Among GED subtests, language art reading and writing seem hard and even confusing if you do not have the right preparation. In this paper, we will give you a GED Language Arts Sample Questions with detailed explanations. It includes both the reading, writing, and language portion of the GED Test. 

As far as you know, your actual GED examination, reading and writing are integrated into a single RLA test because these skills are closely connected. However, if you want to get a personalized idea of where you are now and what you need to learn in each field, try taking our various GED Language Arts Practice Tests ,which are categorized into many ascending levels. Before you take them, don’t forget to read our GED Language Arts study guide. 

The GED Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA) test tests your ability to understand what you read and how to write clearly. Now, take a few minutes to head over to sample GED Language Arts questions right now!

 

1. What to expect on the GED Language Arts Reading Test? 

 

The GED Language Arts Reading Test is regarded as a multiple choice test that measures your ability to read, understand, and interpret different reading passages.

You will be evaluated and scored based on the following features:

  • Comprehension: It involves your ability to identify basic meaning and purpose in the passage.
  • Application: It refers to your ability to take concepts from the passage and use them in a different context.
  • Analysis: It is associated with your ability to break down specific parts of the passage and draw conclusions.
  • Synthesis: It refers to your ability to use information from different parts of the passage to make points on tone, point of view, or purpose.

>>>Related Article: GED Mathematical Reasoning Sample Questions

 

2. What to expect on the GED Language Arts Writing Test? 

 

Although your actual GED Language Arts, Writing test is separated into two parts, the scores are combined so you’ll receive one single score

Part I: 75 minutes long and 50 multiple choice questions from the following content areas:

  • Organization (15%)
  • Sentence structure (30%)
  • Usage (30%)
  • Mechanics (25%)

Part II: Writing an essay about a familiar subject. 

You will have 45 minutes to plan, write, and review your essay. The essay topic will require you to present your opinion or explain your views about the assigned topic. Two trained readers will score your essay based on the following criteria: 

  • Focused main points
  • Clear organization
  • Specific development of ideas
  • Sentence structure control, punctuation, grammar, word choice, and spelling

>>>See Also: GED Social Studies Sample Questions

 

3. Is the GED language arts test hard?

 

Although the GED language arts test is one test that covers both reading and writing, you need to pay more attention and spend more time to get well-prepared, it doesn’t have to be hard, with the right preparation.

GED RLA
You need to pay more attention and spend more time to get well-prepared

 

3.1. Is GED reading hard? 

 

You are required to read a few passages that are 400 to 900 words long so as to answer from 6 to 8 questions about each passage. 

  • About 25% of the passages will be stories—literary passages, therefore the language won’t be too hard or complicated. Besides, you need to understand the characters, theme, and plot. 
  • The other 75% of the passages are informational , whose main topics are workplace, science, or social studies. Sometimes, these passages include diagrams or graphics. 

These passages might require you to read a short passage and understand what it says, to find details, to get the main idea, to compare what two passages say. Bear in mind that you can easily get the skills you need with a little bit of practice. 

>>> See Also: GED Science Sample Questions

 

3.2. Is GED writing hard?

 

You might encounter two types of questions on the writing part. 

  • First, you’ll have some writing passages along with the reading passages, which require you to make edits or corrections to ensure the correct grammar and punctuation. The passages which are mostly workplace documents, such as letters and memos are typically short, around 450 words. 
  • Second, you’ll need to write an essay (so-called the extended response).  You’ll need to read two passages with two different points of view about a topic to write a response that talks about the arguments in each passage. 

To have a good essay , you need to know what to expect, as well as a structure to follow (beginning, middle, and end). 

 

4. Tips for GED RLA test

 

Here are some tips for you to perform better on your GED Reasoning Through Language Arts. Bear in mind that heading over to our sample questions. 

GED Language Arts Tips
GED Language Arts Tips

 

4.1. Read the questions carefully

 

You’d better read each question carefully twice before answering or looking at the answers. Many have fallen into traps because they rushed over the questions leading to misreading some key terms. 

 

4.2. Answer the easy questions first

 

When you’re stuck on a difficult question, don’t waste time on it and move ahead. Let’s skip the questions you can’t answer or you’re not sure about and turn back to them later. It is wise to concentrate only first on those questions that you’ve got right immediately.

