What kinds of graphs appear on the GED?

Bar graphs, line graphs, circle graphs, scatterplots, and dot plots. You are asked to read values, compare categories, and describe trends.

How much of the test is data analysis?

Quantitative problem solving, which includes data analysis, percents, and ratios, is about 45 percent of Mathematical Reasoning.

GED Data Analysis Practice

Quantitative problem solving covers about 45 percent of the GED math test, and most of it lives here: percents, ratios, rates, averages, probability, and reading information out of a table or graph.

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What is the mean of 4, 7, 9, 12, and 18?

Percent problems in three shapes

Nearly every GED percent question is one of three types: find the part (what is 20 percent of 350), find the percent (18 is what percent of 90), or find the whole (12 is 30 percent of what number). Recognizing which of the three you are looking at is most of the work.

Percent increase and decrease deserve separate practice. A $40 item marked down 25 percent is not $25 off — it is $10 off, leaving $30. Compute the change first, then apply it, rather than trying to do both in one step.

Mean, median, and why the test cares

The mean is the sum divided by the count. The median is the middle value once the numbers are ordered, or the average of the two middle values when the count is even. The GED frequently asks which measure better describes a data set, and the answer usually turns on whether there is an extreme value pulling the mean away from the center.

Range is the largest value minus the smallest. It is the easiest statistic on the test and one of the most commonly rushed.

Probability and rates

Simple probability is favorable outcomes over total outcomes, reduced to lowest terms. Watch for questions that remove an item without replacing it, which changes the denominator on the second draw.

Unit rate questions ask for a per-one value: miles per hour, cost per ounce, words per minute. Divide the total by the number of units, and check that your answer is stated in the unit the question named.

Frequently asked questions

What kinds of graphs appear on the GED?: Bar graphs, line graphs, circle graphs, scatterplots, and dot plots. You are asked to read values, compare categories, and describe trends.
How much of the test is data analysis?: Quantitative problem solving, which includes data analysis, percents, and ratios, is about 45 percent of Mathematical Reasoning.