High School Equivalency Testing (HiSET and GED)

Massachusetts residents who need a high school diploma can earn the High School Equivalency (HSE) Credential from the Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (DESE). Visit the DESE website for complete information on eligibility

You can earn the HSE Credential by taking either the HiSET test or the GED test.

HiSET/GED Details

HiSET	GED
Offered at BHCC. Available in English and Spanish. To register go to https://hiset.ets.org/test-takers.	Offered at BHCC. Available in English and Spanish. To register go to www.ged.com.
LANGUAGE ARTS Language Arts-Reading (65 minutes) 50 multiple Choice Questions Language Arts-Writing (120 minutes) 61 Questions 60 multiple choice questions 1 Essay	REASONING THROUGH LANGUAGE ARTS (51 Questions) Section 1 — (27 minutes) Section 2 — Extended Response (45 minutes) Student Break (10 minutes) Section 3 — (60 minutes) The time allotted for Sections 1 and 3 may vary slightly, but the total test time will always be 150 minutes.
MATHEMATICS (90 minutes) 55 Multiple Choice Questions Calculator: TI-30XS scientific calculator	MATHEMATICAL REASONING (115 minutes) (46 Questions) Part 1 (first 5 questions) calculator not allowed Part 2 (remaining 41 questions) calculator allowed Possible Item Types: Multiple choice Drag-and-drop Hot spot Fill in the blank Calculator: TI-30XS scientific calculator
SCIENCE (80 minutes) 60 multiple choice questions Calculator: TI-30XS scientific calculator	SCIENCE (90 minutes) (34 Questions) Possible Item Types: Multiple choice Short answer Drag-and-drop Hot spot Fill in the blank Calculator: TI-30XS scientific calculator
SOCIAL STUDIES (70 minutes) 60 Multiple Choice Questions	SOCIAL STUDIES (70 minutes) (35 questions) Possible Item Types: Multiple choice Drag-and-drop Hot spot Fill in the blank Calculator: TI-30XS scientific calculator
Scoring: scaled-score range per subtest: 0–20 To pass: no subtest score lower than 8 and a battery total of 45 or above.	Scoring: scaled-score range per module: 100–200 To pass: a score on each module of 145 or above.
Fee Structure: Computer Based Test: $103.75/battery ($24.75 for the 1st subtest, $19.75 for the remaining 4 subtests in the initial battery) $9/retest (up to two per subtest, within one year of initial test) $10.75/subtest (after one year from initial test)	Fee Structure: $125/battery ($31.25/module) $10/retest (up to two per module, within one year of initial test) $31.25/retest (after one year from initial test) GED is now free in MA! Go to www.doe.mass.edu/hse for more information.

Preparation

BHCC offers HiSET preparation classes: https://www.bhcc.edu/ce/testprep/

College Placement with GED and HiSET

After you get your high school equivalency diploma we would love to see you come back as a BHCC student! You can use your HiSET scores at BHCC instead of taking a placement test:

HiSET score	GED score	BHCC course you are eligible for
Reading score 8-14	Language Arts score 145-164	College Writing I (ENG-111) with Writing Skills II (ENG-095)
Reading score 15-20	Language Arts score 165-200	College Writing I (ENG-111)
Math score 15-20	Math score 165-200	MAT-099 Intermediate Algebra, MAT-171 Finite Mathematics, MAT-172 Contemporary Math, MAT-174 Quantitative Reasoning, MAT-181 Statistics, or MAT 099/194 College Algebra with Intermediate Algebra