How long is the GED Reasoning Through Language Arts test?

Most adults who come back to the GED have a lot on their plates: work, family, bills, rides. Knowing how long a test lasts, and how that time is split, takes one worry off the list before test day. It also lets you practice the right way, with a clock that matches the real one.

Here is what GED Testing Service says about the time on the Reasoning Through Language Arts test (often called the Language Arts test, or RLA), and how to use that time well.

The 150 minutes, piece by piece

The whole Reasoning Through Language Arts test takes 150 minutes.^[1] That is two and a half hours, but not all of it is spent answering questions.

• Instructions and review: 3 of the 150 minutes go to instructions and a final review.^[1]
• The break: there is a 10-minute break between part 2 and part 3, and it counts inside the 150 minutes.^[1]
• The essay: the written essay, which GED calls the extended response, gets 45 of the 150 minutes.^[1]

In that time you answer about 46 questions and write one essay.^[2] Some questions will take you longer than others, so a steady pace matters more than raw speed.

Three sections or two?

If you read more than one official GED source, you may notice that they count the parts of the test differently. That can be confusing, so here is how the two fit together.

The current GED student page says the test has 3 sections.^[1] An older official document, the GED technical manual, describes the test as two sections with the 10-minute break between them.^[3] Both describe the same test and the same 150 minutes. The manual simply groups the time on each side of the break.

In the manual's count, Parts I and II together get 72 minutes.^[3] Part III, after the break, gets 65 minutes.^[3] Add the 10-minute break and the 3 minutes of instructions and review, and you get 150.^[1][1]

Where does the essay fall? It sits in its own separately timed section at the end of the first half of the test, before the 10-minute break.^[4] So you finish the first set of questions, write the essay, take your break, and then come back for the last part.

What the clock means for you

Two and a half hours is a long time to stay focused, especially if you have been out of school for years. The good news is that focus is a skill. It grows with practice, the same way reading speed does.

It helps to think of the test as three jobs, not one long block:

• Reading and answering questions. You answer about 46 questions in all.^[2] You need to read carefully, but you cannot read every passage three times.
• Writing the essay. This is one task with its own 45 minutes, so it needs its own plan.^[1]
• Coming back after the break. The last part comes after a short rest, when many people feel tired. Knowing that ahead of time helps you save some energy.

How to use the time well

Knowing the numbers is the first step. Using them is the second. These habits help many adult learners pace themselves.

1. Practice with a timer. Time yourself when you read a passage and answer its questions, and when you write a practice essay. You will learn how long a passage takes you and how much you can write in 45 minutes.
2. Do not let one question eat your time. If a question is taking far too long, pick the choice that seems most likely and keep moving. The rest of the test still needs you.
3. Read each passage through once before its questions. A calm first read often saves time later, because you know where things are when a question sends you back.
4. Give the essay a plan. In 45 minutes you need time to read, plan, write and check your work. Decide ahead of time how you will split those minutes, and practice that split until it feels normal.
5. Use the break on purpose. Get up, move, drink water and clear your head. Do not spend the break worrying about questions you already answered.

If you need more time

Some people can get extra time. Test takers with a documented disability can request accommodations, including extra testing time.^[3] If this might apply to you, look into it early, well before you pick a test date, so the question is settled before you sit down to test.

Practice with the real clock in mind

GED's own practice test, GED Ready, is half the length of the real test and is timed.^[5] That makes it a useful check on your pacing once you are close to ready.

Before that, short practice every day builds the reading speed and the grammar sense that the clock asks for. On OpenEssayMe you can try free GED Language Arts practice questions right now, with no sign-up, and every answer comes with feedback that explains each choice. For the full picture of the test, from the question types to the scoring, see our GED RLA test guide.