I’ve been told that some of the prep companies offer free practice tests under testing conditions. Obviously my son can take a practice test at home on-line, but I suspect there’s some value to taking it under more realistic test conditions.
Here’s the twist. He has dysgraphia and therefore has some testing accommodations on his 504 which we expect/hope will also be allowed by the College Board. I’m on top of the process of applying for those, so that’s not the concern.
Is anyone aware of a prep company that will give practice tests under accommodation conditions, so that his practice test conditions will mimic his actual test taking conditions?
I would talk with them about the accommodations he has. We haven’t used a prep company but I assume the big companies would be able to handle this. Keep in mind that his accommodations might give him a slightly different test environment than normal.
What accommodations do you expect him to get? My son has accommodations and gets 1 + 1/2 time and is allowed to use a computer for the essay. (He doesn’t want the computer… we have to figure out how to resolve this.) He hasn’t taken the SAT yet. But did take the SAT Subject in Math & put in a room with only 1-2 other kids. But someone from school approached us because if he needed the computer, they would give him the test at school. My son is singed up for the May test & we need to figure out how this will be handled.
He has testing accommodations under his 504 and as soon as we have next year’s plan in place, we’ll start the process of applying for accommodations with the College Board.
He currently gets a typing accommodation for anything requiring writing more than a sentence or two, so he’ll need that for any test with an essay. He also has someone look over his bubble sheet and fix any bubble where he couldn’t fill it in properly. I don’t think I care whether he gets that or no bubble sheet for CB tests.
Since we discovered with his math mid-terms in January the writing involved in a long math test (longer than a regular 40 minute in-class test) causes pain and fatigue, we’re about to add extended time for long math and science tests (i.e., tests where there tends to be a substantial amount of writing involved in figuring out the answers, solving the problem, drawing the charts etc, but that can’t really be typed) and we’ll want something similar for CB tests.
I was having lunch today with a friend whose daughter has some similar accommodations,although for very different reasons and we were talking about being able to do practice tests under real (with accommodations) testing conditions, so we made a couple of phone calls. Princeton Review had nothing useful to say. Kaplan, OTOH, sent us right to the spot on their website which talks about their dedicated ADA Coordinator and the system they have in place for ensuring that kids with disabilities have both appropriate access to their teaching and the opportunity to take practice tests using their accommodations. If we decide to pay for test prep, I know who’s getting my money!
We had this problem and my S actually wasn’t able to find a testing center with accommodations. We didn’t ask Kaplan. One testing place said they’d give it to him under ‘regular’ time and then he could 'just go home and do the rest!" I told them I might as well do it ourselves.
FYI, for anyone applying for accommodations, be sure to apply with ample lead time, as it takes on average 7 weeks for CB to respond to an accommodations request, and sometimes can take longer. Be sure also to read fully CB’s recommendations as to what documents they need, and have these all ready when you apply. Having a 504 or IEP in a school does not necessarily mean that CB will give the extended time. You need to have the documents they request to support your application.
At my son’s high school, the GC takes care of the process. My understanding is that the CB prefers that. But, of course, that’s not possible for a kid being homeschooled or if the GC won’t do it.
I started the process today by getting the CB consent form from the GC. She’ll let me know if she needs any materials not already in his file.