1. The department of elementary and secondary education shall provide for examination of such applicants at least twice each year at places reasonably convenient for the applicants. The examination shall be designed to test the applicant’s knowledge of subject matter usually presented in the courses required to be successfully completed by those graduating from the public high schools of the state. The certificate of equivalence may also be issued on the basis of test scores certified to the state board of education by the United States Armed Forces Institute, or a similar agency approved by the state board of education.

2. At each place of examination established by the department of elementary and secondary education in accordance with subsection 1 of this section, each applicant shall be given the option of voluntarily submitting his or her contact information for the purposes of evaluating the college and career placement rates of high school equivalency certificate applicants. The department of elementary and secondary education shall not maintain the contact information of any applicant for longer than a period of two years, beginning on the date of examination.