You have to be there at least 30 minutes early. You risk being disqualified if you aren't there early. If it says 1:30, I'd get there at 1. My confirmation says "Exam Time," not "appointment," in the body of the email. I arrived more than 30 minutes before that time. You won't be sitting there doing nothing. It can take time to check in, get your locker situated, use the restroom, and then do the security check (metal detector, etc). Depending on how busy it is, it could be 10-20 minutes just for that because they have to do everyone. You can start your test as soon as you're done, though. There isn't really any waiting.
I'm sure it varies by testing center but in the waiting area we weren't forced to wait in silence and people were allowed to be on their phone or have a book if they weren't starting yet. I will say that you definitely want to be there on the earlier side because in the event there's any issues causing things to back up, they'd admit people by who checked in first for the time slot.
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You have to be there at least 30 minutes early. You risk being disqualified if you aren't there early. If it says 1:30, I'd get there at 1. My confirmation says "Exam Time," not "appointment," in the body of the email. I arrived more than 30 minutes before that time. You won't be sitting there doing nothing. It can take time to check in, get your locker situated, use the restroom, and then do the security check (metal detector, etc). Depending on how busy it is, it could be 10-20 minutes just for that because they have to do everyone. You can start your test as soon as you're done, though. There isn't really any waiting.
I'm sure it varies by testing center but in the waiting area we weren't forced to wait in silence and people were allowed to be on their phone or have a book if they weren't starting yet. I will say that you definitely want to be there on the earlier side because in the event there's any issues causing things to back up, they'd admit people by who checked in first for the time slot.
@Adam Yeah, same story here! I even got to small talk with the other test takers.
1:30 should be fine! Usually doesn’t take too long to check in and you can start testing early if they get you in quick.