Hi! I've been debating on whether or not I wanted to take the GRE at home or travel 2 hours to a testing center :') I've been told that there have been a lot of students had their scores canceled because they looked away from their computer screen during the test? Not sure if that's true but I was hoping someone could give me their experience!
GRE at home?
- Thread starter hw13
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- Feb 23, 2021
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I took it at home about 2 years ago and had a good experience. I actually had to reschedule my at home test very last minute (I think the testing window had already started and I couldn't log in) as the wifi password had changed where I was pet sitting, and I was able to schedule it for a few days later. From what I recall, I had to show the proctor the whole area where I was taking the exam. I was allowed to use a whiteboard, which I had to show was blank both before and after the exam. I can't really speak to what was done around taking breaks, as I was anxious about the test and just wanted to be done with it.
I took it at home last summer and everything went fine until the system froze. It took a couple minutes for them to unfreeze it and during that period, my test timer had continued running. I didn't get any makeup time from that so I did have to rush a bit. It was nice to just be able to take it at home and not have to travel anywhere. Like posted above, you do have to show the whole area to ensure that there's no notes, other people, etc. You have a proctor keeping an eye on you throughout. Overall, I'd say that if I had to retake the test I would probably do it at home again- I think it was a rare accident that the system froze. It is a risk though!
