Accommodations
The College Board is responsible for ensuring the appropriate accommodations on its tests if you are diagnosed with a disability. Because each student's need for accommodations is individual, accommodations among students cannot be compared. The laws that protect the rights of students with disabilities ensure that a determination is based on each student's individual needs. Accommodations are to 'level the playing field' so that students with disabilities have the same opportunities as students who do not have a disability to demonstrate on tests what they have learned and how they can use what they have learned.
Appropriate accommodations are identified based on your disability documentation, whether as verified by your school, or as determined by the College Board's review of the documentation. The College Board's process for determining appropriate accommodations provides for considerable flexibility or customization to accommodate each student's special needs. For the four major categories of testing accommodations, the following are examples of accommodations the College Board provides to ensure that eligible students get the accommodations they need:
Presentation
- Large print (14 pt; 20 pt)
- Fewer items on each page
- Reader
- Colored paper
- Use of a highlighter
- Sign/orally present instructions
- Visual magnification (magnifier or magnifying machine)
- Auditory amplification
- Audiocassette
- Colored overlays
- Braille
- Braille graphs
- Braille device for written responses
- Plastic covered pages of the test booklet
Responding
- Verbal; dictated to scribe
- Tape recorder
- Computer without spell check/grammar/cut & paste features
- Record answers in test booklet
- Large block answer sheet
Timing/Scheduling
- Frequent breaks
- Extended time
- Multiple day (may/may not include extra time)
- Specified time of day
Setting
- Small group setting
- Private room
- Screens to block out distractions
- Special lighting
- Special acoustics
- Adaptive/special furniture/tools
- Alternative test site (with proctor present)
- Preferential seating
Accommodations for Students with Hearing Impairments
While most College Board tests have no listening component, many students with hearing impairments need assistance for the presentation of test directions, which are usually given orally prior to the beginning of the test. It is the College Board's practice to provide a copy of written directions, on request, to students with documented hearing impairments. Where written directions would not effectively accommodate a student's needs for the test, the College Board will provide additional testing accommodations, including, if appropriate, a sign language interpreter, at no additional cost to the student.
The College Board is aware that some students with hearing impairments would prefer to use a sign language interpreter, even where a written copy of the directions would effectively accommodate their needs. In these situations, students may bring their own sign language interpreter, at their own expense. All testing accommodations, including requests for written test directions and requests for interpreters, must be requested by submitting an SSD Eligibility Form and all necessary documentation in the envelope provided no later than the postmark deadline for the administration date of the specific test of interest.
Computer Accommodations
Are there guidelines for determining whether use of a computer would be an appropriate accommodation for written language expression parts of College Board tests?
Many students who take College Board tests are accustomed to using a computer in school for term papers/written assignments. Certain SAT Subject Tests™, AP® Exams, and now the essay on the SAT Reasoning Test™ are to be handwritten, similar to what most students do for classroom tests.
There are students who, because of a disability, may need to use a computer for written language expression on College Board tests. Only they may take College Board written tests using a computer. Poor handwriting, as such, is not considered a disability that necessitates a computer accommodation. Neither does use of a computer for school tests automatically determine that it is an appropriate accommodation for College Board tests. The following are the College Board guidelines for substantiating that a student's disability has functional limitations that necessitate use of a computer as an accommodation.
