This week, New York became the first state to opt out of the GED, the most widely used high-school equivalency test in the country, according to the Wall Street Journal. The Department of Education said it has offered an $8.4 million, three-year contract to McGraw-Hill Companies to develop a new exam that will replace the GED. The shift comes as the 70-year-old GED exam begins an unprecedented overhaul that will raise the difficulty level, make administration entirely electronic and increase its cost to participating states. The state is set to begin administering the new exam next January.