Social Studies: GED Preparation

Everything on the GED Social Studies test: US government and civics, American history, economics and geography, plus the reading and reasoning skills the test is built on. No background in American history is needed.

Getting started

  • How this course works
  • What is on the GED Social Studies test

Reading and reasoning skills

  • Main idea and supporting details
  • Primary and secondary sources
  • Point of view and bias
  • Fact, opinion, and evidence
  • Cause and effect
  • Reading maps
  • Reading graphs, tables, and charts

Foundations of American government

  • Types of government
  • The Declaration of Independence
  • The Articles of Confederation and the Constitution
  • Key principles of the Constitution
  • The Bill of Rights
  • Later amendments and civil rights

How American government works

  • The legislative branch
  • The executive branch
  • The judicial branch
  • Checks and balances in action
  • Federalism, state, and local government
  • Elections and political parties
  • Rights and responsibilities of citizens

American history to 1877

  • Colonial America
  • The road to revolution
  • The American Revolution
  • A growing nation
  • Slavery and the road to civil war
  • The Civil War and Reconstruction

American history since 1877

  • Industrialization and immigration
  • The Progressive Era
  • World War I and the 1920s
  • The Great Depression and the New Deal
  • World War II
  • The Cold War
  • The civil rights movement
  • The United States since 1970

Economics

  • Scarcity and choices
  • Supply and demand
  • Types of economies
  • Money, banks, and interest
  • Government and the economy
  • Measuring the economy
  • Personal finance and consumer economics
  • Trade and the global economy

Geography and the world

  • Map skills and location
  • Physical geography
  • Population and migration
  • Humans and the environment
  • Regions and cultures

Test skills and practice exams

  • Test strategies
  • Practice exam 1
  • Practice exam 2

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