When you have completed the questions that were easy for you, if you have enough time, let’s go back to the questions that you skipped and try to answer them again.  

 

4.3. Use lots of practice tests

 

Get accustomed to reading prompts and writing essays by practicing a lot with sample language arts questions. Try your best to ace our samples below. If you want to take more GED Language Arts practice tests or other subjects, please visit the GED Test Pro platform. 

Think about what the prompt asks you to do. Some prompts ask you to cite specific evidence or provide a quote in your answer, while the prompt may also ask you to compare or analyze some passages.

 

 

4.4. Use more formal language

 

One of the core principles of writing essays is using formal language. Therefore, you should ‘t use the sort of language that they’re used to when speaking to or texting with their friends. Furthermore, make certain to avoid the use of slang or abbreviations.

Since your score on the essay part is based on how well you use English language conventions, pay more attention to your grammar, word choice, and sentence structure. Last but not least your essay writing must have a formal tone.

 

4.5. Answer all of the questions

 

There are no penalties for guessing or wrong answers on the Ged test. Hence, make sure to answer each and every question, even when you don’t know the answer or when you need to guess.

 

4.6. Eliminate obviously wrong answers

 

After reading the question carefully and looking at the answers, try to eliminate the answer options that you know are definitely wrong. Thereby, you can concentrate on a smaller pool of answers to choose from. Using context clues to help answer the questions more accurately and exactly.  If an answer has absolutes such as never, must, or always, those options are generally incorrect

 

4.7. Review your extended response

 

Spend the last 10 minutes or so on proofreading your extended response! Check your organizational mistakes, spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, and perhaps unclear statements.

 

 

5. GED Language Arts Sample Questions

 

Passage 1: WILL THURM SUCCEED IN HIS PLAN TO OPEN A CASINO?

Just as the blessings were bestowed, about Christmas of ’47, the Great Blizzard of the Century came roaring down from Canada, dumping ten years worth of snow in three days. Sandy got stuck by Erma’s folks, which was a merry enough situation by that point; but Thurm was socked in, alone, at the Apricot.

Thurm had the whole Avenue pretty much to himself, with Pete off honeymooning with Ethel in Miami (which rankled Thurm somewhat), and most of the Bayers went home for the off season. Fiske and Jo tunneled over to the Apricot after the storm wore off, and reported finding Thurm at the bar in the Mogambo Room, involved in a fifth of Dewars and a monumental case of cabin fever.

The monument in this case being the Mouton Rouge Casino. Thurm probably meant Moulin Rouge, like Toulouse-Lautrec, as opposed to his version, the Red Lamb Casino.

But Thurm’s imperfect French was as nothing compared to his timing.

For when the air cleared and the snows settled into the late winter muck, and Thurm was still obsessed with a Red Lamb Casino that would fill his hotel and Avenue all year round, he was faced with dissension within and suspicion without.

For one thing, having a red anything was bad form in those days, and even pink was becoming unthinkable because of some very paranoid and well-placed nuts running around making everyone else paranoid about Communism and secret codes. So Thurm, your classic free-market capitalist, was starting with a label that got some people weird.

When Thurm started floating the idea to the City Chamber of Commerce and the Lake County Administrator’s office, he was surprised by the repeated suggestion that this potential gold mine might not be such a hot idea, for him particularly. The phrase “unsavory elements” got a lot of play. Thurm would retort that he’d dealt with unsavory characters a sight longer than the Governor knew what a fart was, and had always come out smelling sweet. So they’d shrug, say, Okay, do what you want, but do it without us. And Thurm said, All right (I’ll show you), then they added, Well, you know you’ll need an act of the Legislature, and that was fine by Thurm, too.

— from “Guatemala Avenue,” by Andrew Kass

 

Question 1: Which word best describes Thurm, as his character is revealed in the passage?

A. foolish

B. inexperienced

C. manipulative

D. persistent

E. pessimistic

 

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: The narrator tells us that Thurm was “obsessed” (line 33) with his casino plan. The narrator also tells us that city and county officials tried repeatedly to discourage him from his casino plans, but Thurm persisted, confident that he would overcome whatever obstacles he might encounter.

