GED students can prepare for the exam at ACC.

Taking the GED? Changes are coming – so Austin Community College Adult Education encourages students who are currently testing to complete the GED now.

The current version of the General Educational Development (GED) exam will expire at the end of 2013. Students who don’t complete all sections of the exam before 2014 will have to retake the entire test, which covers reading, writing, math, science, and social studies. Starting in 2014, the GED exam will become completely computer-based. It will include more short answer, essay, and fill-in-the-blank questions.

Registration is under way for ACC’s classroom GED prep sessions that begin the week of October 21. For more information, visit austincc.edu/abe or call (512) 223.5300. Classes are available throughout Travis County and are free to students.

Find out more about changes to the GED and hear from Adult Education’s David Borden in this KUT News story.

Adult Education also recommends “GED Connections,” video-based instruction that airs on ACC-TV (19 on Time Warner Cable; 19 on Grande Communications; 99 on AT&T U-verse; and 6 on Suddenlink). GED Connections will air 6-7 p.m. Monday through Friday (Oct. 14 through Dec. 13). In addition, it will air weekends 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Oct. 12 through Dec. 15). GED Connections also is available on the KLRU website.

“These videos are a great resource for people preparing for the GED exam. They give you a solid understanding of the GED subject areas and show you how those skills relate to the real world,” says David Borden, executive director of Adult Education at ACC. “Students can watch the videos on their own or to reinforce what they learn in the classroom.”

ACC is helping an increasing number of Central Texas adults earn their GED. The number of students who have completed ACC’s GED preparatory program and earned their high school equivalency certificate has gone up 92 percent since 2007-08. In the last program year, 446 students graduated from the program. In all, Adult Education served 4,426 students in the past year, including adult basic education, ESL, and adult secondary education students.

For more information on the changes to the GED, check out this story from KUT News.