Pass the Chicago GED on your schedule, from the South Side to the Northwest Side.
Six City Colleges of Chicago campuses run official GED testing, from Uptown down to Englewood, and Illinois charges the same $36 per subject whether you test on campus or at home. We get you ready for either, on a schedule that survives shift work and the Red Line.
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The fast facts for taking the GED in Illinois — verify on official sources before your test date.
Illinois High School Equivalency Certificate
Available in Spanish
Facts verified May 31, 2026
Official GED test sites listed by GED Testing Service for the Chicago metro. Verify hours and seat availability on ged.com before you go.
Center listings refreshed quarterly. The official source is GED Testing Service.
Local context for prep — testing capacity, college access, statewide pricing, and the always-available online option.
City Colleges of Chicago campuses running official GED testing — Malcolm X on the Near West Side, Truman in Uptown, Kennedy-King in Englewood, Olive-Harvey on the Far South Side, Daley on the Southwest Side, and Wright on the Northwest Side. Pearson VUE operates additional sites across the metro.
Illinois charges $36 per subject, and the price is identical on campus or through online proctoring — no surcharge for testing at home.
Illinois discounts one in-person retake per subject to a $10 test-center fee. Online retakes stay at the full $36.
Test from a private room at home any day of the week, once you have a passing score on the official GED Ready practice test.
Same prep, same teachers, wherever you are. What changes is how the program meets the realities of studying in Chicago.
Lessons run 6 to 9 minutes. One fits a Red Line ride, a lunch break, or the half hour after the kids go down. Nothing is scheduled, so a shift change, a Metra delay, or a January storm never costs you a class.
Chicago graduates move into City Colleges nursing and allied-health programs, transfer tracks toward UIC and Northeastern Illinois, building-trades apprenticeships, and the healthcare, manufacturing, and logistics employers hiring across the metro. Every City Colleges campus accepts the state certificate exactly as it accepts a high school diploma.
284 short video lessons and 1,500+ adaptive practice items across all four subjects, plus credentialed teachers — one per subject — answering questions seven days a week. Most students study 45 minutes a day. No ticket queue, no chatbot.
Real Chicago students. Real diplomas. Real next chapters.
Started a CDL program after passing all four subjects.
“I work overnight in a warehouse near Midway. Short lessons on my phone were the only studying that actually happened. Tested at Daley on a Saturday, done in eleven weeks.”
Moved into a hospital administrative role on the North Side.
“I did the whole thing online from my apartment in Uptown, one subject at a time. The retake on science cost me ten dollars, not another forty.”
Cleared the diploma requirement for a union apprenticeship.
“The apprenticeship wanted a diploma or equivalent before they would even look at my application. I had ten weeks. Math was the only subject I had to fight for.”
Enrolled in a nursing prerequisite track at Malcolm X College.
“Malcolm X was a fifteen-minute bus ride and the testing office booked me in the same week. Nobody there treated the GED like it was second best.”
Same program, same teachers, different metro. Pick another city or head back to the Illinois hub for the statewide overview.
Specific to taking the GED in Chicago. For broader course questions, see the help center or email support@twigera.com.
Six City Colleges of Chicago campuses run official GED testing, positioned so most of the city is a reasonable trip. Malcolm X College sits at 1900 West Jackson Boulevard in the Illinois Medical District, and Truman College at 1145 West Wilson Avenue in Uptown. On the South Side, Kennedy-King College is at 6301 South Halsted Street in Englewood and Olive-Harvey College at 10001 South Woodlawn Avenue. Richard J. Daley College is at 7500 South Pulaski Road on the Southwest Side, and Wilbur Wright College at 4300 North Narragansett Avenue on the Northwest Side. Pearson VUE runs additional sites across the metro. Book through ged.com, not the campus.
Illinois charges $36 per subject, or $144 for the full four-subject battery. The price is the same whether you test at a City Colleges campus or through online proctoring, which is unusual — most states add a surcharge for testing at home. If you miss a subject, Illinois discounts one in-person retake per subject to a $10 test-center fee. Online retakes are not discounted and stay at $36. The GED Ready practice test costs $7.99 per subject separately.
Yes. Illinois offers online proctored testing 24 hours a day from any Chicago address, at the same $36 per subject you would pay on campus. You need a passing score on the official GED Ready practice test first, plus a webcam-equipped computer, a reliable internet connection, and a private room where nobody will walk in during the exam. The GED Ready requirement applies only to online testing — walk into Malcolm X or Wright and it does not apply. The certificate you earn is identical either way.
Yes. Illinois offers all four GED subjects in English and Spanish, both on campus and through online proctoring, and you choose the language for each subject when you register on ged.com. This matters in a city where roughly a third of households speak a language other than English at home. Twigera's own lessons are taught in English. The Illinois High School Equivalency Certificate you receive is identical regardless of which language you tested in, and nothing on the credential records your choice.
Standard testing age is 18. A 17-year-old can test in Illinois after sending a withdrawal letter from their last school to the Illinois Community College Board — email hse@illinois.gov or fax 217-558-6700, and allow three to five business days. Create your ged.com account first, since ICCB has to find it to clear you. A 16-year-old is eligible only while enrolled in a Regional Safe Schools Program, an Alternative Learning Opportunities Program, or Lincoln's Challenge Academy, and that program petitions on your behalf. Any under-18 tester sitting the exam online needs a parent or guardian present at check-in to consent on camera.
The Illinois State Board of Education issues the Illinois High School Equivalency Certificate once you pass all four subjects at 145 or higher out of 200. You do not have to pass them on the same day or in any set order — each subject stands alone and your scores are held until the set is complete. Employers, colleges, apprenticeship sponsors, and the military treat the certificate exactly as they treat a traditional high school diploma.
Yes. All seven City Colleges of Chicago campuses accept the Illinois High School Equivalency Certificate, as do the University of Illinois Chicago, Northeastern Illinois University, DePaul, and Illinois public institutions generally. City Colleges is the usual first stop because it is open-admission and the cheapest route in the city, and its credits transfer into four-year programs across Illinois. Admissions offices evaluate certificate holders on the same basis as high school graduates.
Yes. City Colleges of Chicago runs free adult-education GED preparation across its campuses, funded through Illinois adult education, and community organizations offer additional no-cost classes. Those programs cover instruction only, not the $144 exam fee, which you pay at registration on ged.com. Free classes and Twigera work well together rather than competing — use the classroom for structure and a teacher in the room, and use our adaptive practice between sessions to target the exact question types costing you points.
Eight to fourteen weeks of steady study and one appointment at a City Colleges campus — that is the whole path for most students here. Start with the free diagnostic and we will show you which subjects actually need the work.