 

 

Question 2: Which of the following common words does the narrator use in a metaphorical sense?

A. floating

B. governor

C. monument

D. pink

E. tunneled

Correct answer: C

Explanation: The narrator tells us that the “monument in this case” is “the Mouton Rouge Casino.” The comparison between these two unlike things is a good example of a metaphor.

 

Question 3: Which scenario might cause a problem similar to the one Thurm faced as a result of the name he chose for his planned Casino?

A. calling your Web site by a name already used for a similar site

B. changing your name to one that better suggests an air of sophistication

C. dating someone you mistakenly think is his or her identical twin

D. making a tactless joke about a deceased person at his or her funeral

E. ordering a meal from a menu printed in a language you don’t understand

Correct answer: E

Explanation: Thurm called his casino a name containing the French word for “red.” He chose the name without understanding what it meant, like a restaurant patron ordering the wrong item because the menu is in an unfamiliar language.

 

Question 4: To what do “the blessings” probably refer?

A. a baptism

B. a Christmas celebration

C. a wedding ceremony

D. Thanksgiving dinner

E. the birth of a baby

Correct Answer: C

Explanation: The narrator tells us that a great snowstorm arrived “Just as the blessings were bestowed, about Christmas of ’47.” The narrator then describes the whereabouts and activities of various characters just after the storm hit, noting that Pete and Ethel were honeymooning. So it is most likely that “the blessings” that “were bestowed” refers to their wedding.

 

Question 5: Approximately what time span do the events described in the passage cover?

A. about one day

B. about two weeks

C. at least a few days

D. at least a few months

E. more than six months

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: The events described in the passage began “about Christmas” (line 2). Later in the passage, the narrator describes what happened “when the air cleared and the snows settled into the late winter muck” (lines 31–33). So the passage’s events span at least a few months—from Christmas to late winter.

 

Question 6: Why did city and county officials tell Thurm that his idea “might not be such a hot idea, for him particularly” (lines 54–55)?

A. Few people had extra money to gamble in those days.

B. He might become involved with criminals, like it or not.

C. The casino’s overhead costs would exceed its revenues.

D. The proposed location was off the beaten track.

E. They planned to fine him for operating illegally.

Correct Answer: B

Explanation: City and county officials suggested to Thurm that the casino might attract “unsavory elements,” which generally means criminals.

 

 

Passage 2: WHAT IS THE OBJECT IN THE PIT?

[Ogilvy] remained standing at the edge of the pit that the Thing had made for itself, staring at its strange appearance, astonished chiefly at its unusual shape and color, and dimly perceiving even then some evidence of design in its arrival. The early morning was wonderfully still, and the sun, just clearing the pine trees towards Weybridge, was already warm. He did not remember hearing any birds that morning, there was certainly no breeze stirring, and the only sounds were the faint movements from within the cindery cylinder. He was all alone on the common.

Then suddenly he noticed with a start that some of the gray clinker, the ashy incrustation that covered the meteorite, was falling off the circular edge of the end. It was dropping off in flakes and raining down upon the sand. A large piece suddenly came off and fell with a sharp noise that brought his heart into his mouth.

For a minute he scarcely realized what this meant, and, although the heat was excessive, he clambered down into the pit close to the bulk to see the Thing more clearly. He fancied even then that the cooling of the body might account for this, but what disturbed that idea was the fact that the ash was falling only from the end of the cylinder.

And then he perceived that, very slowly, the circular top of the cylinder was rotating on its body. It was such a gradual movement that he discovered it only through noticing that a black mark that had been near him five minutes ago was now at the other side of the circumference. Even then he scarcely understood what this indicated, until he heard a muffled grating sound and saw the black mark jerk forward an inch or so. Then the Thing came upon him in a flash. The cylinder was artificial-hollow-with an end that screwed out! Something within the cylinder was unscrewing the top!

(G. Wells, The War of the Worlds, 1898)

 

Question 7: At first, what does Ogilvy think the cylindrical object in the pit is?

