Common Traps on the GED

The GED (General Educational Development) test is fully computer-based and covers four subjects: Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA), Mathematical Reasoning, Science, and Social Studies. The traps often exploit test anxiety, unfamiliarity with the format, and the temptation to give up on multi-step problems.

Trap 1: The "Fat Finger" Miscalculation (All Sections, especially Math)

• The Objective: Enter a calculation correctly into the on-screen calculator (TI-30XS Multiview).

• The Trap: You mean to type "8 * 7" but you type "8 * 8" by accident, or you forget to close a parenthesis, leading to a wildly wrong answer that, by chance, is one of the options.

• Why It Works: The GED is taken on a computer, and the calculator is a digital tool, not a physical one. It's easy to mis-click, especially under time pressure. Students often trust the calculator's output blindly without doing a quick mental estimate to see if the answer makes sense.

• The Fix: Estimate first. Before you even touch the calculator, round the numbers and do a quick mental math check. If you're calculating 47 * 62, know that it should be roughly 50 * 60 = 3000. If the calculator gives you 291.4 or 29,140, you'll know instantly that you made a data-entry error.

• Example:

  • Question: A rectangular garden is 14.7 feet long and 8.3 feet wide. What is its area?

  • Your Estimate: 15 * 8 = 120 square feet.

  • Trap Scenario: You type 14.7 * 8.3 into the calculator but accidentally hit 14.7 * 3.8. The result is 55.86.

  • Trap Answer: 55.86 square feet (It's an option, but it's half of what it should be).

  • Correct Answer: 122.01 square feet (Matches your estimate).

Trap 2: The "Which One is Which?" Switcheroo (Math Word Problems)

• The Objective: Solve for a specific value in a word problem.

• The Trap: The problem gives you a relationship between two variables (e.g., "there are twice as many cars as trucks"). You set up the equation perfectly but accidentally assign the variables backward (e.g., letting cars = x and trucks = 2x, when it should be trucks = x and cars = 2x). You then solve for the wrong thing.

• Why It Works: Word problems require translating English into math. Under pressure, your brain grabs the numbers and the operation ("twice as many") but doesn't slow down to assign the variable to the correct subject. The answer you get is often one of the answer choices, reinforcing the mistake.

• The Fix: Write down the relationship in words before using variables. For example: "Cars = 2 * Trucks." Then decide what to call your variable. If you let T = number of trucks, then the equation is C = 2T. This simple step of writing the relationship first anchors your setup.

• Example:

  • Question: At a parking lot, there are 3 times as many sedans as SUVs. If the total number of sedans and SUVs is 48, how many SUVs are there?

  • Trap Setup: Let x = sedans. Then SUVs = 3x. Equation: x + 3x = 48 -> 4x=48 -> x=12. Trap Answer: 12 (sedans).

  • Correct Setup: Let x = SUVs. Then sedans = 3x. Equation: x + 3x = 48 -> 4x=48 -> x=12. Correct Answer: 12 (SUVs).

  • Notice the math is identical! The trap is in the definition of x. The question asked for SUVs, so the correct answer is 12 only if you set it up the right way.

Trap 3: The "Passage Amnesia" (RLA - Extended Response)

• The Objective: Write a persuasive essay analyzing two given passages.

• The Trap: You forget the specific details from the passages and write a generic essay about the topic based on your own opinions and general knowledge.

• Why It Works: The essay prompt feels like a familiar "persuasive essay" task from school. Students fall back on what they know: stating an opinion and supporting it with general examples. They don't realize the GED essay is specifically testing your ability to read, analyze, and cite evidence.

• The Fix: Your essay must be anchored in the passages. For every claim you make about an author's argument, you must follow it with a phrase like "According to Passage 1..." or "As the author of Passage 2 states,..." If you can't cite it, don't write it. The clock is tight, so spend the first 10 minutes just reading and annotating the two passages, pulling out 2-3 key quotes from each.

• Example:

  • Prompt: Analyze the arguments about school uniforms in the two passages.

  • Trap Sentence: "I think school uniforms are a bad idea because they stop kids from expressing themselves." (This is just your opinion.)

  • Strong Sentence: "The author of Passage 1 argues that uniforms 'stifle individual creativity,' suggesting that self-expression is a vital part of the educational experience that is lost with a dress code." (This uses the passage as evidence.)

Trap 4: The "Keyword Hunt" (Social Studies & Science)

• The Objective: Answer a question based on a provided text or graphic.

• The Trap: You see a question with a word like "Declaration" or "Photosynthesis." You scan the passage for that exact word, find it, read the sentence around it, and pick the answer that matches that sentence.

• Why It Works: This is a classic skimming technique that works for simple questions. But on the GED, the answer is often a synthesis of multiple pieces of information, or the keyword is used in a different context than the question implies. You find the word, but you miss the meaning.

• The Fix: Use the keyword to find the right paragraph, but then read the entire paragraph (or a few sentences before and after) to understand the full context and the author's main point about that topic. The correct answer is rarely found in a single sentence.

• Example:

  • Passage: A text about the Cold War discusses the Truman Doctrine, the Marshall Plan, and the formation of NATO. It mentions that the Truman Doctrine was aimed at containing communism in Greece and Turkey.

  • Question: The Truman Doctrine was a key element of which broader U.S. foreign policy strategy?

  • Trap Hunt: You find "Truman Doctrine," read the sentence about Greece and Turkey, and pick an answer about "providing aid to specific European nations."

  • Correct Answer: "Containment." (You had to read the whole paragraph to understand that the specific aid was part of the larger, unnamed strategy of containment, which is the main idea of the passage.)

Trap 5: The "First Instinct" Surrender (All Sections)

• The Objective: Solve a multi-step problem.

• The Trap: You look at a problem, don't know how to solve it immediately, and either guess randomly or give up without trying.

• Why It Works: Test anxiety is highest on the GED for many test-takers. When faced with a problem that doesn't look familiar, the brain's fear center activates, leading to a fight-or-flight response. "Flight" looks like panicking and picking any answer.

• The Fix: Break the problem down. What is the question actually asking? What information have they given you? Write down the "givens." Often, just the act of writing down the known facts will trigger a memory of what to do next. You don't need to see the whole path; you just need to take the first step.

• Example:

  • Question: A cylindrical water tank has a radius of 5 feet and a height of 10 feet. How many gallons of water can it hold if 1 cubic foot equals approximately 7.48 gallons?

  • Trap Thought: "Oh no, cylinders, volume, gallons... I don't remember the formula. I'll just pick C."

  • The Fix: Break it down. Step 1: "They want gallons." Step 2: "To get gallons, I need cubic feet first." Step 3: "Cubic feet of a cylinder... that's area of the circle times height. I know area of a circle is πr²." Step 4: "So volume = π * 5² * 10 = π * 25 * 10 = 250π ≈ 785 cubic feet." Step 5: "Now multiply by 7.48." You're now in the game.