Our school has always done the accomodations packets for the ACT and SAT not the parents. We had no issues with the ACT but had to file an appeal with college board because they initially only gave half the usual accomodations. If your child has them for the PSAT they also cover the SAT and AP tests unless your school applied for the PSAT accomodations unusually early because they lasted 5 years from the date granted for us.
My guidance counselor is the one who submitted all the forms for accommodations.
DCplanner, we have had a similar experience with our younger son who is a sophomore. His school begins the process early as they said it can take time and appeals to get accomodations. Despite his diagnosis in 5th grade (ADHD), and more detailed diagnosis in 8th grade (auditory processing disorder and mild dysgraphia (written expression) some of his accomodations were granted but others denied. He received additional time, but no use of a computer for his essay. We now have to jump through some hoops to make sure he gets that. Frankly, of all the possible accomodations, that is the one he truly needs.
We haven’t submitted for the ACT yet, but will pursue that this year through his Learning Resource advisor. Any input or insights regarding how to appeal his use of computer accommodation would be greatly appreciated.
We have already heard back from the ACT and we got our accommodations. It was a VERY quick turnaround. We got small group setting plus time and a half, self-paced. Now, I have to read up on what the self-paced means.
I think that self-paced means the kid can decide exactly how to use the extra time. You get 4.5 hours to do what is otherwise a 3 hour test.
Rather than getting 45 minutes to do each 30 minute section. So it does require some planning and self-monitoring by the kid.
Thank you @northwesty. Does the child then just let the proctor know when they are done with each section, and will there be a timer there for him to keep track of how much time he is spending?
@Rollout Your kid will be given a block of 5 hours if not taking writing. If with writing, the kid will be given 6 hours. According to my kid, there was a clock in the room, but she couldn’t see it clearly. She has a watch. As I understand the proctor will not remind them on how much time they had spent on each section. Hence it is also important to remind the kid not to spend more than sufficient time on one section…
I have read about the difficulty of getting the accommodation for ACT before I began. What worked for two kids were (1) doing a lot of research and not just taking the GC’s words and (2) compiled a comprehensive set of documents myself…The school does not make decision on the accommodation, but ACT does…(at least it helps in my case).
I suggest parents look into the ACT web page to see what documentation they need, then compile the document and provide to the school.
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Rollout – I think the kid gets the whole test all at once and can divvy up the time freely.
First time my kid was freaked out about the math and spent way too much time on that section. While the math score was improved, the other scores suffered due to short time.
The good thing is that the kid is not forced to use up extra time on sections the kid can do more quickly, and can use that saved time on tougher sections. But it takes some practice to get that down.
@annamom I totally agree. We did not get accommodations for SAT twice when the GC handled the entire process. But I did the research and put the documents together for ACT and was approved within a week.
Do either of you have a recommendation for where to find practice tests to get the timing down? And thank you for the help!!
@Rollout Don’t get me started on the SAT…for the recent SAT request, the GC submitted one page of the 504 which did not include the extended time, then she attached a doctor’s note and that was it even she has all the cognitive testing etc…Any decent GC would know it was a no no…I compiled the doc, resubmitted…it was approved…
I don’t have any thing specific for timing…I gave the kid past ACT tests and never really timed her, I didn’t want to stress her out and based on her school tests, I suspected she needed more than 50% time. Hence I suggested to her to plan 1 1/2 hr for Math and an hour for everything else, than it would give her an extra 30 minutes for bathroom breaks (if needed) or possibly extra time for the tests. Apparently it did not register with her as she told me she took way too much time with Math and has to rush for Reading/Science during the test last week.