extra scratch paper for Quant--request in advance?

[suedonim]

I have a slight motor problem that leads me to be very sloppy in my penmanship, hence I write larger letters, symbols, and numbers, and graphic images. I don't have a formally-declared disability with it or letter from a doctor or anything documented, but it effects--slighlty--everything I do with my hands.

From my practicing the Quant, I see that I'm going through a lot of scratch paper on each section due to this.

I'm certain I'll need extra scratch paper.

Anyone have isnight into how much they give you off the bat and if I can request in advance--now or at the test--extra paper? Of course I'll call Prometric about this, but hope someone here has some knowledge.

(As an addendum to anyone thinking of suggesting I write smaller, I'm not about change my standard m.o. for this one test and throw another wrench into the challenges of the test).

Thanks.

[LMac]

I took it last Tuesday and they gave me a 8.5 x 11" booklet of 2 pages, 4 counting front and back. At any point I could hold up my hand and exchange it for a new one. You may be able to request special accomodations, but my testing center was small and it took 20 seconds or so to get a new booklet. Hope that is helpful. Good luck!

[suedonim]

Thanks.

By exchanging it, did you mean you ahd to turn the other booklet in? I don't like that. I want to be able to look at all my scracth paper if I'm going bacl to problems I worked on but didn't review or answer.

Also, the Princeton Review book suggest bringing severla pencils and a relaiable watch, but contradicts that by also saying you can't bring anything into the room and that tehy give you two sharpened pencils. Which isn't enough as far as I'm concerned.

Can you bring a watch and your own pencils and do they jsut give you two to use?

Back in the 90s when I took the paper test you could beign your own watch and as many pencils as you wanted.

Yes, this stuff matters to me.

[dendy]

At my testing center they were extremely strict--I seriously felt like I was visiting a prison or something. I wouldn't count on using your own pencils or even watch. The only things I was allowed to bring into the room were myself, my clothes, my ID, and the key they gave me for my locker.

I tend to write fairly large and use a ton of scratch paper and I only used two packets of scratch paper for the three match sections I had.

[LMac]

Yes, I had to turn my scratch paper in to get more. I could not bring my own pencils or watch in. I could wear a sweater if I wanted but if so, was not allowed to take it off during the test. You present your ID when you sign in and then must keep your ID face up on the desk for the duration of the test (I'm assuming since you're on video). They are very strict.

[iowaguy]

Very strict at my testing center as well as far as what I was allowed to bring in and the procedures for checking in & out during breaks (which unfortunately ate up a lot of the break time). If you want more scratch paper you have to turn yours in. They also collect your scratch paper at the end of the test. I think the idea is to be sure no one is copying material to take home & post on the internet, etc...

[suedonim]

Thanks everyone for the replies.

I'm calling them on the scratch paper issue to see if I can get any extra in advance. I get why they collect it at the end, but in the middle of a test is what bothers me.

[TakeruK]

Calling them would be a good idea. However, I found that the Prometric people are generally more worried about sticking to the standards of ETS than actually helping us have a positive testing experience. If it helps to know though, there is a 1 minute break between sections so that is a good time to exchange scratch paper.

The reason why you have to turn in the current scratch paper to get more is because they want an easy way to keep track of everyone's scratch paper. With this system, they know that every student always has 4 pages (2 pieces of paper) at all times. If you ever have less than this, then they know you might have did something with one or more pages!

If you aren't able to get special permission for more paper, my only recommendation is to limit yourself to 4 pages during practices. In the old test system, you cannot skip questions, so there is never a need to look back at old scratch notes -- if you need more paper in the middle of a section, it's about a 20-30 second process to get more. But now that you might want to go back to questions you've started, perhaps you want to strategize your testing order so that you either skip a question, or finish it if you start (i.e. don't start a question and then leave without answering). In my opinion, you should make the decision to write or skip the question almost right away, because going back is going to cost more time anyways. When in doubt, skip!

However, no matter the outcome, you should perhaps write to ETS afterwards and suggest that they allow more scratch paper. I think the old rules might have been writing for the old test conditions (no skipping) and maybe they did not consider how allowing you to skip questions might impact the amount of scratch paper needed.

[suedonim]

Calling them would be a good idea. However, I found that the Prometric people are generally more worried about sticking to the standards of ETS than actually helping us have a positive testing experience. If it helps to know though, there is a 1 minute break between sections so that is a good time to exchange scratch paper.

The reason why you have to turn in the current scratch paper to get more is because they want an easy way to keep track of everyone's scratch paper. With this system, they know that every student always has 4 pages (2 pieces of paper) at all times. If you ever have less than this, then they know you might have did something with one or more pages!

If you aren't able to get special permission for more paper, my only recommendation is to limit yourself to 4 pages during practices. In the old test system, you cannot skip questions, so there is never a need to look back at old scratch notes -- if you need more paper in the middle of a section, it's about a 20-30 second process to get more. But now that you might want to go back to questions you've started, perhaps you want to strategize your testing order so that you either skip a question, or finish it if you start (i.e. don't start a question and then leave without answering). In my opinion, you should make the decision to write or skip the question almost right away, because going back is going to cost more time anyways. When in doubt, skip!

However, no matter the outcome, you should perhaps write to ETS afterwards and suggest that they allow more scratch paper. I think the old rules might have been writing for the old test conditions (no skipping) and maybe they did not consider how allowing you to skip questions might impact the amount of scratch paper needed.

Yes, the Prometric person on their 800 number for "accomodations" was clueless about the issue. She suggested contacting GRE or the center I'm taking it at directly; that center doesn't answer its phone and just has a recorded message, no option to leave a number or press X to get a human.

I took the GRE in 1993 on paper, so you could go back to questions and you could use the test booklet itself for scratch paper.

I should have written "during a secttion of the test" rather than "during the test." I can see why they'd collect after a section, and also why, as you note, they want to keep track of all paper given out and get it all back. But it's a neanderthal approach they use to keep track by not letting anyone have more than 2 sheets at a time. I'm obviously from another era. I'll practice now with two sheets, but that's a change for me. I take it on Monday.

Thanks.

[Porridge]

Hang on, were we supposed to be issued scratch cards for the paper based test? I didn't received anything.

[suedonim]

I'm referring havign taken the GRE in 1993 when it was only available in paper form, no computer version yet.