A. a huge fossil

B. a large mineral deposit

C. a living creature

D. a meteorite

E. a missle

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: In the second paragraph, Ogilvy notices an ashy substance covering the “meteorite.” Later, he discovers that “the Thing” is more than a meteorite.

 

Question 8: Which of the following qualities does Ogilvy seem to possess?

A. curiosity

B. defensiveness

C. helpfulness

D. honesty

E. pride

Correct Answer: A

Explanation: Ogilvy’s actions show that he is a curious man because he moves down into the pit to examine “the Thing” more closely.

 

Question 9: In the last sentence of the second paragraph, what does the author indicate with the phrase “brought his heart into his mouth?”

A. Ogilvy was hungry.

B. Ogilvy was injured.

C. Ogilvy was sad.

D. Ogilvy was startled.

E. Ogilvy was sympathetic.

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: The expression means that Ogilvy is so startled that he feels as if his heart has popped into his mouth.

 

Passage 3: The memo below is unfinished. For each numbered selection choose the option that correctly completes the sentence.

To: All Staff

From: Jill Peterson, Senior Vice President

Date: April 19, 2016

Subject: Strategic Changes and Welcome Luncheon

As you are all aware, we will be transitioning from our existing client management system to a new platform which includes more advanced analytics capabilities. This change will help us to match our [10] ———— with more appropriate products. In addition to this improved product selection, the new customer management system will provide a more uniform data management platform across departments.

Another issue I will like to bring to your attention involves the introduction of our 24-hour customer support line. We will need to run a third shift from 12:00 AM – 8:00 AM to staff the 24-hour customer support line and would like to invite interested employees to contact [11] ————————— their interest in working on the third shift. Third shift employees will be paid overtime rates, which should serve as additional motivation for those looking to make some extra cash.

Finally, Robin Messer will be joining our company next week as head of our commercial lending division. Robin has been working at Affinity Bank for the past 5 years where she increased [12] ———— commercial lending portfolio by 80 percent over that time. Her previous experience [13] ———— stints with JP Morgan Chase, Bank of America, and Goldman Sachs. We will be holding a public luncheon on April 29, 2016 to formally welcome her into the fold.

 

Question 10: 

A. client’s

B. clients’s

C. clients’

D. clients

Correct Answer: D

Explanation: 

An apostrophe is used to indicate possession. For example, “the man’s hat,” indicates that the man owned (or possessed) the hat. In this letter the word clients is not possessive. ‘Clients’ is just the plural form of client, since the letter is referring to more than one client.

 

Question 11: 

A. Pam Roberts the shift coordinator about

B. Pam Roberts: the shift coordinator about

C. Pam Roberts, the shift coordinator, with

D. Pam Roberts, the shift coordinator, about

Correct Answer: D

A non-essential phrase such as “the shift coordinator” should be set off from the rest of the sentence by commas on both sides.

Explanation: The first answer choice is incorrect because “the shift coordinator” is non-essential and should be set off by commas. The second answer choice is incorrect because a colon is used to separate two independent clauses when the second clause explains or illustrates the first. The phrase that comes after Pam Roberts should not be preceded by a colon. The third answer choice is incorrect because it uses the inappropriate preposition “with” instead of “about.” A person is contacted “about” an interest in something not “with” an interest in something.

 

 

Question 12: 

A. their

B. there

C. that

D. they’re

Correct Answer: A

Explanation: ‘Their’ is a possessive adjective used before a noun. The commercial lending portfolio belongs to the bank, so the word ‘their’ should be used. ‘There’ is the opposite of ‘here,’ and it means ‘in that place.’ ‘They’re’ is a contraction of ‘they are.’

 

Question 13: 

A. include

B. includes

C. including

D. have included

Correct Answer: B

Explanation: Experience is a singular noun in this context and must be matched with the singular verb “includes.”

The first answer choice is incorrect because it uses the plural verb “include.” The third answer choice is incorrect because the verb “including” is in the present progressive tense and is not appropriate for describing Ms. Messer’s past experience. The fourth answer choice is incorrect because “have included” does not agree in number with experience.

In short, take our GED Language Arts Sample Questions seriously. Please visit our homepage to take the other Free GED Online Practice Tests by subjects.