CAEC Test Day: What to Bring and What to Expect

The night before

• Confirm your test details. Address, room number if listed, and start time. Most centres ask you to arrive 15–30 minutes early.
• Lay out everything in advance. ID, registration confirmation, water, snacks. One less thing to think about in the morning.
• Sleep, don't cram. Light review at most. A tired brain misreads passages, fumbles arithmetic, and stalls on essays. Seven to eight hours of sleep is worth more than another hour of practice.
• Plan your route. Especially if you're driving or taking transit. Add buffer time for traffic, parking, or delays.

What to bring

• Government-issued photo ID. Driver's licence, passport, or provincial ID card. The name must match your registration exactly.
• Registration confirmation. Printed or on your phone. Some centres won't admit you without it.
• A simple watch. A wristwatch without smart features helps you pace yourself without relying on your phone (which you can't use inside).
• Water and a snack for breaks. Most centres allow you to keep these in a personal-effects locker and access them during scheduled breaks only.
• Layers. Testing rooms can be too cold or too warm. A light sweater or cardigan you can remove keeps you comfortable.
• Reading glasses if you need them. Most testing is on screen.

What's provided (and what isn't)

• An on-screen calculator is provided for Math Part II. Personal calculators are generally not allowed, though some centres permit certain approved models. Check with your centre in advance.
• Scratch paper and pencils are usually issued by the proctor and collected at the end of the test.
• A locker for your phone, wallet, bag, and any personal items. Phones must usually be powered off and stored away.
• Not allowed in the testing room: phones, smart watches, headphones, your own notes, books, or study materials. Bringing them out during the test can disqualify you.

How the day runs

The CAEC is five subject tests, with a total of about 7.5 hours of seated testing time plus breaks. Not all centres run all five in one day; many split testing across two or more days. Here's the timing for each subject:

Breaks between subjects are scheduled by the proctor, usually 10–15 minutes. Plan to use them. Eat your snack, drink water, stretch.

Managing test-day nerves

• Arrive early. Walking in rushed amplifies anxiety. Get there with 20–30 minutes to spare so you can sit, breathe, and settle.
• First-question slump is normal. Most people misread or freeze on the first question. If it happens to you, skip it, do the next two or three, then come back. Your brain warms up quickly.
• Don't mark every question you're unsure about. You'll run out of review time if you flag too many. Mark only the ones you want to revisit.
• Eliminate first. On hard multiple-choice questions, cross off any answer that's clearly wrong, then choose between the remaining ones.
• Trust your prep. If you've practised properly, you've already done most of the hard work. Test day is just the recital.

What happens after

Multiple-choice results (Reading, Math, Science, Social Studies) are typically available within a few days because they're machine-scored. The Writing essay takes longer to grade, usually a few weeks.

Passing requires 55% or higher on each test. 80% or above is graded as "exceeds standard." If you don't pass one subject, you can usually retake just that subject without redoing the others. See our CAEC retake fees and rescore costs post for the details.