Friday, March 20, 2020

GED Overview - Prep, Online Help, Courses, Practice

GED Overview - Prep, Online Help, Courses, Practice Once youve decided to get your GED, it can be difficult to figure out how to prepare. Our poll shows that most people searching for GED info are either looking for classes and study programs, or are taking practice tests and looking for a testing center. It sounds easy, but it isnt always. State Requirements In the U.S., every state has its own GED or high school equivalency requirements that can be difficult to locate on the states government pages. Adult education is sometimes handled by the Department of Education, sometimes by the Department of Labor, and often by departments with names like Public Instruction or Workforce Education. Find your states requirements in GED/High School Equivalency Programs in the United States. Finding a Class or Program Now that you know whats required by your state, how do you go about finding a class, either online or on campus, or some other kind of study program? Many of the state sites offer learning programs, sometimes called Adult Basic Education, or ABE. If your state’s classes werent obvious on the GED/High School Equivalency page, search the site for ABE or adult education. State directories of schools offering adult education are often included on these pages. If your state GED/High School Equivalency or ABE websites dont provide a directory of classes, try finding a school near you on Americas Literacy Directory. This directory provides addresses, phone numbers, contacts, hours, maps, and other useful information. Contact the school that matches your needs and ask about GED/High School Equivalency prep courses. Theyll take it from there and help you achieve your goals. Online Classes If you cant find a convenient or appropriate school near you, what next? If you do well with self-study, an online course may work for you. Some, such as GED Board and gedforfree.com, are free. These sites offer free study guides and practice tests that are very comprehensive. Check out the math and English courses at GED Board: Free Math Videos and QuizzesFree Help with English Others, such as the GED Academy and GED Online, charge tuition. Do your homework and make sure you understand what youre buying. Remember that you cannot take the GED/High School Equivalency test online. This is very important. The new 2014 tests are computer-based, but not online. There is a difference. Do not let anyone charge you for taking the test online. The diploma they offer you is not valid. You must take your test at a certified testing center. These should be listed on your states adult education website. Study Guides There are many GED/High School Equivalency study guides available at national book stores and in your local libraries, and some of these are probably available at your local independent book store as well. Ask at the counter if youre not sure where to find them. You can also order them online. Compare prices and how each book is laid out. People learn in different ways. Choose the books that make you feel comfortable using them. This is your education. Adult Learning Principles Adults learn differently than children. Your study experience is going to be different from your memory of school as a child. Understanding adult learning principles will help you make the most of this new adventure you’re beginning. Introduction to Adult Learning and Continuing Education Practice Tests When youre ready to take the GED/High School Equivalency test, there are practice tests available to help you find out how ready you really are. Some are available in book form from the same companies that publish the study guides. You may have seen them when you shopped for guides. Others are available online. Following are just a few. Search for GED/High School Equivalency practice tests and choose a site that is easy for you to navigate. Some are free, and some have a small fee. Again, be sure you know what youre buying. Test Prep ReviewGED Practice.com from Steck-VaughnPeterson’s Registering for the Real Test If you need to, refer back to your state’s adult education website to locate the testing center closest to you. Tests are usually offered on certain days at specific times, and youll need to contact the center to register in advance. Effective January 1, 2014, states have three testing choices: GED Testing Service (partner in the past)HiSET Program, developed by ETS (Educational Testing Service)Test Assessing Secondary Completion (TASC, developed by McGraw Hill) Info about the 2014 GED Test from GED Testing Service is below. Watch for info about the other two tests coming soon. The GED Test from GED Testing Service The new 2014 computer-based GED test from GED Testing Service has four parts: Reasoning Through Language Arts (RLA) (150 minutes)Mathematical Reasoning (90 minutes)Science (90 minutes)Social Studies (90 minutes) Sample questions are available on the GED Testing Service site. The test is available in English and Spanish, and you can take each part up to three times in a one-year period. Calming Test Stress No matter how hard youve studied, tests can be stressful. There are lots of ways to manage your anxiety, assuming youre prepared, of course, which is the first way to reduce test stress. Resist the urge to cram right up to test time. Your brain will function more clearly if you: Arrive early and relaxedTrust yourselfTake your timeRead the instructions carefullyAnswer the questions you know easily first, and thenGo back and work on the harder ones Remember to breathe! Breathing deeply will keep you calm and relaxed. Relieve study stress with 10 Ways to Relax. Good Luck Getting your GED/High School Equivalency certificate will be one of the most satisfying accomplishments of your life. Good luck to you. Enjoy the process, and let us know in the Continuing Education forum how youre doing.

Wednesday, March 4, 2020

Common Examples of Uncountable Sets

Common Examples of Uncountable Sets Not all infinite sets are the same. One way to distinguish between these sets is by asking if the set is countably infinite or not. In this way, we say that infinite sets are either countable or uncountable. We will consider several examples of infinite sets and determine which of these are uncountable.​ Countably Infinite We begin by ruling out several examples of infinite sets. Many of the infinite sets that we would immediately think of are found to be countably infinite. This means that they can be put into a one-to-one correspondence with the natural numbers. The natural numbers, integers, and rational numbers are all countably infinite. Any union or intersection of countably infinite sets is also countable. The Cartesian product of any number of countable sets is countable. Any subset of a countable set is also countable. Uncountable The most common way that uncountable sets are introduced is in considering the interval (0, 1) of real numbers. From this fact, and the one-to-one function f( x ) bx a. it is a straightforward corollary to show that any interval (a, b) of real numbers is uncountably infinite. The entire set of real numbers is also uncountable. One way to show this is to use the one-to-one tangent function f ( x ) tan x. The domain of this function is the interval (-π/2, π/2), an uncountable set, and the range is the set of all real numbers. Other Uncountable Sets The operations of basic set theory can be used to produce more examples of uncountably infinite sets: If A is a subset of B and A is uncountable, then so is B. This provides a more straightforward proof that the entire set of real numbers is uncountable.If A is uncountable and B is any set, then the union A U B is also uncountable.If A is uncountable and B is any set, then the Cartesian product A x B is also uncountable.If A is infinite (even countably infinite) then the power set of A is uncountable. Two other examples, which are related to one another are somewhat surprising. Not every subset of the real numbers is uncountably infinite (indeed, the rational numbers form a countable subset of the reals that is also dense). Certain subsets are uncountably infinite. One of these uncountably infinite subsets involves certain types of decimal expansions. If we choose two numerals and form every possible decimal expansion with only these two digits, then the resulting infinite set is uncountable. Another set is more complicated to construct and is also uncountable. Start with the closed interval [0,1]. Remove the middle third of this set, resulting in [0, 1/3] U [2/3, 1]. Now remove the middle third of each of the remaining pieces of the set. So (1/9, 2/9) and (7/9, 8/9) is removed. We continue in this fashion. The set of points that remain after all of these intervals are removed is not an interval, however, it is uncountably infinite. This set is called the Cantor Set. There are infinitely many uncountable sets, but the above examples are some of the most commonly encountered sets.