Free GED Math Study Guide: What to Study First (and What to Skip)

Picture two people, each with eight weeks until the GED math test.

The first opens a math book at page one and works forward. By week six, they’re still on fractions, and algebra, the part worth the most points, gets a rushed final week.

The second takes a practice test on day one, sees where the points are, and starts with algebra. Same eight weeks. Very different test day.

This guide makes you the second person. And if math is the last subject between you and your GED, you’re in good company: a GED Testing Service review of 77,000 people who had passed three subjects found 82% still needed math.

The best way to study GED math: take a timed practice test first, then give most of your weeks to algebra, which is about 55% of the test. Use the checklist below to find your gaps, and take a second timed test in your last week.

Rusty on a topic? Our free math lessons teach one skill at a time, with worked examples and practice questions.

The four areas of the test, biggest first

Think of your study time like a paycheck. The biggest bills get paid first.

The GED math test has four areas, and they aren’t the same size. GED Testing Service publishes how much each one counts in its official test guide. Biggest first:

1. Expressions and equations: 30%
2. Graphs and functions: 25%
3. Numbers, fractions and percents: 25%
4. Measurement, geometry and data: 20%

Here’s what sits inside each one:

The percentages are official. The question counts are our own math on a 46-question test.

Now add up the two algebra areas: expressions and equations, plus graphs and functions. Together they’re 55% of the test. So if algebra is the part you dread, it’s also where most of your points are waiting.

What you can skip

Some things in a general math book never show up on the GED. If you’re using one, skip these chapters:

• Trigonometry and geometry proofs
• Logarithms and exponential functions
• Graphing quadratics and inequalities with two variables
• Lines of best fit
• Transformations, like rotating or flipping shapes
• Direct and inverse variation

How test day works

You get about 46 questions in 115 minutes, with a short break.

The first five or so questions have no calculator. After the break, an on-screen TI-30XS MultiView shows up for the rest. Finish that first part before the break, and treat it as if you can’t go back.

Not every question is multiple choice. You’ll also type numbers into a box, pick from drop-down menus inside a sentence, drag tiles into place, and click a spot on a graph or number line. Our question types page shows each one, and the practice test lets you try them all.

The good news? You get a formula sheet and a calculator guide on every question. At a test center you also get three erasable note boards and a marker, and you can bring your own TI-30XS. Before test day, learn the key on the calculator that flips a fraction into a decimal.

Check yourself: the 39-skill checklist

GED Testing Service lists 62 skills the math test can ask about. We picked the 39 that come up most and turned each one into a yes-or-no line.

Be honest with yourself here. Only tick a skill if you could answer a question on it right now, without notes.

Not sure? Every skill has a Practice link: five new questions on that skill alone, with the working shown.

Any area with less than half ticked is where your next two weeks should go. Come back once a week and tick again, a day after you practice. That way you know the skill stuck, and you didn’t just remember yesterday’s answers.

One trick for each area (that saves the most points)

Each area has one habit that saves a lot of points. Here they are, each worked out with real numbers.

Numbers and percents: build it from 10%

Percents are everywhere on this test, and often there’s no calculator to lean on.

Here’s how it works: find 10% first by moving the decimal point one place left. Then build any other percent out of 10% chunks, the way you’d make change out of dollars and quarters.

Now the check that earns the mark. 35% is a bit more than a third, and a third of 68 is about 23, so the price should land near $45. $44.20 fits. Answer $23.80 (the most common slip, because it sits in the working) and the estimate catches it. Estimate before you calculate.

Practice this area with fractions, decimals and percents, ratios, rates and proportions, number sense and operations and exponents, roots and scientific notation.

Measurement: two questions pick the volume formula

You don’t need to memorize the volume formulas. They’re on the sheet. The hard part is picking the right one, and two quick questions settle it:

1. Does it come to a point? A cone and a pyramid do, so their formulas have a one-third in them. A box, a prism and a cylinder don’t.
2. Is the bottom a circle? If yes, the base area is πr². If no, it’s the area of the flat shape on the bottom.

Picture a soda can and a snow cone cup with the same width and height. The cup comes to a point, so it holds a third of what the can holds. That’s where the one-third comes from.

One shape breaks the pattern: a ball (a sphere) uses V = (4/3)πr³, and that’s on the sheet too.

This area also covers charts, averages and probability. Practice it with geometry and measurement and data, statistics and probability.

Equations: plug your answer back in

This is the biggest area, at 30%. It also has a built-in safety net: you can always check your answer by putting it back into the equation.

Think of counting change back to a customer at the register. You don’t hope it’s right. You count it and know.

Step 4 takes about fifteen seconds. It’s also the only step that tells you whether the first three worked.

On multiple choice, you can even skip the algebra. Put each answer choice into the original equation and keep the one where both sides match.

On word problems, write down what x stands for before anything else (x = number of hours). Then build the equation. Practice with expressions and polynomials and equations and inequalities.

Graphs: find the slope by counting squares

Slope is how steep a line is. Picture a staircase: the rise is how tall each step is, and the run is how deep it is.

Slope shows up all over this area, as a rate, as steepness, and as the m in y = mx + b. On a graph, you can find it by counting squares:

1. Find two points where the line crosses exactly on a grid corner.
2. Count squares up or down between them; that is the rise. Then count squares across for the run. Slope = rise ÷ run.

One more thing: look at the numbers on the axes before you count. If each square is worth 2, then six squares is 12. Practice with functions and graphing.

8 mistakes that cost points (and the fix for each)

Most lost points don’t come from math you’ve never seen. They come from small habits, and each habit has a quick fix.

Your own mistakes matter even more than these. So keep an error log, a short note for each question you miss:

• What the question asked
• What you did
• What you should have done

Read it at the start of each session. Most people find the same three or four slips coming back again and again. Fixing those raises a score faster than learning something new.

Your study plan: 8 weeks or 4

Both plans follow the same order. A practice test comes first, then the two algebra areas, then the rest, then a second timed test. Pick the one that fits the time you have.

Count back from your test date and write real dates in. For a test on Saturday 16 January 2027, the 8-week plan starts Saturday 21 November and the 4-week plan starts Saturday 19 December.

Bottom line: a plan with dates on it is one you’ll follow on a tired Tuesday night.

The 8-week plan (30 to 45 minutes a day)

The 4-week plan (about an hour a day)

If your test is next week

Don’t try to cover everything. A week is enough time to shore up what you half know, and not much more.

• Take one timed practice test today.
• Spend the rest of the days on your two weakest areas.
• Do fifteen minutes a day of math by hand, calculator closed.
• Skip brand-new topics. Something learned in three days rarely holds up under test nerves.

The last week before the test

This week is for sharpening, so don’t learn anything new.

Take one full timed test five or six days out, at about the same time of day as your real test. Spend the days after on the questions you missed. Then tick the checklist again and see how far you’ve come.

The day before, do twenty minutes of questions you’re good at, then stop. Check that your photo ID. Without proper ID, you’re turned away and lose the fee. Our test-day tactics cover pacing and what to do if you get stuck.

And if it doesn’t go your way, it isn’t the end. You can retake it twice with no wait at a test center, or once online, and the subjects you’ve passed don’t expire. Our passing score page explains what each score means.