GED® Test: RLA Performance Level Descriptors - Level 1—Below Passing

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Eden

GED® Test Reasoning Through Language Arts performance level descriptors explain what a Level 1—Below Passing score indicates for test-takers. It outlines developing and limited abilities in analyzing and creating text features and techniques, including inferences, relationships among ideas and events, and effects of word or transitional choices. It also covers evidence-based argument skills and editing for grammar, punctuation, and commonly confused words, then contrasts how progress to Pass/High School Equivalency requires strengthened and expanded reading, analysis, and writing conventions skills at higher complexity.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryExam

FormatPDF

Pages2

Reading Time5 min

AccessFree to download

What Your Score Means

Level 1—Below Passing

Skills Required to Progress to Pass/High School Equivalency

GED® Test: Reasoning Through Language Arts Performance Level Descriptors What Your Score Means: Level 1—Below Passing Test-takers who score at this level are typically able to comprehend and analyze simple passages similar to those found in L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Joy Hakim’s A History of US, and Colin A. Ronan’s “Telescopes,”and generally demonstrate limited but developing proficiency with the following skills: Analyzing and Creating Text Features and Technique • Make inferences about plot/sequence of events, characters/people, settings, or ideas in texts ata limited and/or inconsistent level • Analyze relationships within texts, including how events are important in relation to plot or conflict; how people, ideas, or events are connected, developed, or distinguished; how events contribute to theme or relate to key ideas; or how a setting or context shapes structure and meaning, at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Analyze the roles that details play in texts at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Analyze how meaning or tone is affected when one word is replaced with another at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Analyze the structural relationship between adjacent sections of text at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Analyze transitional language and determine how it functions in a text at a limited and/or inconsistent level Using Evidence to Understand, Analyze, and Create Arguments • Comprehend explicit details and main ideas in a text at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Summarize details and ideas in a text at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Make sentence-level inferences about details that support main ideas at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Determine which details support a main idea at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Identify a theme, or identify which element(s) in a text support a theme at a limited and/or inconsistent level Applying Knowledge of English Language Conventions and Usage • Edit to correct errors involving frequently confused words at a limited and/or inconsistent level [GEDtestingservice.com](GEDtestingservice.com) • [GED.com](GED.com) GED® and GED Testing Service® are registered trademarks of the American Council on Education. They may not be used or reproduced without the express written permission of ACE or GED Testing Service. The GED® and GED Testing Service® brands are administered by GED Testing Service LLC under license from the American Council on Education. Copyright © 2016 GED Testing Service LLC. All rights reserved. GED® Test: RLA Performance Level Descriptors What Your Score Means: Level 1—Below Passing • Edit to correct errors in straightforward subject-verb agreement at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Edit to eliminate run-on sentences, fused sentences, or sentence fragments at a limited and/or inconsistent level • Edit to ensure correct use of punctuation at a limited and/or inconsistent level In order to progress to the Pass/High School Equivalency level, test-takers need to: 1) strengthen the skills listed in the Below Passing level and apply them to texts at amore challenging level of complexity, such as Sandra Cisneros’“Eleven,”John Steinbeck’s Travels With Charley: In Search of America, and Donald Mackay’s The Building of Manhattan, with a particular focus on improving the following skills: -‐ Make inferences about plot/sequence of events, characters/people, settings, or ideas in texts -‐ Analyze the roles that details play in complex literary or informational texts -‐ Analyze the structural relationship between adjacent sections of text -‐ Comprehend explicit details and main ideas in a text -‐ Determine which details support a main idea -‐ Edit to ensure correct use of punctuation and 2) develop the following additional skills: -‐ Order sequences of events in texts -‐ Determine the meaning of words or phrases as they are used in a text, includ

FAQs

What skills does a Level 1—Below Passing GED RLA score indicate?

It indicates limited but developing proficiency in making basic inferences, analyzing relationships and details within texts, and understanding how words and transitions affect meaning or tone. It also includes evidence comprehension and argument development at a limited level.

How does the document describe editing and language convention expectations at Level 1?

At Level 1, test-takers demonstrate limited abilities in editing for frequently confused words, subject-verb agreement, sentence issues (run-ons, fused sentences, fragments), punctuation, and related usage errors.

What changes are required to reach the Pass/High School Equivalency level?

Test-takers must strengthen Level 1 skills and apply them to more complex texts, focusing on deeper inference, analysis of details and structure, comprehension of main ideas, and punctuation. They also need additional skills such as determining word meanings from context, analyzing language impact and author purpose, and improving broader editing tasks.

Sep 14, 2026

Uploaded by Eden