Exam Start & Finish Times

I am planning to take the PE exam in Chicago. So I can plan things out, I'm wondering what time the PE exam typically start and what time does it typically finish. Thanks,

I would advise that you plan to be at the exam site no less than 1 hour prior to start time. This allows for any unforeseen delays and gives you time to gather all your things and get in line before the doors open. Yes, there will be a line.

Finish time I believe is advertised as 4:30pm. But if you come close to the end time, you won't be able to leave early and will need to stay until all the exams are collected and closing announcements delivered. Which can push the final time to like 5 or 5:30pm depending on the number of examinees.

^ very true. My exam let out after 5:00. The afternoon session can be tough. I was there to the bitter end and didn't finish them all. They may start early if everyone is back in the room on time otherwise they will wait until they have to start. A couple guys didn't show up for the afternoon session. I suspect they went out for a liquid lunch.

A majority showed up early with rolling luggage. It felt like waiting in line for a doomed flight.

seandapaul24 said:

I am planning to take the PE exam in Chicago. So I can plan things out, I'm wondering what time the PE exam typically start and what time does it typically finish. Thanks,

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From what I remember - The admission letter will say to report to the exam site at 7:00am. The AM exam will start around (but not exactly at) 8:00am and run for exactly 4 hours until around 12:00pm. You'll have about an hour lunch. The PM exam will start around 1:00pm and run for exactly 4 hours until around 5:00pm.

The letter will tell you what time to get to the exam site, typically around 7-7:15. You will want to arrive earlier than that just in case something goes wrong en route. The exam will probably start much later than that time. Lunch time is supposed to be one hour, but it can last longer because the proctors don't always get back on time.

You won't leave before 4:30 unless you really know your stuff ...or you give up. If you are still there 15 minutes before the end, you should expect to stay another 30-45 min. Leaving the exam site after 5:30 is not unheard of. Trying to get out of the parking lot can take a lot of time too if there are limited road exits.

The end time is closer to 5:30.

Ken 3.0 said:

The end time is closer to 5:30.

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They started reading the afternoon instructions late (like 1:15). By the time we started it was almost 1:30. I don't think we finished until 5:30, then there was the 30 minutes to collect the exams and count them before we were allowed to leave. We were pushing 6.

cupojoe PE said:

Ken 3.0 said:

The end time is closer to 5:30.

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They started reading the afternoon instructions late (like 1:15). By the time we started it was almost 1:30. I don't think we finished until 5:30, then there was the 30 minutes to collect the exams and count them before we were allowed to leave. We were pushing 6.

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That's what mine was like too. I arrived at 7 and I think we started the morning around 8:10. We broke for lunch more like 12:15 and started the afternoon around 1:30. I think I got out of there around 5:45. I certainly wouldn't bank on having extra time to arrive for each session, but I was at a big test site and they were a little flexible.