<p>So I heard a story about one of my classmates the other day. He got a 2350, which I was thinking seemed a little strange cuz he pegged me as more of a 2000-2150 type range person. Then I found out that he got extended time on the sats. While I'm sure that many people do indeed need extended time, shouldn't someone who is getting in the 2300s with the extra time take the sats under regular time restraints. If I had extra time, I could probably bump my scores from a 2200 to a 2300. Is it fair that he got this advantage?</p>
<p>what i want to know is…do the colleges see if a kid has extended time on a test??</p>
<p>Sounds unfair. The kids in my school who got extended time on the ACT all got in the 20s.</p>
<p>Extended time is extremely unfair. When you work at a job, your employer isn’t going to take into account that you need more time for things than your more-qualified co-workers. The SAT/ACT measure how you perform in relation to everyone else so that colleges can see who is qualified. Although having ADHD is a disability, it still makes a person who has it less-qualified than a person who can always think clearly under time constraints. They are called STANDARDIZED tests for a reason.</p>
<p>Super unfair. The point of the tests is for results to easily be compared with other students. This only distorts that comparison. </p>
<p>Sent from my SPH-D710 using CC</p>
<p>Extended time has varying degrees of fairness. If for a legit disability, such as dyslexia, dysgraphia, whatever the math equivalent of it is or real ADD/ADHD, I have no problem. Some people BS their way to it though.</p>
<p>I have several opinions on the topic at hand.</p>
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<p>I completely agree with this point of view. I have nothing against people with disabilities at all, but the SAT is simply supposed to measure how well you’re going to perform in college. Additionally, the SAT is also used in the admission process to distinguish you from less impressive applicants - those who simply don’t perform as well as you. I completely understand that people don’t do anything to deserve disabilities, and I sincerely regret that many people do have these. But the truth of the matter is that they just aren’t as qualified as other people are. It’s unfortunate, but it’s true.</p>
<p>I don’t mean to sound callous at all, I very honestly do feel bad for people with disabilities.</p>
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<p>Extremely true. It’s unfortunate, but many people take advantage of the system. I have a friend who has dysgraphia. To my understanding, this is a disability that prevents one from coherently translating their thoughts into words, or something along the lines. Either way, my classmate, who’s also my friend, has received extended time on his future ACTs because of this disability. The truth is that he has taken multiple tests, especially math tests, with everyone else and has performed just fine. He doesn’t necessarily need extra time, I personally think he could do just fine without it. Of course, I’m not him, and I can’t judge. But he’s definitely milking it to an extent.</p>
<p>Now, do I necessarily care? Not at all. I sincerely hope he gets in the 33-36 range (which he definitely should be able to). If he can get an advantage, good for him.</p>
<p>But I definitely find it unfair that many people get away with this.</p>
<p>Of course, there are people who definitely need the extra time. I have another friend who constantly spaces out during his ACTs (sometimes for 5 - 10 minutes). He obviously needs the extra time.</p>
<p>It’s a touchy subject really…</p>
<p>First of all, it is not easy to be granted extended time. There must be a medical diagnosis of a disability. And for the ACT in particular, there is a higher standard, one must show proof of accommodations through high school. </p>
<p>Many people could have infinite time and not score 2350. If your classmate received extended time, I’m sure there is good cause that you are not privy to. Your classmate is very intelligent and I am guessing the reason you perceive him/her as a “2000-2150 type range person” may well be because of his/her disability. It is quite possible to be intelligent AND have a learning disability.</p>
<p>Let me be totally honest with all of you. As someone with dislexia who does receive high grades, extended time is absolutely essential for the reading sections of a test. I agree that I shouldn’t have it for other sections of the test and I actually finished ahead of regular time on non-english APs, SAT IIs, and other sections of SATs/ACTs, but College Board and ACT don’t offer specialized packages like that.</p>
<p>Moreover, there is almost a ten point discrepancy in my ACT reading score with and without extended time, which clearly demonstrates my ability to perform well on the test.</p>
<p>Source: Someone who couldn’t read until he was 9 years old and finally hit his stride in high school, despite having to put in more hours for English courses.</p>
<p>this is being unfair to the people who DO have a learning disability. if i was given extra time, i would take it. most of you would do the same, so i don’t think the people with disabilities are doing anything immorally wrong.</p>
<p>but if your friend got extended time for no reason then that’s totally unfair…</p>
<p>Extended time is very fair. I don’t understand why people can’t understand that a majority of the people with learning disability’s ARE intelligent. If they are receiving extended time, there must be a good reason. Collegeboard does not just dole out “extended time” to random people who ask for it. You have to prove that you actually have some form of a learning disability. And to the people who say that the SAT/ACT are supposed to be standardized admissions tests to predict how well you will do in college-what does extended time have to do with it? A person could receive extended time- they’re not going to get any smarter within those 30 minutes-2 extra hours they are granted(Idk what amount of time they are given, I’m just guessing.) To the OP: If your peer got extended time, he must have some form of a learning disability and it is not up to you to ask random people on college confidential if they think it is fair or not. Regardless, he still got the time, and obviously he always had the potential to receive such a high score. If he did not have a learning disability and did not get extended time, he probably would have gotten the same, if not a similar, score because he would have the same mental capacity/ intelligence, he just would not have taken as long to work through the problems. </p>
<p>So maybe you were just putting him down without really knowing how intelligent he was when you say you pegged him as a “2000-2150 type range person.”</p>
<p>People with learning disabilities aren’t the only ones who get extended time. My brother has type 1 diabetes and was allowed extra time if he NEEDED to eat a snack due to dangerously low blood sugar (but would have normal time limits if he was fine). He had to partake in this time allowancce to raise his blood sugar. Sometimes, the time extensions are a bit unfair. But many times it’s necessary and would be unfair to the person taking the test if he/she didn’t have the extra time.</p>
<p>unfair b/c most people just try to cheat the system. do you know how easy it is to walk into a doctor’s office, give them a sob story and walk out with an adderall script. i’m sure you could also convince the same doctor to fill out a form extending your SAT/ACT time</p>
<p>^^PizzaFAce
No i don’t know how easy it is and neither do you. And if it were that easy then why don’t you go do that then and go to the doctor with a sob’s story? And calling it unfair because you can “cheat the system” by bsing a disorder makes no sense at all. After all, everyone can decide whether or not to bs a disorder and according to you it’s very easy.</p>
<p>It is actually quite difficult to obtain accommodations. You have to have comprehensive testing and a history of accommodations with your school. Many people who apply for them get rejected and others must appeal several times before they are approved, each time providing more evidence of a disability. That being said, I’m sure they have tightened up the process because so many people do try to cheat the system. My son gets to use a laptop for writing only because of dysgraphia. His handwriting is so bad that the people grading his test simply wouldn’t be able to decipher it. He did not have any accommodations on his PSAT because it’s all multiple choice. When he took his SAT a couple of months later, he got virtually the same score as on the PSAT which indicates that, in his case, the accommodations just allowed him to make up for his disability. He has a genius-level IQ and is exceptionally smart. I don’t think his disability will impact his ability to be a successful college student, especially since most work is done on laptops nowadays anyway. He has the potential to get into some of the top schools in the country, but without his accommodations it is doubtful that his AP and SAT scores would be in the right range.</p>