How many questions can you miss on GED Language Arts?

It is a fair question: how many can you get wrong and still pass? The honest answer is that GED does not give a number. In workshop slides from 2018, GED Testing Service was asked how many questions you must answer correctly to pass with a 145. It said it does not share that number, because it can differ slightly from one version of the test to another, and from subject to subject.^[1] So if a website gives you an exact count, treat it with care: GED itself does not share one.^[1]

That can feel frustrating at first. But what GED does tell you is more useful. This post explains how the score really works, why a count of misses would not help you, and what to use instead to know if you are ready.

Points, not questions

The Language Arts test has about 46 questions and one essay, in 150 minutes.^[2] But your score is based on the points you earn, not on a simple count of questions you answer correctly.^[3]

Those points are called raw score points: the points you earn before they are turned into your final score. Each version of a GED test has about 40 to 65 raw score points, and that number only roughly matches its number of questions.^[1] So even if you knew exactly which questions you missed, you could not turn that into a score by counting.

For the kinds of questions you will see, our post on GED Language Arts question types walks through each one.

Why the number changes from test to test

Not everyone gets the same set of questions. Each version of the test is called a form, and the exact number of right answers needed to pass can differ slightly from one form to another.^[1]

GED handles this with a scaled score. Your raw points are turned into a scaled score, so that a score stands for the same level of performance whichever form you took.^[1] Scores are reported on a scale from 100 to 200.^[4] The passing score is 145 on each subject test, Language Arts included.^[5]

In plain words: a 145 on one form means the same as a 145 on another, even if the two forms asked different questions. That is also why no single count of misses could be right for everyone.

For more on what 145 means, and the score levels above it, see our post on the GED Language Arts passing score.

The essay's share of the score

The essay, which GED calls the extended response, makes up about 20 percent of your total Language Arts score.^[6] That is about a fifth of the points, earned by writing, not by answering questions.

It is possible to pass Language Arts with a 0 on the essay.^[7] But GED Testing Service says most people who pass do earn some essay points.^[7] So the essay is not a part to skip. Give it real practice, not just the questions. Our post on how the GED essay is scored explains what the scorers look for.

What about "40 percent"?

The same 2018 slide that declined to give a number added one more detail: the minimum passing score takes roughly 40 percent of the total score points.^[1]

Read that carefully. It is not a count of questions you can miss, for three reasons:

• It is about points, not questions. Points only roughly match questions.^[1]
• It is approximate. The slide says roughly, and the exact line can differ slightly from form to form.^[1]
• Part of the score is the essay. About a fifth of the points come from the essay, not from questions.^[6]

So do not treat 40 percent as a goal. It describes the bare minimum, and only roughly. Aiming for the bare minimum leaves you no room for a hard passage or a tired moment on test day.

What to use instead

If counting misses does not work, how do you know when you are ready? Two things help: GED's official practice test, and steady practice well above the line.

GED Ready, the official practice test

GED Ready is GED's official practice test. It is not free: it costs a fee for each subject.^[8] Your score shows how likely you are to pass the real test.^[8] Its scores fall into zones:

• Likely to Pass: a score of 145 to 200.^[8]
• Too Close to Call: a score of 134 to 144, which GED describes as almost ready, with a little more practice.^[8]

A green score on GED Ready means you are likely to pass the real GED test.^[9] GED Testing Service also says GED Ready went through the same norming and standardization study as the official test.^[10] In other words, it was studied the same way the real test was. That makes its zones a more useful guide than any count of misses.

A practice goal, not a passing line

GED's blog gives a practice goal to anyone retaking a subject: practice that subject's sample questions until you can answer about 65 percent or more of them.^[3]

Notice that this is a different number for a different thing. The roughly 40 percent is about score points on the real test. The 65 percent is a goal for practice questions. The two do not contradict each other. The 65 percent goal was written for people retaking a subject, but the idea behind it helps anyone: practice until you are comfortably above the line, not just touching it.

Practice with feedback

The more questions you practice, the more you learn which skills are steady and which need work. On OpenEssayMe, the free practice questions need no sign-up, and every answer comes with feedback that explains each choice. Our practice is built on the skills of the real test and gives you a feel for it. For the full picture of how the test is built and scored, see our GED RLA test guide.