Which Room at McMaster University Do I Write the GRE?

[Abyss21]

I am writing the GRE specific to the English Literature subject at McMaster University in less than two weeks and I still have not been informed about which room it is written in. The test is at 8:30 am and I am coming all the way from Toronto, so it is important for me to know the room ahead of time. Does anybody know where it is usually written or does the room change constantly? If so, how soon would I be expected to find out the room? Thanks in advance!

[TakeruK]

I wrote the GRE at McMaster too! But that was back in 2011. In 2011, they mailed everyone a paper admission ticket. When you registered, did they say this to you too? The paper admission ticket told me which room/building it was in. I had to travel from Kingston, which sucked since that meant I had to go to Hamilton the night before and stay in a hotel.

Two things to keep in mind:

1. All the subject tests take place in the same room at the same time. You said English Lit GRE here, but all the subjects will be the same place (unless something drastically changed) so if you see other GRE test takers on campus looking for the room, you might be heading towards the same place.

2. The room was changed at the last minute. I arrived extra early (7am, for 8am test) and at first I couldn't get into the building of the test room since it was a Saturday morning and everything was locked. But when they did open the door, there was a sign (inside the building only) that the room has changed!! And it just gave a building name and room number, with zero information on how to get there. I didn't have a smartphone so I had to find a campus map and figure it out. Made it with a few minutes to spare. So watch out for that! (Luckily, it turns out that the test takes forever to start---we didn't start until 8:45am. So also basically plan to spend 8am-noon with the test).

[Abyss21]

Thank you for this information! I feel terrible for you that you had to go all the way from Kingston and then have the room changed on you last minute like that. I hope the test went well for you (I'm assuming it did because you're a Canadian student in California haha).

Do you remember how long it took for the paper admission ticket to be mailed to you? I haven't gotten anything of that sort but there are still two weeks left until my test so maybe I just have to be a bit more patient. My confirmation email didn't say anything about a paper admission ticket though so I really don't know what to think.

Thank you for your advice though! I will keep an eye out for a ticket or a confirmation of some sort in the upcoming week.

[TakeruK]

The test went okay. I scored at the 50th percentile on the Physics GRE. I'm not good at standardized tests (my earlier attempt was 44th percentile). I still got into my top choice schools though.

I don't remember how long it took for the paper ticket. There is a number you should probably call to ensure you have the right information. I registered for the test in June 2011 and I found that confirmation email. My test was in November 2011. This is what it says about the admission ticket:

Admission Ticket
------------------------------------------

        A paper admission ticket will be mailed to you in approximately 3 weeks. If you do not receive your
        paper ticket at least 10 days before the test date, you can view and print your admission ticket online
        at www.ets.org/mygre or call GRE Services at 1-609-771-7670 or 1-866-473-4373.

 

So I must have gotten the paper ticket sometime in July or August? Have you checked online yet? If it's not there either, maybe call them (check to make sure these numbers from 5 years ago are still valid!)

[Abyss21]

Update: I called ETS and they told me that they don't know anything about receiving a paper ahead of time that tells you which room you have to go to in order to write your GRE. They just told me to go to the "main office" and that there will be people there directing me where to go. I told them that it's a fairly large university so I have no idea what their idea of the "main office" is and that it's not a good idea to have people lost before their 8:30 am test. So I guess we're on our own.

Thank you for the help anyways! I'm glad that you were able to get into your top schools regardless of a sub-par GRE score in Physics. Hopefully I have the same luck.

[TakeruK]

Sorry to hear that they weren't super helpful. Unfortunately, not surprised For my General GRE, they gave me incorrect information about the test center that caused me to have much more worries than necessary! Good luck!!

[Abyss21]

I just called ETS again and found out some incredibly valuable information about what room the test will be in: BSB 246.

Having gone to McMaster for my undergraduate degree, I can confirm that this is the Burke Science Building, second floor, room 246. It's right in the middle of the university, which should make life easier for me and for everybody else writing the test.

Now the one thing is that they hopefully don't change the room last minute.