Wilderb
Well-Known Member
Sorry for the long post.
As mentioned previously, I did not graduate high school. I got married young and had children so I was working 50+ hours at the ballast factory and still working the family farm.
While I'm sure it cost me some jobs in the past, it wasn't something that I thought I really needed. My oldest would give me shit about it now and then and I always figured I would do it someday, just never had the time.
The state shut down my last employer(after I flipped on him for bad practices), so I went on unemployment. I thought, might as well take those tests now that I have the time.
I checked into it through unemployment and was told I would "likely" lose my unemployment if I enrolled in school. For three weeks I tried to get an answer to what "likely" meant. Several calls a day. It ended with me at the state office where I was told by an employee to "lie". So I called the local tech college and left a message. Within 3 days my unemployment was on "hold", and I went several weeks with no pay. No one could answer my questions about why. I was told "it's in the legal dept".
Only after I called an attorney and he called them did it get it going again after a phone interview. They asked me if I was enrolled in school. I said no. They said great, you are set, but don't call back again, ever. That part is a quote btw. I live in a very crooked state.
So a month goes by and other opportunities presented themselves. I was able to drop unemployment.
Telling me no is a good way to motivate me so I figured I would take those exams after all. Boy did I ever get educated. What a fucking joke.
First off, some factoids. The "ged" & "HSED" program is a privately owned and controlled entity now. It is owned by PEARSON. Many states don't even offer it anymore because of that.
You CANNOT accomplish this online. You can get a masters online, but not a "HSED".
So first you have to go take a placement test. You have to register ahead of time. This takes about 3 hours, half of which is selling you classes you purchase online.
Then you have to do a mandatory "skills & employ-ability" class. Also have to register for this. This is also about 3 hours. This includes their review of your resume and another hour or so of selling you classes.
Then finally, you must meet with a counselor (once again, registering). I waited 30 min for my guy to show up.
That turned out to be filling out paperwork for admission to the technical college. I told them "I'm not planning on taking any classes" and they said "we know, but this is the mandatory process".
So now I'm cleared to be able to take tests. You have to register on My GED website and set tests up from there. There are four main tests: Math, Reading Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science.
Then there are state requirements. Two tests, Health and Civics. The Civics test is the same one they give for the citizen test. These are run by the state and paid for separately.
So I figure I'll just take the tests and be done with it. I'm a big science nut so I figured that would be easy. I was surprised when I took it. 34 questions. 20 of them you need a calculator for. WTF? They were just word problems with science words in them. I passed it but not even close to acing it. I knew math would be my toughest (only completed 9th grade) so I ordered some books and DVDs to learn algebra, geometry, etc.
In the meantime, I kept taking tests. Did fine on SS and RLA. The health test was one of the weirdest tests I have ever taken. Keep in mind I was an National Registry Certified EMT for ten years. Most of the questions dealt with emotions and morals. WTF?
After taking the health tests, I grabbed the study guide for the civics test I was scheduled to take in three days. OMG. There was so many outdated facts (who is speaker of the house? Answer John Boenher) Mistakes ( who is 2nd in line to the presidency? Answer Secretary of State). All this in just the first 4 pages.
When I went back to take the test, I said to the check in lady "do you realize how many errors are in this packet?". She shrugged and said " I didn't write it". LOL
So I am down to just the math to take and have been studying. I bought a text book that is designed to help with GED tests and a DVD on Algebra. I began to notice there was some distinct differences in these two formats. They used different words and formulas for the same problem.
So I started checking some of their answers. HOLY SHIT. This book has a SHIT ton of errors. They even list 16 pages of mistakes on their own website.
Started looking at some of the text books my kids are bringing home. Full of mistakes and opinions stated as fact.
Our country being dumb is NOT by mistake. Our education system is royally fucked. I'm going to finish it now that I've paid for everything else but to anyone else thinking about it, don't wasted your time.
Sorry for the rant.
