LOUISVILLE — Kentuckians rushing to get their high school equivalencies completed before a January 2002 deadline are getting help from the state through free tests and added testing centers.

        Six new testing centers are opening in rural areas, and Jefferson County is offering practice tests for the GED on Saturdays.

        About 17,000 people in the state now pursuing the GED have until Dec. 31 to pass the test's five sections.

        The American Council on Education is changing the test, with the goal of assessing students on skills that are more reflective of what is required in today's work force and in colleges and universities.

        “With the crunch coming on, we knew we needed to open more test sites,” said Lisa Schwendau, the state's GED administrator.

        Because the new tests are dramatically different, scores won't carry over from this year to next. Even if students have passed two of the five tests, they'll have to take all five new tests starting in January.

        In May, the state began a $2.5 million advertising and promotional campaign to encourage more people to take the $30 test. Individual sections are $6.

        So far, the campaign seems to have paid off. Last month, 3,825 people took the test statewide, up from 2,229 in June 2000. In Louisville, 812 tests were taken in June, up from 339 the previous June, according to state records.

        Nationally, 850,000 people took the GED test in 2000, according to American Council on Education.

        In Jefferson County, six Louisville Free Public Library branches are offering free testing; at least three of the branches will be open on Saturday. To ease scheduling conflicts in rural areas, state officials recently added tests sites in Laurel, Allen, Boyd, Breckinridge, Cumberland and Washington counties.

        Mary Fran Adams has been taking her tests at a month-old testing site in Laurel County. The 40-year-old London resident has been working toward her GED for more than two years. But she said the Dec. 31 deadline provided her with an ultimatum.

        “I'm very close. I've got all the parts I need, I just need 15 more points,” Ms. Adams said. She said she wanted to set a positive example for her 4-year-old daughter Amanda by finishing high school.

        “I want her to stay in school, not drop out like I did,” she said. “It was always a void in my life.”

        The new and old tests will cover five essential areas: writing, social studies, science, literature and the arts and math.

        The GED test was created in 1942 for military veterans who left for the war without completing high school. In 1947, other civilians began taking the GED exam.

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