United States
Hong KongWhat to bring, and what not to
Bring acceptable identification and essentially nothing else. The on-screen calculator and the mathematics reference sheet are supplied during the Mathematics subtest, so you do not bring either. The accepted identification list is set by the testing vendor and should be checked close to your test date.
Short post, because the honest answer is short. Almost everything you might think of packing is either supplied or not allowed, which leaves identification as the only item that can actually stop your day.
Supplied on screen
- Calculator
- On-screen, during the Mathematics subtest
- Mathematics reference sheet
- Supplied during the Mathematics subtest
- The questions
- Delivered on computer at a Pearson center
- Scratch working
- Handled by the center, per its own rules
The calculator and reference sheet come from the Department's Test Structure document, and they only apply to Mathematics. English Language Skills, Reading and the essay are supplied with nothing beyond the screen.
We do not publish the contents of the reference sheet. It lives on the testing vendor's site, which blocks automated access, and a third-party list of formulas that turns out to be wrong is worse than no list at all - you would revise around a gap you invented.
Identification
This is the part that matters, and it is also the part we will not summarize. Acceptable identification, name-matching rules, arrival times and what may be brought into or left outside the testing room are all set by the testing vendor, and they change.
Read the current requirements on the FTCE and FELE registration site, and read them in the week before you sit rather than when you first registered. A registration can be up to a year old by the time you use it.
This is the failure mode we would flag if we flagged only one. A recent name change, a middle name entered on one and not the other, a shortened first name - any of it is worth checking against the vendor's current policy before the day, because a mismatch discovered at the door costs you the appointment and the fee, and the retake wait does not care why.
Why this post is deliberately thin
We hold Rule 6A-4.0021, the competencies the rule incorporates, and the Department's structure, maximum-percentage and annual report documents. We do not hold the vendor's Test Information Guides or its center policies.
Plenty of sites will give you a confident bulleted list anyway. Some of those lists are accurate. You cannot tell which from reading them, and neither can we, so we would rather point at the source and be useful about the things we can actually verify.
The things worth doing that are not on any list
- Check the identification policy in the week before, not at registration
- Know which subtests you registered for, because you sit those and only those
- Rehearse with an on-screen calculator rather than a handheld one, since that is what Mathematics gives you
- Budget for 245 minutes plus a 15-minute break if you booked all four in one seat
That last one is a packing question in disguise. Four hours at a desk is a stamina problem, and the subtest at the far end of it is Mathematics, the longest of the four at 100 minutes.
Common questions
What identification do you need for the FTCE?
The accepted identification list is set by the testing vendor and published on the FTCE and FELE registration site. Check it in the week before you sit, since a registration can be up to a year old by the time you use the seat.
Can you bring your own calculator?
No. An on-screen calculator is supplied during the Mathematics subtest, along with a mathematics reference sheet, per the Department's Test Structure document. Practicing with an on-screen calculator beforehand is worth more than owning a better handheld one.
Is the mathematics reference sheet published anywhere?
It is published on the testing vendor's site, which blocks automated access, so we neither reproduce it nor list its contents. Assume it exists, practice as though it does, and read the real sheet during the subtest.
Do you get scratch paper?
Materials for working out are handled by the test center under its own rules, which the testing vendor publishes. That is a center policy rather than something set by rule, so check the current version on the registration site.
What happens if your identification does not match your registration?
That is a vendor policy question, and the safe assumption is that a mismatch is a problem. Check the current name-matching rules before your date. Losing an appointment over a middle initial costs the fee and restarts the scheduling from zero.