Chapter 13

Ten Performance-Enhancing Tips

In This Chapter

Ramping up reading speed and comprehension

Sharpening key skills, including math skills

Getting up to speed on key science concepts

Practicing with sample science tests

According to the GED Testing Service, all you need is a general knowledge of science to do well on the test, but that’s kind of vague. In this chapter, we provide additional details in the form of ten skills to focus on leading up to test day.

Improving Reading Comprehension and Speed

By far, the most important skill you need to perform well on the GED Science test is reading comprehension and speed. You need to read carefully enough to understand the reading passages, questions, and answer choices and quickly enough to complete the test in the allotted time. To improve both reading speed and comprehension, here’s what you do:

• Practice reading challenging science passages. Read textbooks and science magazines on a wide range of topics.
• Build your science vocabulary. Understanding basic concepts and terms enables you to understand what you’re reading while spending less time trying to figure out what something means.

See Chapter 5 for more suggestions.

Writing a Short Answer Response

The Science test contains questions that prompt you to write a short essay in 10 minutes or less. That’s not much time. To save time and write a more coherent essay, take the following steps:

1. Read the stimulus (one or more reading passages) and the prompt (instructions for what to write).
2. Write one sentence that clearly states your point or approach in response to the prompt.
3. Write down three to four points that support your claim based on evidence in the passage, and arrange the points from most to least important.
4. Write a one or more paragraph answer, starting with your thesis statement, introducing each point in order. Add supporting evidence for each point from the stimulus.
5. Write a conclusion summing up your assertions and referring back to the prompt.

Your essay doesn’t have to be perfect. Because of the length or the answer and time allocated, the evaluation concentrates on the facts you present, not your writing style. The scorers expect a competent answer to the stimulus with first draft writing quality.

Interpreting Visual Presentations of Data

Many of the questions on the GED Science test include visuals — graphs, maps, illustrations, and tables. These visual presentations of data actually make it easier to understand the data than if it were presented only in the form of text, so when you see these items, don’t panic. Be thankful that you don’t need to wade through a paragraph to pick out bits of information.

The key to reading graphs and other visual presentations of data is to look at everything, especially any text at the top, bottom, left, or right of the image. This text often provides important information for answering the question.

Practice reading visuals. Flip through science textbooks and magazines in search of graphs, tables, illustrations, and other representations of data and look them over carefully, until you’re comfortable extracting data from visuals. Most visuals present relative data. Don’t spend forever trying to find data to an impossible degree of accuracy.

Reading Broadly

You don’t need to be a biologist, physicist, chemist, or geologist to perform well on the Science test. In fact, a broad understanding of all fields of science serves you best. Questions on the test are divvied up among the following science content areas:

Content Area	Percentage of Questions
Physical science (physics and chemistry)	40%
Life science	40%
Earth and space science	20%

You may be drawn more to one science field than another, so strive to broaden your reading in areas that you don’t know as well or that you find less interesting. You may just be surprised.

Honing the Required Skills

Although all questions on the test are relevant to the world of science, you really don’t need a huge body of scientific knowledge to do well on the test. The test is designed to evaluate your skills — your ability to understand information presented in different formats and use your power of reason to arrive at the correct answer. More specifically, the test evaluates the following skills:

• Identify textual evidence that supports a conclusion.
• Extract details from information presented visually in graphs, tables, illustrations, and so on.
• Determine the meaning of symbols, terms, and phrases used in a scientific context.
• Reason from data or evidence presented to a conclusion.
• Make a reasonable prediction based on data or evidence presented.
• Identify and refine a hypothesis for a scientific investigation.
• Find possible sources of error in an experimental design.
• Understand and apply scientific models, theories, and laws and related formulas.
• Summarize a data set in statistical terms.
• Express scientific information numerically, symbolically, and visually.
• Determine the probability of an event occurring.
• Use counting and permutations to gauge possibilities.

