As BonnieJo McCarty held the pencil poised above paper, she was nervous. The Monroe woman had been studying for a month and a half, almost daily, with an instructor to prepare for the General Educational Development (GED) test. Half an hour later, McCarty finished the essay section, breathing a sigh of relief.

r, the mail brought a pleasant surprise: a GED diploma, a letter of congratulations from Department of Technical and Adult Education Commissioner Dr. Kenneth Breeden, and a $500 HOPE voucher applicable toward higher education.

A month late "I was scared to death, taking that test," she remembers now, more than five years later. "I didn't want to be one of those people who never got a diploma. When I dropped out, I didn't feel like I had a choice. But the GED was my chance to say, 'Hey, I did get my education. I did it.'"

Now McCarty is preparing to enroll in advanced telecommunications technology classes at Gwinnett Technical College — she began studies at Athens Technical College, then transferred credit this summer — determined to finish the education that her unexpected pregnancy at age 16 had delayed.

It's all possible because of Georgia's GED counseling and testing program, which boasts approximately 19,000 new graduates each year — a total of 400,000 since the program began in 1946. From 1998 to 1999, there was an 11 percent jump in the number of Georgia GED graduates.

"The test is hard," says McCarty, "but it's very satisfying to get that diploma."

And it makes a difference, too. Nationally, statistics indicate that GED recipients not only are more likely to gain the employment they seek, but they also earn higher salaries than their counterparts who have not completed a high school education.

Five separate tests make up the GED battery, covering a range of subjects — writing, social studies, science, interpreting literature and the arts, and mathematics — with questions of varying difficulty. Students also are tested on spelling, sentence structure, and other reading and composition skills at the same time. Four-fifths of the test is multiple choice, and the final section requires a written essay. Approximately 60 testing centers, spread throughout the state, offer the GED battery at least once a month; some, in larger counties, offer it as often as four times a week.

Yet, the centers do more than simply hand out papers and pencils. GED instructors assess, case by case, each student who visits a center by giving him or her diagnostic tests that simulate the actual exam. Instructors then carefully review the test results with each student, focusing on any area of weakness. All of this counseling and instruction is free of charge.

Thanks to these efforts, most Georgians who take the GED test pass it. If an examinee does not pass, the state still remains involved in that student's future by mailing a letter encouraging him or her to continue studying and to retake the test as soon as possible. GED staff also will direct students to local adult literacy learning centers, if necessary.

"Learning never ends," says Kim Lee, director of Georgia's GED testing for DTAE's Office of Adult Literacy. As proof of that, Georgia's GED graduates range in age from 16 — by law, the youngest a person can leave school — to 80.

"This provides another opportunity for those who, for whatever reason, did not complete high school in a traditional high school setting," says Lee. "It affords these individuals an opportunity to improve their quality of life."

A GED also demonstrates to employers that an applicant cares about education and has a strong work ethic.

"This is not an easy thing to do," concludes Lee, "and it takes a certain kind of person to see it through. The GED shows prospective employers that this is someone who will persevere in life."