<p>My son has been approved for 50% extended time for the SAT and took it once. How hard is it to get an accomodation to spread the test over 2 days? It's a 6 hour test (including breaks) with the 50% extra time. What documentation would be needed? It seems obvious that a person with ADHD would have trouble focusing for that long.</p>
<p>Students who need more than 50% extended time automatically receive SAT testing over two days. With 50%, talk with the person at your hs who is the school’s official liason with the ETS for LD students and find out if there are specific materials they have from the ETS that allow you to apply for the 2-day testing accommodation. Find out if they have applied for 2 day testing for students with 50% time accommodation in the past, and if so, exactly what did and didn’t work. </p>
<p>If the school does not have an application for this accommodation and is not sure how to apply for it, telephone the ETS disabilities office folks and ask exactly how you apply, what materials the family provides and what has to be sent through the school, if they have a form they can fax or email to you, if the criteria for receiving such an accommodation are published online or in a handbook to which they can direct you, and if you can get the email address of the person with whom you’re speaking or a supervisor so you can confirm that you are applying exactly according to their requirements. The folks who answer the phone are surprisingly helpful in providing info and bumping callers up to supervisors if they can’t answer your questions.</p>
<p>Then, even though common sense would tell you that that a 50% longer test session makes no sense for LD students, I would get a letter from the testing psychologist that is very clear and very concrete, spelling out why the one day, lengthy test would be bad given your S’s specific LD, and why the two day test would be an appropriate accommodation, again specifically linking the reason’s to your S’s LD, to his test results, and to the psycholgists observations of your S. If the psychologist tested your son over an extended period and noticed that certain deficits or problems increased as time passed during the testing sessions, be sure those observations are included. I would send this letter to the ETS with the application for two day testing even if it is not required. </p>
<p>Also, if your school has accommodated your son by spreading out tests, for example, if he has two finals each with 50% extended time on one day and the school allows him to take the tests on separate days, be sure the school puts this in a separate note with the rest of your information. This will make it clear that you are only asking the ETS to give your some the same accommodation he receives from his school.</p>
<p>Note that even with kids who automatically receive two day SAT testing because of 100% extended time do not automatically receive it on AP’s, and there is no mechanism at the ETS to get an expedited decision on this. If the school/parents don’t know that they have to apply to take AP’s over two days, the kid can end up taking an AP exam for longer than 8 hours. So when you apply for the two day testing for SAT’s, be sure to do the same thing for AP’s. Think about what will happen if your S has two AP’s in one day if you don’t!</p>
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<p>Not true at our school, a test site. This may vary, depending on the test site. But your advice about talking to the person who administers the test for these kids is good. When I did this, she mentioned that it had only been done once in the past. That student came in after school for two or three days and took the test. My daughter is tired at the end of the day, so I knew that wouldn’t work. If you push really hard, or if they have anyone taking it on a Sunday due to religious reasons, you may be able to get them to agree to a Saturday and Sunday morning test. Otherwise, I’d call the different test sites to see if they’ll do this.</p>
<p>Toledo – </p>
<p>Thanks so much for correcting my info on kids who get 100% extended time receiving 2 day SAT testing automatically; I would hate it if someone relied on my info only to discover that they had to apply for the 2 day accommodation! Anyway, your info also casts doubt on my statement about the folks on the phone at the ETS disability support office being so helpful with accurate info – they told me that the 2 day testing was automatic for the SAT I when I phoned, horrified, when I discovered that without applying for 2 day testing for AP’s, the tests were going to be a single sitting more than 8hours, some starting at noon and running through dinner, and it was too late to do anything about it.</p>
<p>As I understand it, the ETS contacts the test site sometimes only days before the test to tell them exactly what the accommodations will be for each student registered there for a special administration. And if the ETS doesn’t stipulate 2 days, the test center can’t administer that way.</p>
<p>With SAT’s, our school was wonderful, and offered a Sat and Sun administration even though they did not have other Sunday test-takers. But the ETS had specified two days, and I let the school know far in advance.</p>
<p>Now that you mention it, I think I heard that you have to register for the 2 day tests. That goes for ACT, SAT, and also the subject tests.</p>
<p>Oh, and back to the OP’s question…My daughter’s school psychologist handled all the paperwork to get the extended time. I just had to sign the form. She does have “extended time” written in her IEP, but rarely uses it in school.</p>
<p>ldmom, we received the same 50% for my son. I spent a year dealing with them and ultimately was able to get 100% extra time over two days for long tests for my son. </p>
<p>100% extra time does not mean two days. You have to request that separately.</p>
<p>I’ve posted this several times. Let me see if I can find the link.</p>
<p>ldmom, this is the most complete version, which I posted on another site ([Learning</a> Disabilities (LDs), ADHD and Education Support, The<em>SAFE</em>Site - An Error Has Occurred](<a href=“HELP: SAT Accommodations/Shawbridge are you there? | Learning Disabilities (LDs), ADHD and Education Support, The*SAFE*Site):%5DLearning”>HELP: SAT Accommodations/Shawbridge are you there? | Learning Disabilities (LDs), ADHD and Education Support, The*SAFE*Site):)</p>
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<p>ldmom, here’s another link on which I posted: <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/680113-need-advice-college-very-bright-high-achieving-dyslexic-4.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/parents-forum/680113-need-advice-college-very-bright-high-achieving-dyslexic-4.html</a></p>
<p>Best of luck.</p>
<p>My son (college jr in the fall) had 100% extended time. The test was given over 2 days without any special request. The testing material specifically told the test giver that it was to be given over 2 days. Also at least in the past if you are given 100% extended time you are not able to take the test at a test center on test day. In our case the test is sent to the testing coordinator at the high school. The student and test coordinator must make an arrangement for a time and place to proctor the test. For the regular SAT that needs to be over a Sat and Sunday due to length of the test. An SAT 2 could be given after school if you are only taking one. The test also has to be given within a certain number of days from when the school receives the exam. In my son’s case it was a pain in the neck. The first time the test was lost by the high school. The ETS had to contacted and a new test had to be sent via Fed Ex air and couriered 2 hours from the nearest large airport and was hand delivered to the teacher proctoring the exam at midnight the day before the test was to be given. We found that the ETS was more willing to be helpful if the counselor was the one making the calls.</p>
<p>We had the same experience as mom60. Don’t assume that the school is going to ask for the special 2 day test (the second half is different than what the kids who take the test all in one day get). You need to remind them to do this.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, we did not have the same easy experience on getting the accommodations.</p>
<p>In our case we got totally lucky. My oldest was the “model” student. All A’s and on top of everything. I never had to be involved. I was totally clueless. I knew my son (2nd child) needed extra time. I went to the counselor because I am wanted to get the accommodations in plenty of time for his testing. I did not know that getting extra time was difficult. I filled out the student portion of the request. I gave it to his counselor. I have no clue as to what she sent for documentation or what she asked for. My son was given 100 % extra time plus a tape recording of the test. I now realize how lucky we were. And in my son’s case the difference between PSAT and SAT scores was huge. The PSAT was taken without any extra time. In addition to the extra time what I think helped my son the most was taking the test in a quiet room without any other test takers. For the SAT 2, and both sittings of the SAT my son was the only student using accommodations from his school so it was my son and the proctor.</p>
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<p>This may be more important than we realize. My daughter took the 50% extended time test with 5 or 6 other kids in June and she said, “One kid drove me crazy because he kept tapping his pencil. Finally the administrator asked him to stop.”</p>