For many years, the GED exam was Canada’s most used HSE (high school equivalency) test. However, in 2023, all Canadian jurisdictions were informed that the GED exam would no longer be available in Canada from May 2024.
GED Testing Service said it was too expensive to maintain the outdated Canadian version. In the U.S., a new computer-formatted edition was introduced in 2014, and developing a new program for Canada would be expensive.
The Canadian GED exam was the 2002 version, and the technology could no longer be supported. The CAEC (Canadian Adult Education Credential) exam is a challenging assessment, and students should prepare well to be successful. The website Cansego.ca provides excellent information about the new Canadian HSE (high school equivalency) exam.
Several schools across Canada offer prep classes, but these days, following a good and accredited online course, like the one designed by Cansego.ca and that’s available through Onsego Canada, is also a good way to get optimally prepared. The obvious advantage of online learning is that you can decide when and where you want to learn and which subjects.
The CAEC
A few years ago, Canadian jurisdictions already discussed the option of replacing the GED test altogether because the assessment did not align with Canadian perspectives of Francophone, Indigenous, and Multicultural communities.
Additionally, several sections of the GED exam were outdated and not relevant to modern-day professional settings and did not emphasize or enhance critical reasoning skills.
The Canadian GED was available on paper only, and the need to bring Canada’s High School Equivalency exam to a higher level, including contemporary technological requirements, was obvious. The exam needed to be an interactive assessment that included digital support and contemporary technological tools.
Alberta Education, in cooperation with other jurisdictions, developed a new Pan-Canadian HSE exam. Preparations began in 2021, and in May 2024, the new CAEC (Canadian Adult Education Credential, pronounced as ‘cake’) was rolled out across much of Canada.
In the same way as the GED did, the CAEC exam allows adult learners who could not complete their high school curriculum to earn a secondary education degree if they pass the five sub-exams that make up the new CAEC assessment.
The new Canadian credential offers successful applicants access to institutions of post-secondary education, training programs, and better jobs. The new exam is offered in French and English.
If students have already attained passing scores on subtests of the former Canadian GED exam, they can transfer these results to the CAEC exam for three years, so until May 2027. GED credentials will, of course, keep their validity.
Where is the CAEC offered?
The new Pan-Canadian CAEC assessment is offered in Alberta, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan, Ontario, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Newfoundland and Labrador, Yukon, and Nova Scotia.
In 2014, British Columbia had already said goodbye to the GED to introduce its own high school equivalency exam, the Adult Graduation Diploma (Dogwood) Program. It is uncertain (but unlikely) that BC will exchange the Dogwood program with the CAEC exam.
The CAEC exam aligns with what Canadian adults require and need to succeed in post-secondary education and the contemporary job market. It also reflects what higher education institutions expect applicants to command academically and what employers expect candidates to master in today’s challenging employment market.
The Canadian-made CAEC assessment focuses more on Canadian historical perspectives, Francophone, Anglophone, and Indigenous cultures, and better reflects multicultural communities than the earlier Canadian version of the GED exam. The new exam is entirely computer-based, but there is also a paper version available in most jurisdictions.
What’s on the CAEC test?
The new CAEC assessment includes five modular subject tests that cover the academic fields of Mathematics, Language Writing, Language Reading, Social Studies, and Science. Click here to learn more about what’s on the Canadian Adult Education Credential exam.