There is a lack of standardized instruction among the different General Educational Development (GED) preparatory programs in the country as a result of different state requirements for taking the GED exams. As such, the purpose of this quantitative non-experimental correlational study is to examine if scores of students on GED Ready Opt and the TABE exams from 2009-2010 predict their scores on GED and the number of times it took them to pass the exams. A minimum of 411 students in the New York City Department of Education citywide GED preparatory program who scored at least 9.0 on the TABE test and students who also scored at least 450 on the GED Ready OPT will be asked to participate in the study. The result of the different simple linear regression analysis showed that the scores on TABE and GED Ready OPT do not account for the variance (1) in the scores on GED exams of students participating in a GED preparation program located in New York City and in the number of attempts made by students participating in a GED preparation program located in New York City. The requirement of minimum scores appears to be unnecessary for students to gain or lose knowledge and preparation for the GED exams. Instead, the requirement of minimum scores may in fact hold students back from graduation in the same way the Regents exam is keeping students from graduating high school. This knowledge is helpful for formulating high school graduation policy and suggests that the merits of using minimum scores to TABE and GED Ready OPT before taking the GED should be reconsidered. Rather, this education policy should focus on preparation programs and the improvement of the GED as a standardized exam. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]