Sharpening Your Math Skills

Expect to encounter basic math on the Science test. You don’t need to memorize formulas, but you may need to calculate an average or percentage or use a formula included with a question to calculate a specific answer.

Note: There will be an onscreen calculator, a model TI-30XS. You are allowed to bring your own TI-30XS calculator, but check with the GED Testing Service on the specific model allowed because that has changed in the past.

If you haven’t taken the GED Mathematical Reasoning test yet, you may want to prepare for and take that test first, so your mathematical brain cells are warmed up for any math you need to do on the Science test. Check out our other book GED Mathematical Reasoning Test For Dummies (Wiley) for additional guidance.

Wrapping Your Brain around Key Science Concepts

Having a conceptual framework in place provides you with a general understanding that improves your ability to read and understand science information, regardless of the format used to present it. Here are some key concepts to focus on as you prepare for the science test:

• Atomic theory: The theory that all matter is made of tiny, invisible particles. (See Chapter 9.)
• Cell theory: The theory that the cell is the building block for all forms of life. (See Chapter 8.)
• Classification of living things: The system used to classify everything from single-cell bacteria up to human beings. (See Chapter 8.)
• Conservation of energy: The fact that in a closed system, energy is neither created nor destroyed, and the applications of that fact. (See Chapter 9.)
• Earth systems: Earth’s atmosphere (air), hydrosphere (water), geosphere (land), and biosphere (living creatures) and how the systems interact. (See Chapter 10.)
• Energy transfer in ecosystems: How energy from the sun is converted and used to power the production of all life on Earth. (See Chapter 8.)
• Evolution through natural selection: The theory that all creatures on Earth evolve through a process of genetic mutation and selection of traits that enable creatures to thrive in certain conditions. (See Chapter 8.)
• Genetics/heredity: The molecular basis of inherited traits. (See Chapter 8.)
• Newton’s laws of motion: Several laws that describe the relationships among forces, objects, and movement. (See Chapter 9.)
• Scientific method: The process scientists use to formulate and test a hypothesis in order to develop explanations for natural phenomena. (See Chapter 6.)

Sharpening Your Thinking Skills

You can look at some questions on the test and know the answer before you even glance at the answer choices because you have some previous knowledge that’s relevant. In other cases, even if you don’t have that knowledge, you can often reason your way to the correct answer. Here are the skills you need to focus on:

• Comprehension: Understanding the meaning or intended meaning of what you read (text) or see (visual presentation of data).
• Application: Using information from a passage or visual in a concrete situation.
• Analysis: Exploring the relationships among ideas and being able to recognize when certain information doesn’t logically fit.
• Evaluation: Assessing the soundness or accuracy of information and the methods used to produce, collect, and report data.

To sharpen your thinking skills, ask questions as you read, especially questions about how reliable or trustworthy certain information being presented really is.

Nurturing Your Curious Self

Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it can do you a great deal of good as you prepare for the Science test. As you read through this book, you’re likely to feel curious about some of the science topics you’re reading about. Who wouldn’t be? Science is fascinating. Instead of squelching that curiosity, nurture it by poking around on the Web for more information. Let your curiosity lead you on a journey through the natural world of science, where you can discover more about yourself and the universe you live in than you could ever imagine. Along the way, you’ll be preparing for the test and having so much fun doing it that it won’t even feel like work.

Taking More Practice Tests

The Web is packed with sample science tests, some of which are aligned with the GED Science test and others that aren’t but can still provide valuable practice for taking the GED version. Start with the GED Testing Service’s practice tests at www.gedtestingservice.com/educators/freepracticetest and then expand your search. You search for general science tests using search phrases such as “sample science test questions,” or look for questions that apply to a specific area of science, such as “newton laws of motion sample test questions.” Use your imagination to think up other search terms to find the science questions you’re looking for. And finally, a shameless plug: In the latest version GED Test For Dummies, we offer several additional tests, as well as access to some online tests.