Students have 90 minutes to complete all questions in the social studies section of the GED test. The social studies portion is similar to the other sections of the GED test because it involves reading short passages and answering multiple choice questions. There are also drag-and-drop responses, hot spot (select an area) and fill-in-the-blank questions. There is one section that requires the student to analyze arguments and access other sources in that analysis and provide and extended response.
The Social Studies test is confined to two themes. The first theme consists of the Development of Modern Liberties and covers the evolution of our form of governance and contemporary aspects of our values and government. The second theme is Democracy and Dynamic Responses in Societal Systems which covers a variety of societal systems and how events, geography and other factors influence they way people relate to each other.
The Social Studies portion of the GED testing battery is split up into content sections:
- 20 percent of the test focuses on American history
- 50 percent on civics and government
- 15 percent on economics
- 15 percent on geography and the world
