MSTC offers help with GED tests
The GED FastTrack helps people determine if they are prepared to take the tests
MSTC offers help with GED tests The GED FastTrack helps people determine if they are prepared to take the tests Check out this story on stevenspointjournal.com: http://spjour.nl/YIt1n4
Nathan Vine Published 5:42 p.m. CT Sept. 29, 2014
Mid-State Technical College's Stevens Point campus will soon be offering a GED testing, which as of January must be taken online. (Photo: Nathan Vine/Stevens Point Journal Media )Buy Photo
STEVENS POINT – Kristina Shelley wishes she hadn't left high school before getting her diploma, but now she's ready to correct that mistake.
Shelley was at Mid-State Technical College's Stevens Point Campus Mondy for GED FastTrack, a program that helps determine if students are ready to take General Educational Development tests. The FastTrack assessments focus on tests in four subjects — math, reading, science, and social studies — which, when passed, demonstrate to employers that a student has high-school-level academic skills.
GED tests are open to any Wisconsin resident at least 18 1/2 years old or whose ninth grade class has already graduated from high school.
Anne Pawlak, a general education instructor with MSTC who is teaching the GED FastTrack, said around 80 people receive some kind of tutoring towards getting their GEDs at the Stevens Point campus every semester. According to the state Department of Public Instruction, nearly 9,000 adults annually earn GED certificates.
Shelley, 25, who moved to Stevens Point from Arizona three years ago, said she left high school when she was 17 years old to move closer to a boyfriend. Now raising two young children, Shelley said she's ready to go back to school and start a career. Shelley said that when she earns her GED, she intends to pursue a degree as a phlebotomy technician through MSTC and eventually to become a registered nurse. Phlebotomists collect blood for donation or for testing so the blood can be analyzed in a clinical laboratory.
"I got tired of waitressing, and knew I had to do this to start changing that," Shelley said of attending the GED program. "It's kind of tough with kids to go back to school, but I'm excited about starting to work towards a career that I want."
Pawlak said those who came to MSTC for help with GED testing before this year received one-on-one or small-group advising, but the college opted for a more formal classroom program this year due to changes in the tests. As of Jan. 2, students are required to take the tests online at an approved testing site, and some of the material covered in the tests is different from previous years' tests.
MSTC offers GED testing at its campuses in Marshfield and Wisconsin Rapids, and at the Adams County Center. Pawlak said the Stevens Point campus will eventually offer the testing, but he did not have a timetable.
"With all of the changes this year, we wanted to have a program that helps get people prepared to be successful with the tests," Pawlak said.
Nathan Vine can be reached at 715-345-2252. Find him on Twitter as @SPJNathanVine.
Getting help with GED
GED FastTrack is being held in Room 413 at Mid-State Technical College's Stevens Point Campus from 11 a.m. to 12 p.m. Monday through Thursday until Nov. 13.
The program is free, though there is a fee to take the official GED tests. Each GED test is $33.75, or $135 for all four tests, though students may be eligible for financial assistance from the MSTC Foundation. Photo identification is required prior to each test.
For additional information about the GED FastTrack program, contact MSTC's Learning Commons at 715-422-5496.
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