Spell Checker when taking high school equivalency tests

When typing the essay for high school equivalency tests (i.e. HiSet and/or GED), are students who are not receiving special accommodations allowed to use a spell checker?

Daphne Greenberg

Georgia State University

Comments

Hi, Daphne!

As far as I know, a spell checker is not allowed on the GED for general test takers (MN is just starting with HiSET, so someone else will have to chime in about that test).

If test takers spell some words wrong, they can still get decent essay scores, especially if the misspelled words don't impact whether or not the content can be understood, because the essay is scored as a draft. Other spelling errors on the GED that tend to have heavier weight are homonyms, possessive pronouns, use of the apostrophe (possessive plurals vs. plural nouns) and spelling errors that are actually grammar/usage errors such as mixing up verb endings. 

Hope this is useful info!

Hi Daphne,

Thanks Kristine for your excellent response!

What Kristine said for the GED is also true for the HiSET. No spell checkers are provided and spelling matters only if it "interferes with understanding" the essay as a whole. 

Thanks so much for using the community as a place to get answers for questions you might have!

Steve Schmidt, Moderator

LINCS Reading and Writing Group