The most common accommodation is extended time to take the test. Other accommodations include allowing a student to type his or her essay on a laptop computer or having reading passages read to him or her.

According to ACT spokesman Ed Colby, the large and diverse testing pool in Illinois, as well as in other states where students are tested as part of state exams, has sparked a rise in the number of requests for special accommodations, as well as in the number of approvals.*

The Education Week article also quotes ACT spokesman Ed Colby, “During the 2010-11 school year, 5 percent of all test takers were provided with some feature that was intended to adapt the test to their needs, compared with 3.5 percent of test takers in the 2007-08 school year.

SAT test takers have also increased their requests for accommodations.  According to Kathleen Steinberg, spokeswoman for the College Board, 80,000 students requested accommodations on the SAT during the 2010-11 school year, an increase of 14.3% over the number requesting accommodations five years earlier.

About 85% of requests for accommodations on the SAT are approved, as are 90% of requests made for the ACT. Please note however, that while the percentage of students applying who actually are granted accommodations is quite high, the process is not an easy one. Generally students must already receive the same or similar accommodations in school, and must be able to provide results of psycho-educational testing from a licensed school psychologist to prove they have been diagnosed as having one of the conditions which qualifies them for accommodations.

Psycho-educational testing used as part of the application for accommodations must be deemed “current” by the testing agency. The following language, on the College Board website, gives the policy for SAT test takers:

“In most cases, the evaluation and diagnostic testing should have taken place within five years of the request for accommodations. For psychiatric disabilities, an annual evaluation update must be within 12 months of the request for accommodations. For visual disabilities, documentation should be within two years, and for physical/medical, an update must be within one year from the time of the request.”

For more information about the respective accommodations policies for both the SAT and ACT, see the following links:

SAT Accommodations Policy

ACT Accommodations Policy

*Source: Chicago Tribune, 04-29-12, Many Illinois high school students get special testing accommodations for ACT

Each year we survey local colleges to determine the “mid-50%” range of SAT and ACT scores reported by each college. Below you will find a link to a chart we have created, which provides the mid-50% range for various local and national colleges. This chart contains a list of colleges that many of our local students apply to.

Mid-50% Range SAT and ACT Scores at Various Local and National Colleges

In addition, we have created an easy to read comparison of the SAT and  ACT exams. This comparison should help you understand more about the two exams and how they differ. If you have questions about which test might be  a better indicator of your student’s ability to do college level work, please call our office at 215.886.9188, and we can help you.

• What is test anxiety?
• What causes test anxiety?
• What does test anxiety look/feel like?
• How do I know if I am suffering from test anxiety?
• Is there a profile of people who are more likely to suffer from test anxiety?
• Are there different kinds of test anxiety?
• Can someone have test anxiety in one subject but not another?
• What are some effective strategies for dealing with test anxiety?

Dr. Tamar Chansky is a licensed psychologist, and the Founder and Director of the Children’s and Adult Center for OCD and Anxiety in Plymouth Meeting, PA. Dr. Chansky is also the author of the numerous popular books on overcoming anxiety and negative thinking. Her latest book, Freeing Yourself from Anxiety: Four Simple Steps to Overcome Worry and Create the Life You Want, offers adults powerful, practical and easy to implement strategies for leading their life on a different track than the worry track.

Dr. Chansky has devoted her professional life to helping children, teens, parents and adults overcome unnecessary worry through a new understanding of the nuts and bolts of how worry works.

All colleges are tagged with one or more of the following “sectors” which allow a user to easily search for a specific type of college: public, private,for-profit, size of freshman class, 2-year college, and  4-year college.

So, for example, if you would like to compare college graduation rates for small, private, 4-year colleges in New Jersey, you can quickly enter those four criteria and the website instantly provides you with graduation rates for all colleges that meet those criteria.

The website provides you with the following information about each college:

• Percentage of entering freshmen who graduate in 4 years
• Percentage of entering freshmen who graduate in 6 years
• Number of undergraduate students enrolled
• Median SAT scores
• Percentage or students receiving Pell Grants
• Amount of money spent per degree granted
• Average financial aid provided per student

For students and parents researching colleges, this new website adds a valuable source of information conveniently displayed so that you can easily compare amongst the colleges that fit your chosen criteria.

Helping Kids Manage Stress

College applications, bullying at school, a tough test, or a bad soccer game — we’ve all seen the many ways our kids encounter stressful situations.

Fixing Education: Harvard’s Dr. Roland Fryer on Bridging the Achievement Gap

Dr. Fryer discusses five areas of potential improvement in our educational system.

Google Science Fair 2012

The Internet’s most popular search engine is looking for bright, young scientists to share their experiments with the world.

Free Proctored SAT and ACT Exam Schedule

Free, no-obligation, proctored ACT and SAT practice exams are open to current A+ students and to members of the community.

Joe DeFrancesco, Counselor at Council Rock North HS, Newtown, PA

A+ Social Media Intern, Jessica Lopez, a senior at Temple University majoring in Strategic Communications, speaks with Joe DeFrancesco, a guidance counselor at Council Rock North High School in Newtown, PA. In Part I, Joe answers the following questions about the college admissions process:

1. What do you consider the most important question each student should ask himself or herself upon starting the college admissions process?
2. What is the first thing parents and student should do in this process?
3. What are some common mistakes that students and parents make in the college admissions process?

1. Which questions should students ask when visiting colleges?
2. What are some things parents and students can do to ease the transition from high school to college?