Even an Ivy League Grad Can’t Pass the New GED

[F4lconF16]

12. When's the last time you took one of those tests?

It wasn't that long ago that I was doing a whole bunch of them, from AP tests to SAT/ACT and practice tests, to GED equivalency tests that I did with a friend for fun.

They're not easy.

Even for people like me, who have always done particularly well in school, the tests are often far too hard. I can do calculus with ease, I love playing with differential equations and writing out long equation lists for physics, but I have a hard time with some of the SAT/ACT math problems. The terminology they use I've often never heard of, questions can be poorly worded or misleading, and on a rare occasion, I've simply never heard of what they're asking for. I aced my AP English tests, and yet I bombed parts of the writing section of various practice SATs because they ask you to choose what word fits best. If you've never heard of any of them, then it's a literal crapshoot. These tests are not just testing common knowledge and high school equivalency; they're testing whether you can figure out the test itself. It shouldn't be easy, but it should at least be doable.

Also, 7 hours is a terrifyingly long time to be taking a test. That's exhausting, and it makes thinking that much harder. Multiple-hour AP tests are rough; 4-5 hour SAT tests are really bad; I don't even want to imagine taking a test for 7 hours, even with breaks. Even bar exams are spread out over multiple days. Doing it after paying $120 and knowing that if I fail I have to pay that much again? That's a ton of stress.

He mentions not being able to find the answer to "balancing equations", ie basic algebra problems.

That's the thing--it's not always just "basic algebra problems". Often there's geometry involved (stuff that I know I haven't studied since middle school), which isn't too hard to figure out if you're good at math and have the time. There's often confusing wording, language that you're not familiar with, and other stuff.