GED ‘Boot Camps’ Aim To Expedite GED Completion Before Next Year’s Transition

Some technical colleges and organizations are offering a fast track way to obtain a GED.

The GED boot camps, as they’re sometimes called, are an effort to get people to complete the GED before the test changes next year.

About 43,000 people in the state have taken one or more of the required five tests needed to complete their GED. But they haven’t yet finished all of the tests, and that worries Beth Lewis, GED administrator for the Department of Public Instruction (DPI).

“That’s my biggest fear – that of the 43,000 we have statewide, some of them maybe only have one or two tests to finish up of the five. If they don’t finish by December 13, 2013 then they start over on the new test and they start over with all of the subjects. We don’t get to carry some of the tests over.”

In order to get students to finish, some technical colleges and other organizations are offering accelerated GED programs that allow students to finish in as little as a week.

Bob Borremans is the executive director of the Southwest Wisconsin Workforce Development Board. His organization has been partnering with two neighboring technical colleges and the Department of Corrections to offer what they’re calling GED boot camps.

“The boot camp concept is to help a person through a very time-limited, time-sensitive period, approximately one week in length – that they would get the instruction and then they would immediately be taking the test.”

Borremans says typically students study for the GED a few hours a week, while the boot camps condense instruction to around six hours a day. DPI’s Lewis says accelerated GED programs are meant for students who have a ninth grade reading level and are willing to work hard.