<p>I have ADHD. This means I have a large disadvantage when it comes to test taking.
I study twice as hard as anyone in my school to get good grades. When it takes someone an hour to study for a test, it takes me two or three. However, I managed to get pretty good grades by studying extra hard.</p>
<p>But the biggest problem i have is the SATs because it's a timed-test.
It takes me like 35 to 40 minutes to finish a reading section because i am a slow reader and i have concentration problems.</p>
<p><strong>I am thinking about filling out an Eligibility form but If i do take the SATs with an handicap will it show up on my applications for the colleges to see?</strong></p>
<p>The College Board stopped flagging test scores some time ago. (Google “college board flagging scores” to find out more.)</p>
<p>Even if they did flag scores, virtually all colleges and universities are forbidden under federal law to discriminate on the basis of disability and have been for decades. Obviously, being forbidden to do something and actually not doing it are two different things. But admissions departments tend to be pretty well-trained when it comes to things like extended time on standardized tests.</p>
<p>Just because the scores are “unflagged” does that mean the colleges have no way in finding out that you are disabled or had an advantage during the test? Because I don’t want to be disadvantaged when they look at my app</p>
<p>When I say that the test scores are unflagged, I mean that the practice of flagging test scores – of sticking something on the score report that says “this student took the test under non-standard conditions” – has ceased. When I say that the admissions committees are pretty well trained on issues like extended time, I mean that they understand (a) that they are not allowed to treat a student who has taken the test with extended time differently than a student who has taken the test in the usual amount of time but is otherwise similar to the first student, and (b) that even if they know who has had extended time and who hasn’t, that doesn’t tell them anything useful.</p>
<p>There are plenty of places in postsecondary education where I think disability discrimination still happens, and some places where I think it still happens as a matter of routine. I haven’t seen anything in years that suggests to me that discrimination against people diagnosed with ADHD is still a significant problem in general undergraduate admissions. But even in the programs I’ve heard about that do seem to be eager to get information about diagnoses like ADHD so they can discriminate against applicants (and these tend to be specific departments from what I’ve seen rather than the whole school), they aren’t getting the information they want from test score reports. They’re asking questions like “Do you have a disability?” or putting forward “technical standards” like “Must be able to hear.” They’re not being subtle at all.</p>
<p>You should not have to divulge any information about your ADHD diagnosis when you are applying, although sometimes some requirements (such as an in-person interview) result in some people being identified as having a disability. (They can include a question as long as they make sure to tell you that you don’t have to answer it and have a legitimate reason for asking. You may be asked whether you have a disability on the paperwork you’ll need to fill out when you accept a school’s offer of admission, although even there they should have a legitimate, non-discriminatory, reason for asking, such as wanting to forward your name to the disability services office in order to get the accommodation process started ASAP.) Asking the College Board for accommodations on the SAT, whether or not they give them to you, will not result in a school you are applying to finding out that you consider yourself a person with a disability.</p>
<p>I would actually suggest that you and your parents and someone at your school look into the process of asking for extended time and put together the package that the College Board wants, whether or not you ultimately decide to ask for accommodation. If nothing else, it will ensure that you are familiar with the basic process of asking for accommodation and that you have some kind of documentation. It is not the same as it was in the K-12 system. I also suggest that as soon as you decide where you are going to go to college you contact the office of disability services and ask them for their guidelines for documentation of ADHD, and that you again prepare a package that meets their rules. You may find out part-way through some semester that you need to ask for accommodation in one or more courses, and if that happens you will not want to have to start from scratch right then. Schools do not have to give retroactive accommodations and most don’t, which means that if you realize you need need extra time on a midterm shortly before the test is scheduled and you can’t get your documentation to the disability services office until after the test has happened, there’s a good chance that you will not have the same opportunity as everyone else to prove that you have mastered the material. If money is an issue and you don’t want to pay for an evaluation unless you know you will need it, at least come up with a plan so that you can move as quickly as possible should you decide you have to.</p>