WE
As mentioned previously, I did not graduate high school. I got married young and had children so I was working 50+ hours at the ballast factory and still working the family farm.
While I'm sure it cost me some jobs in the past, it wasn't something that I thought I really needed. My oldest would give me shit about it now and then and I always figured I would do it someday, just never had the time.
The state shut down my last employer(after I flipped on him for bad practices), so I went on unemployment. I thought, might as well take those tests now that I have the time.
I checked into it through unemployment and was told I would "likely" lose my unemployment if I enrolled in school. For three weeks I tried to get an answer to what "likely" meant. Several calls a day. It ended with me at the state office where I was told by an employee to "lie". So I called the local tech college and left a message. Within 3 days my unemployment was on "hold", and I went several weeks with no pay. No one could answer my questions about why. I was told "it's in the legal dept".
Only after I called an attorney and he called them did it get it going again after a phone interview. They asked me if I was enrolled in school. I said no. They said great, you are set, but don't call back again, ever. That part is a quote btw. I live in a very crooked state.
So a month goes by and other opportunities presented themselves. I was able to drop unemployment.
Telling me no is a good way to motivate me so I figured I would take those exams after all. Boy did I ever get educated. What a fucking joke.
First off, some factoids. The "ged" & "HSED" program is a privately owned and controlled entity now. It is owned by PEARSON. Many states don't even offer it anymore because of that.
You CANNOT accomplish this online. You can get a masters online, but not a "HSED".
So first you have to go take a placement test. You have to register ahead of time. This takes about 3 hours, half of which is selling you classes you purchase online.
Then you have to do a mandatory "skills & employ-ability" class. Also have to register for this. This is also about 3 hours. This includes their review of your resume and another hour or so of selling you classes.
Then finally, you must meet with a counselor (once again, registering). I waited 30 min for my guy to show up.
That turned out to be filling out paperwork for admission to the technical college. I told them "I'm not planning on taking any classes" and they said "we know, but this is the mandatory process".
So now I'm cleared to be able to take tests. You have to register on My GED website and set tests up from there. There are four main tests: Math, Reading Language Arts, Social Studies, and Science.
Then there are state requirements. Two tests, Health and Civics. The Civics test is the same one they give for the citizen test. These are run by the state and paid for separately.
So I figure I'll just take the tests and be done with it. I'm a big science nut so I figured that would be easy. I was surprised when I took it. 34 questions. 20 of them you need a calculator for. WTF? They were just word problems with science words in them. I passed it but not even close to acing it. I knew math would be my toughest (only completed 9th grade) so I ordered some books and DVDs to learn algebra, geometry, etc.
In the meantime, I kept taking tests. Did fine on SS and RLA. The health test was one of the weirdest tests I have ever taken. Keep in mind I was an National Registry Certified EMT for ten years. Most of the questions dealt with emotions and morals. WTF?
After taking the health tests, I grabbed the study guide for the civics test I was scheduled to take in three days. OMG. There was so many outdated facts (who is speaker of the house? Answer John Boenher) Mistakes ( who is 2nd in line to the presidency? Answer Secretary of State). All this in just the first 4 pages.
When I went back to take the test, I said to the check in lady "do you realize how many errors are in this packet?". She shrugged and said " I didn't write it". LOL
So I am down to just the math to take and have been studying. I bought a text book that is designed to help with GED tests and a DVD on Algebra. I began to notice there was some distinct differences in these two formats. They used different words and formulas for the same problem.
So I started checking some of their answers. HOLY SHIT. This book has a SHIT ton of errors. They even list 16 pages of mistakes on their own website.
Started looking at some of the text books my kids are bringing home. Full of mistakes and opinions stated as fact.
Our country being dumb is NOT by mistake. Our education system is royally fucked. I'm going to finish it now that I've paid for everything else but to anyone else thinking about it, don't wasted your time.
Sorry for the rant.
WE
