McGraw-Hill's GED w/ CD-ROM: The Most Complete and Reliable Study Program for the GED Tests (Mcgraw Hill's Ged),   ISBN:9780071451994

Customer Rating: 

Need to cover more field. In high school, I learned a lot more that this book covers. Many things this book doesn't even mention. ( I graduated high school in china.)

I got my diploma today. I'm a little too happy to write this review, I might overrate this book.( I rated four stars). This book did help me to pass the exam. Good thing about it is that it has many practice exams. But the questions after each chapter are not so good.

My problem was the language, not the knowledge, I learned a lot of vocabulary that is useful for GED in this book.

I didn't read the math and writing chapters, so I don't know what to say. But in social study, this book needs to cover much more information. Science is fine, but I found other books in the library to study science as well.

Customer Rating: 

Many high school students quit school before graduation. They have numerous causes for this choice, some more legitimate than others. The bottom line remains that the modern world often demands at least a high school diploma or its equivalent in order to progress to higher levels of occupational achievement. This especially holds true for those who want to earn a college degree. So for high school dropouts interested in making such progress, the General Educational Development (GED) credential becomes a must. Other Amazon reviewers have already praised this book so I will strive to avoid repeating their valid applause. As a college graduate who followed an unusual path of education, however, I do want to make some observations about this book and the GED that I hope other readers find helpful.

First, let me state that I found this massive tome quite an enjoyable and informative experience. It contains, in one volume, the essentials of what every high school graduate ought to know. The included compact disc (CD) has fully interactive practice tests on every GED subject and provides feedback to the user on areas needing improvement. A GED candidate would have a hard time finding a better study guide.

Now for the main thrust of my review. I purchased this text for the express purpose of examining my own educational background and attempting to share lessons learned with future generations. I attended a small, rural high school in North Carolina 1980-1982 for ninth and tenth grades. My academic ambitions led to my application to the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics (NCSSM), a new experiment in education that opened in 1980 for "gifted" eleventh and twelfth graders. To my delight, the school accepted me and I attended 1982-1984 and graduated with a high school diploma from that school as well as 19 semester hours of placement college credit. I will not repeat my lessons learned from those experiences in this review but invite the reader to do a Google search for my article "Advice for Those Considering NCSSM" and my YouTube video "Dual Enrollment versus NCSSM" instead. Suffice it to say that I would expand my range of options to investigate if I found myself in tenth grade today.

This brings me to the point of this review. As I read this book, I think back to what I knew in tenth grade and how I might have performed on the GED in those days. Frankly, I think I could have passed it with very little study. The main subjects in the book I had not yet studied at that time included World History, Economics, and Civics. The book elucidates these subjects so well that I feel confident I could have spent a few hours studying them and passed the corresponding tests. That a "gifted" student could do this begs questions about why the government schooling system keeps such students locked into government high schools rather than encouraging them to finish high school early and begin college early. Programs such as NCSSM as well as the new "Early College High Schools" popping into existence attempt to address this problem with mixed success. However, the Internet now makes a college education much more accessible to such accelerated learners with high school not even needed.

In my fantasy "do over" scenario in which I found myself a teenager today, I would take the GED after tenth grade and immediately enroll in my local community college, bypassing NCSSM altogether. After completing foundational courses for the next two years, I would transfer to engineering school as a junior while my former high school peers languished as college freshmen. I would have no need to rely on Advanced Placement (AP) examinations, merely "hoping" to get college credit, because I would have already earned it.

Of course, as with all fantasies, achieving this one would require satisfying many "if" statements: "If" I could get the support of my parents; "If" I could turn the law to my favor; "If" I could pass the relevant college entrance examinations; "If" I could find the funds and transportation needed to attend local college early; "If" ... "If" ... "If" .... So many conditionals represent a fundamental flaw in American education today, namely its intrinsic resistance to young students of ability, independence, and ambition. The handsome payoffs would make the effort to overcome such resistance worthwhile, however.

I conclude this review by encouraging young, smart high school students to purchase and read this book. Consider the implications of an early GED followed by an early start in college. It could change your life for the better.

Customer Rating: 

I purchased this book for my son. He is 18, struggled through regular public school, struggled with tutoring, and finally gave up on his education. Because his father and I insisted he at least get his GED I bought this book for him. He has studied from it since the day it arrived in the mail. He has taken the exams in the book and on the CD and has shown great improvement by studying. He has a good understanding of the subjects and he feels very confident to take his tests, he is scheduled next month. The book is written in a way he has easily grasped subjects he had problems with in the past. While I wish he had completed High School in the typical manor, I am very pleased with what this book has done for him.

Customer Rating: 

This GED book is everything I expected it to be. It is thorough and the CD that is included is what makes this book work.

Customer Rating: 

This book covers EVERYTHING. But getting it and opening the box was daunting to see the sheer size of the over 1100 page book.
Get the version with the CD-ROM. At the very least you can take the pre tests on the CD-ROM and it tells you in the results exactly where your weaknesses are and which pages of the book to cover. Without it I probably wouldve read the book cover to cover. With it, I found I can pretty much skip the science chapter (I haven't taken the other pre tests yet).
I must say, some of the questions are probably more difficult than what the actual GED asks as Ive had some average friends go in and take the GED without any classes/studying after several years of being out of school and passed.