Extended Time and Other Accomodations
Appendix B
On Finding the GMACAccommodating
- Dmitry Farber, Liz Ghini Moliski, lanJorgeson, and Jon Schneider
Who gets special accommodations?
Most of this section focuses on what to do and how to study differently if you are
granted the accommodation of extra time on the GMAT. However, extra time is not
the only accommodation that we have seen students need or receive, and we’d like to
take a moment to point out some of the other accommodations that are available. Keep
in mind that the goal of accommodations is N O T to provide a test-taker with an ad
vantage over other students. Instead, the aim is to provide test-takers with fair testing,
so that they are in a situation in which they can perform as well as they would have if
they did not suffer from a specific issue (as covered in the Americans with Disabilities
Act).
For example, a student with moderate ADD might be given a private testing room so
that she is not adversely affected by distractions. That student might not get any extra
time on the test (as her disability does not affect her ability to finish the test in the
allotted time), but might still be provided with an environment that will allow her to
reach her full potential. (It’s worth noting that, because it’s pretty easy to find a doctor
to diagnose a person as AD/HD, GMAC is leery about accepting such requests if they
don’t include a history of previous accommodations.)
When presented
with an accommodations request, GMAC reviews
each case individually, and over the years
we have seen some decisions
made that have surprised us. We have had diabetic students success
fully petition to be allowed either longer breaks to test their blood
sugar, or to bring their testing supplies and insulin with them into the
room (which seems harder to get than the longer breaks). We’ve also
seen partially blind students successfully petition for accommodations
including larger screen font text. Note that these situations all resulted in
being granted accommodations, but
not extra time.
That’s not to say that extra time is impossible to get. A student with specific process
ing issues that affect reading skills might be granted extra time, the rationale being
that this student requires the extra time in order to perform to the level of their ability.
Examples of such learning disabilities (LDs) include dyslexia as well as general process
ing disorders; a student with brain damage from an accident might be granted extra
time, for instance, if the brain damage manifested in some sort of testable processing
disorder.
TIP
We have found that students who are
easily distracted do best when they have
a detailed study plan comprised of short,
focused study sessions.
MANHATTAN 247
GMAT