not appear by category: that is, alternatives for each question often may be from any of the four content areas in order to create a realistic proofreading situation.

Question Types

The GED Language Arts, Writing Test, Part I questions are classified by question type. The three item types are:

• Correction: 45 percent.
• Revision: 35 percent.
• Construction shift: 20 percent.

Correction
Correction questions test skills in each of the following four content areas:

• Organization.
• Sentence structure.
• Usage.
• Mechanics.

These questions may involve one sentence, a number of sentences, a complete paragraph, or the text as a whole. This question type provides a series of choices and asks what correction should be made.

Revision
Revision questions test skills in the following three content areas:

• Sentence structure.
• Usage.
• Mechanics.

The revision question presents a sentence with an underlined portion that may or may not contain an error. The five answers present five possible corrections to the underlined section of the sentence. In these questions, the first alternative always matches the original sentence. This requires the candidates to recognize that no revision may be necessary.

Construction Shift
Construction shift questions test skills in two content areas:

• Organization.
• Sentence structure.

The construction shift type of question presents a sentence that must be rewritten by revising the sentence structure. The resulting sentence must be correct and clearly stated. Original construction shift sentences do not contain errors. These questions test a candidate’s ability to manipulate sentence structures to create a better sentence. Construction shift questions require the candidate to use logic to think through the process of changing a sentence or, in the case of organization, change the structure of a document. Construction shift also tests a candidate’s understanding of sequence of events. Organization construction shift questions may require the candidate to combine paragraphs, separate paragraphs, or insert a new sentence within a paragraph.

Cognitive Levels

All items tested in the GED Language Arts, Writing Test, Part I measure the candidate’s ability to use given or previously learned information in a situation that differs from the context in which the ideas were initially presented.

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This page last updated on 11/19/2008