Pomona Exam center

I am writing PE October exam. I stay 26 Miles form Pomona at Orange county. Will it be advisable to go on 26th evening and stay night at Pomona or go to Pomona in the morning of 27th Oct17. How about parking facility there? My wife will accompany me. If I go on 26th,  I find three choices- Hotels, Motels and I have seen some home owners offering stay at https://www.airbnb.com/  at cheap and near the site. How that works?  Any suggestions? Thanks in advance. 

I drove from Los Angeles to Pomona (30-40 miles) to take EIT exam (before change to CBT) several years ago. 

Parking should be enough for everybody, but earlier you arrive, the closer you can park. You have to walk some distance from parking lot to exam room, anyway.

All I can say is, driving from home in the morning worked OK for me. (And I passed)

The only thing is, as far as I remember, traffic was light when I drove to Pomona, probably because it was against traffic AND it was Saturday.  You might want to check the traffic at the time/day and to the direction you are going.

26 miles?  I drove twice that distance from Murrieta and never once considered a hotel.  Do what's best for you but with such a short drive, I'd save the money.  

Thanks a lot @ptatohed and @joy21  for valuable inputs. Then does anyone have any idea of the Fairplex Pomona exam center- its geography, environment, lighting, sound pollution,  chairs , tables and other facilities, seating plan(Not the cheating plan) etc. Any experience of any special caution required there.

rg1 said:

Thanks a lot @ptatohed and @joy21  for valuable inputs. Then does anyone have any idea of the Fairplex Pomona exam center- its geography, environment, lighting, sound pollution,  chairs , tables and other facilities, seating plan(Not the cheating plan) etc. Any experience of any special caution required there.

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I'd recommend a visit before hand if you can.  I found it to be quite nice.  Temp was just right, layout space was good, noise level was fine, lighting was adequate, etc.  It can be a bit of a walk from the parking lot to the building so get there early.  They charge for parking too.  (   I took all three exams there (8hr, CA-Surv, CA-Seis).  

I took the 8-hr PE exam there in April (and passed). Like ptatohed said, its about a $5 fee to park in the Fairplex. Also, I really recommend bringing your own lunch box. The food choices at break were your typical stand food and were pretty pricey.

Thanks a lot @ExhibitGuy (uncivil engineer; interesting) and @ptatohed and the forum itself. These inputs will help me  to decide my course of action on the D day.

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That's funny how different locations handle who sits where.  Where I took the test, they put all the same type together, but they snaked front to back, then shifted over one seat then back towards the front of the room.  So those towards the begining/end of alphabet were more likely to be by other disciplines.   

I was about 40 miles from my testing location and stayed in a hotel/at a friends the night before. it just helps lessen the anxiety of all of the things i imagine going wrong before I get to the exam. But I'm neurotic. so. lol.

Thanks a ton @fireguy_PE for the elaborate reply. This certainly helps me in planning my things. I am at Main Place Mall on Main street. By the accounts you have given  I should start at 630 AM from here, that makes 7 o clock at center, searching, normalizing for 30 minutes and then thing starts. 

rg1 said:

Thanks a ton @fireguy_PE for the elaborate reply. This certainly helps me in planning my things. I am at Main Place Mall on Main street. By the accounts you have given  I should start at 630 AM from here, that makes 7 o clock at center, searching, normalizing for 30 minutes and then thing starts. 

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Add an extra half hour, just in case. 

ptatohed said:

Add an extra half hour, just in case. 

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I was going to suggest the same. You should report to the exam site at 7:15am.

I started from home 5:45 or so, FYI.

Thanks @joy21 and @ptatohed for the inputs. This has fine tuned the stuff!!!

Old post but... I stayed at the Sheraton, and asked for a late checkout. Got out of my morning exam early headed back to my room and laid down for 30 minutes. I am a pretty intense test taker and was already nearly burned out from the morning sesh, so going back and laying down was money well spent.