Those hoping to get GED must pass all 5 tests before end of 2018

If getting the High School Equivalency Certificate is one of your New Year's resolutions, you may want to start studying.

Nova Scotia is currently using the 2002 test series for general education diploma (GED) certification, and according to their website, this will no longer be the case after December 31, 2018.

“After this date, the incomplete credentials and incomplete tests of the 2002 test series will no longer be valid, therefore you will need to take all (5) tests again,” warns the post on their website.

The tests are in math, English language arts reading, English language arts writing, science, and social studies.

“What that means is…if somebody has written 3 (tests) and not 5, they would have to start over again with the new test series,” said Alison O'Handley of the Dartmouth Learning Network, an organization that helps people prepare for the GED.

Spokesperson for the Department of Labour and Advanced Education, Lisa Jarrett, said a new test series was developed and released in the United States in 2014.

“This test series needs to be adapted to Canadian content,” said Jarrett in an email to HalifaxToday.ca. “The new tests include updated questions/academic outcomes that reflect Canada’s educational environment today.”

O'Handley told NEWS 95.7's The Sheldon MacLeod Show, for some people, preparing for the GED only takes a couple of months, but it could over a year for others.

“Depending on how much is going on in a person's life, how much time they have to dedicate to preparing, and what level their skills are at when they come to us,” she said.

She believes the update will be good, but wants to caution those planning on taking the tests about the end-of-year deadline.

“I'm making way more money than I was”

Bryan MacKenzie left school in Grade 10 because he was being bullied.

Ten years later he got his High School Equivalency Certificate and said it's changed his life.

“I just decided one day, enough is enough, I wasn't getting anywhere in my life,” he said. “I felt a lot of people were disappointed in me and I just wanted to make people proud.”

He said, without a high school diploma, he was overlooked and stuck in dead end jobs, but with his GED, he is now making more money doing a job he loves at Costco.

O'Handley said MacKenzie's story is similar to others she's heard while working at the Dartmouth Learning Centre.

“Better jobs, higher paying jobs, or more security in the work force,” she said. “And lots of other side benefits too, like better health and better engagement in the community.”

In 2017, Nova Scotia started paying the full fee for those taking the GED tests.