GED & High School Equivalency Exams

The minimum age requirement to take the GED® test is 18 unless you meet any one of the additional requirements. See below.

If you are underage, you must meet one of the following additional requirements:

You must be within 60 days of your 18th birthday (regardless of school enrollment status).
You are within 60 days of when you would have graduated from high school had you remained in school and followed the usual course of study. (Candidates testing under this criterion may not be enrolled in high school.)
You are 17 years of age; have been out of school for at least 60 consecutive days; and provide a letter of request for the test from the military, a postsecondary educational institution, or a prospective employer. The letter is to be provided to a test administrator at a local Pearson VUE test center that delivers the GED® test for the administrator’s review and approval.

Online testing is available in California for any test-taker who meets the eligibility requirements for California.
A test taker under the age of 18, with an approved waiver from the California Department of Education due to additional requirements may be eligible to test.
A parent or guardian must be present at the pre-test check-in to give consent and authorize the under 18 test taker to be recorded during testing. If the parent or guardian is not present, the exam session will be revoked.

To be eligible for the California HiSET Proficiency a student must meet BOTH of the following criteria:

The student must meet one of the following:
- 16 years of age or older, or
- Enrolled in grade 10 for one school year or longer, or
- Will complete one school year of enrollment in grade 10 at the end of the semester during which the next regular examination will be conducted.
The student must also be currently subject to California’s compulsory education laws pursuant to EC Section 48200, which may be evidenced by one of the following:
- Current enrollment in a California K-12 public high school; or
- Current enrollment in a private school (Registered by filing a private school affidavit with the California Department of Education pursuant to EC Section 33190 and includes but is not limited to students at registered private schools operated by their parents to homeschool their children pursuant to EC Section 48222.); or
- Current work permit issued by the Department of Industrial Relations Division to a student currently working in California; provided that the student is either receiving tutoring pursuant to EC Section 48224 or enrolled in an independent study program under EC Section 51745, to accommodate the student’s work schedule.

If you are not eligible for the CPP, you may be eligible for the California High School Equivalency program.

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