GED guideSubjects
GED Essay: How to Build an Extended Response with Evidence
The GED extended response asks which position is better supported. Use the three official traits, an original pair of passages, and one revised paragraph. There is no mandatory template.
Short answer
The GED extended response is one 45-minute section inside Reasoning Through Language Arts. You read two passages and explain which position is better supported. GED’s educator materials score it on three traits, each up to 2 points: argument and evidence, development and organization, and standard English. The raw trait total is then double-weighted. A clear shape helps. It is not a mandatory template, and nothing here promises a perfect score.
What the section scores
The language arts page says your writing should analyze two passages, decide which argument has more convincing evidence, and explain why. The educator assessment guide gives you 45 minutes in a separately timed section to read, write, and edit. It describes a three-trait rubric:
- Trait 1: creation of arguments and use of evidence
- Trait 2: development of ideas and organizational structure
- Trait 3: clarity and command of standard English conventions
Each trait is worth up to 2 points, so the trait score is up to 6. The guide says that raw score is double-weighted, up to 12 raw points on the overall language arts test. That is not the 145 scaled score. Do not convert a practice paragraph into 145.
The extended-response resource guide also says the dimensions inside a trait are considered together. A response can be organized without a rigid paragraph recipe. Paragraphs often help. They are not a rule that a logical response must fail without them.
Reading and grammar items that are not the essay are on the language arts study guide.
Two original passages
These are not official prompts.
Passage A. “The center should open at 7 a.m. Last month, 18 of the 20 people on the morning wait list worked a night shift. The door now opens at 9 a.m., after those shifts end.”
Passage B. “The center should keep the 9 a.m. opening. Mornings feel calmer, and several neighbors have said they like the quiet.”
Passage A ties a recommendation to a count and to the shift times. Passage B offers a feeling and unnamed neighbors. A is better supported. You do not have to personally want a 7 a.m. door. The task is the evidence, not your preference.
An evidence plan and one paragraph
Plan, in notes you would not submit as the whole answer:
- Claim: A is better supported.
- From A: 18 of 20 wait-list people worked nights; the door opens at 9, after those shifts.
- From B: “calmer” and “several neighbors” do not say how many or how the claim was checked.
- Limit: the 20-person list is one month, not every worker in the city.
Worked paragraph: “Passage A is better supported. It connects the 7 a.m. proposal to a specific group, 18 of 20 people on last month’s morning wait list, and to the fact that the door now opens at 9 a.m. after their night shifts. Passage B says mornings feel calmer and that several neighbors like the quiet, but it does not show how those neighbors were asked or how many of them there were. A reader can check A’s numbers. B asks the reader to trust an impression.”
A revision worth making: if the first draft says “everyone who works nights needs the early door,” change it. The passage said 18 of 20 people on one wait list, not everyone.
A 45-minute rehearsal that stays honest
Spend about 10 minutes reading and choosing, about 25 writing, and about 10 editing verbs, run-ons, and claims that left the passages. Those splits are a practice suggestion, not an official requirement. Use original reading items to rehearse evidence on days you are not writing a full response. Passy does not grade the essay and does not assign trait points.
Trust the source
Official sources
Exam policies can change. Use these primary sources for the most current details.