All accommodations are approved to address barriers that students experience based on the impact of their disability in the context of a particular academic space, task, or requirement.
In order to determine the appropriate amount of extended exam time a student may be approved for, a Disability Specialist will review the student’s medical documentation to understand how the student’s disability may impact them in a typical timed exam setting. In addition, Disability Specialists interview students about their own experiences when taking exams, including disability impacts they have experienced, past accommodations they have utilized, and barriers to participation that they have encountered.
Some disabilities may result in students needing a longer time to process information for understanding. Some may require students to take breaks during the exam during which they cannot engage with the exam material. Some students may be utilizing technology that increases the time it takes to navigate the exam. Some students may have flares in the impact of their disability that need to be managed during the exam and that remove them from engagement with the exam during that time. Some students experience multiple impacts that affect their active engagement with the exam.
Reviewing students' medical documentation, personal experience of disability, accommodation history, and history of experiences in different exam settings provides the Disability Specialist with context to identify an appropriate amount of time to allow the student both to engage fully with the exam and to manage any impacts of their disability in the exam setting.