Examinees checking in for the GRE need to present a signed, government-issued photo ID; acceptable forms of identification include driver's license, state ID and passport. Identification verification may include thumbprinting, photographing, videotaping or other electronic methods. Examinees intending to take the paper exam need to bring their admission ticket, mailed at the time of registration. The admission ticket includes an examinee's test choice, date, testing center and the institutions chosen to receive his or her scores.
Examinees are not allowed to bring calculators, cellular phones, BlackBerrys, PDAs, or other photographic, digital or electronic devices with them into the testing room. Examinees will also not be allowed access to these items during the break. Test takers will be shown where to deposit their personal items until the conclusion of the exam. Coats, jackets, purses, scarves, hats and other outerwear are subject to inspection if taken into the the testing space. Food, beverages and tobacco products are not permitted in the testing room. Examinees who do not comply with these instructions will be barred.
Test administrators will assign seats to all examinees.
Students taking the paper exam will be required to provide their own pencils (mechanical not accepted) with good erasers. Those taking the paper exam are required to use the test booklet as scratch paper; those taking the computer exam will be provided with scratch paper. Computer examinees are not permitted to bring their own scratch paper, and are not permitted to take the provided scratch paper out of the testing room for any reason. Although there should be a wall clock in the testing room, and test administrators will alert examinees when they have five minutes remaining to finish each section, test takers are advised to bring their own time pieces. Time pieces must be silent; watches with alarms, or the clocks in cellular phones or other electronic devices, are not permitted.
The analytical writing portion is always the first section of the GRE exam, followed by three multiple choice sections in no particular order. Examinees are given an optional 10-minute break after the conclusion of the first multiple choice section.
Most examinees take the computerized GRE examination. Before beginning the exam, test takers are required to take the pre-test computer tutorial, which lasts about 30 minutes. The tutorial ensures that examinees are comfortable with using the mouse, scrolling up and down, choosing and changing an answer, confirming responses and moving to the next question, accessing online help and accessing section directions.The GRE computer system does not allow examinees to skip any questions, or go back and change answers once they have gone on to the next question. Examinees who finish a section before their allotted time is up can move to the next section by pushing the EXIT SECTION button. If a test taker wants to quit the exam at any time, he or she can simply hit the QUIT TEST button. When the computer exam is finished, examinees will be prompted to answer the following questions: Do you want an official score at this time? Which schools do you want to receive your score? How was your test taking experience?
Examinees taking the paper exam are required to completely fill in the oval bubbles correlating to their chosen answers with a No. 2 pencil. If test takers finish a certain section before the allotted time is up, they are not permitted to go ahead to the next section. Examinees may end their test at any time by filling in the appropriate QUIT TEST bubble.