Bringing Stuff (luggage) to GRE -- okay?

[george_lit]

I'm scheduled to take the GRE this Friday, and have been planning to leave directly from the test to go out of town for the weekend. I'm wondering if they're going to give me a hard time about bringing my bag to the test with me? I don't want to do anything that would get me turned away, but it would be less convenient to have to come back home to get my bag and then head back out

Edited May 22, 2013 by george_lit

[fuzzylogician]

There were lockers for all personal equipment at the facility I took the test at. You should find out what the conditions are like at the facility you'll be at -- call them and ask. I don't think they'll let you take anything with you into the exam room, though.

[jmu]

There were lockers at mine as well. (You are not allowed to take ANYTHING into the testing center.) The lockers were small, though, and the room wasn't secured during testing. People were in and out going to other testing rooms. Definitely call them and find out.

[33andathirdRPM]

Yeah, the lockers when I took the GRE were barely large enough to fit a medium-sized backpack. You might want to make other arrangements for your luggage.

[Guest |||]

Very small locker at the facility where I wrote.  That is pretty standard I think.

 

Worse comes to worse, stop by the gym/swimming pool before the test and lock your stuff up there.

 

Maybe even taking a short swim before the test will help ease nerves.

[TakeruK]

I was not allowed to take anything into the exam room, other than a few items that were on the "allowed" list (pencils? key to the locker etc.). I definitely would not have been able to fit a small suitcase in the provided lockers and I would not have been allowed to have it with me in the exam room. 

 

However, when I wrote the computerized GRE, I ended up arriving over an hour early (I had to travel several hours to a nearby city to write the exam). There was plenty of room in the exam room so they just checked me in and let me start as soon as I was ready. So if you need a little bit of time in between GRE and traveling, you might want to try to arrive a bit early and see if they will let you start earlier. This might give you time to lock your bag in a gym locker, or a locker at a bus or train station.

 

A good idea would be to call your testing centre though! You can probably find their phone number on your ticket somewhere! They will be able to tell you if you can take the test earlier or if they have alternate ways to storing your luggage securely.

[fluff poo]

You'll have to call to see what they can accommodate in their office.  You aren't allowed to take anything into the test room (even tissues).  They'll provide pencils, papers, tissues etc.  I've been to two test centers, and they have lockers to store things in, but they definitely weren't big enough to put luggage and what not.  Usually the lockers are just for sweaters, keys, phones and those sort of things.