COLUMBIA (AP) — Almost 600 South Carolinians will get their high school diplomas without having to again take the GED test.
The South Carolina Education Department has announced that the GED Testing Service has lowered the passing score for the General Educational Development Tests from 150 to 145.
That means about 600 people in the state who have taken the test since Jan. 1 of 2014 and didn't make a passing grade under the old scoring system now have passed.
The scores were recalibrated based on research comparing how GED program graduates do compared to how high school graduates have done during the past 18 months.
During the past 40 years more than 220,000 South Carolina residents have earned a high school diploma through the GED testing program.
