Participation in the GED testing program plunged by nearly 44 percent during the most recent recorded year, a drop-off that the exam's sponsor attributes to an earlier rush by teenagers and adults to secure high school diplomas through the test before its minimum passing scores were raised. The overall number of teenagers and adults who took the exam, officially known as the General Educational Development testing program, dropped from 1,069,899 in 2001--a record high--to 603,019 in 2002, according to the American Council on Education, its sponsor. GED officials believe that a large pool of eligible test-takers took the exam in 2000 or 2001, the two years before the GED Testing Service raised the passing scores in an effort to align them more closely with tougher high school academic standards. Before the launch of the revised series of tests, the testing service had begun a campaign through radio, television, mail, and billboard advertising to spread the word about the revamped test. On the revised 2002 series of tests, the minimum score was raised from 400 to 410, on an 800-point scale, for each of the five sections of the test. The testing service also revised its statistical reporting to include more information on those who passed the exam, rather than those who simply took it.