Reading and Seeing Accommodations

There are a variety of accommodations offered to students who have a documented disability that impacts their capacity to read or see.

Eligibility

Disabilities may include blindness, other visual impairment, or a severe reading disability.

If a student is able to read, but read slowly, extended time may be a more appropriate request than a reading and seeing accommodation.

Examples

Requests must specify which accommodation is needed. Common examples include:

• Large-print test book
• Braille with raised line drawings, contracted
• Raised line drawings (tactile graphics to use along with a human reader or prerecorded audio)
• Prerecorded audio (MP3 via streaming). This is the audio version of a test, delivered through an internet streaming application so that students with reading or visual impairments can listen to the test. (Practice tests for the PSAT 10 or SAT are available by downloading PSAT 10 MP3 files or SAT MP3 files.)
• Human reader
• Assistive technology:
  • Text-to-speech
  • Assistive technology–compatible test format. This digital test form, delivered on a flash drive, is designed for use with screen readers and other assistive technology and is available for PSAT-related assessments, the SAT, and most AP exams. Magnification device (electronic and nonelectronic). Electronic magnifiers cannot have any capabilities for recording, storage, snapshot and/or transmission of data, picture, text, or other information. Any computer or monitor connected to the magnifier must not copy, store, or print magnified images.

College Board usually assumes that a student will use only one reading and seeing accommodation during a test. Students who request more than one (for instance, an MP3 audio test format and a large-print test format) should include an explanation of why multiple accommodations are needed.