When Extended Time Accommodations Are Harder to Prove

When you apply for testing accommodations, one of the most common requests is for 50% extended time. For some, the case is straightforward: your test results either clearly show a processing speed deficit or they show a significant reduction in attention over time. But if you are a high-achieving student with strong cognitive abilities, the data may look different, and that can make the path to accommodations more complex.

How Processing Speed is Measured

In standardized testing, processing speed is assessed with tasks that are simple, repetitive, and timed. The goal is to see how quickly and accurately you can complete these tasks. A consistently low score on these measures is a clear indicator of processing speed deficits, but many bright students do not show these kinds of results.

How Attention is Measured

Attention is assessed using continuous performance tasks where you must sustain focus and respond accurately over an extended period of time. These tests measure consistency, vigilance, and the ability to inhibit impulsive responses. If you struggle to stay engaged, become inconsistent, or show a high rate of errors, that points to an attention deficit. By contrast, some students ace these tasks, suggesting intact attention under test conditions. Yet they still experience difficulty maintaining focus across longer, high-stakes exams. This makes the picture more complicated when trying to support accommodations.

When the Data is Clear

If your processing speed or attention scores fall well below expectation, this provides objective evidence to support the need for extended time. In these cases, documentation is more straightforward, and accommodations are more likely to be approved.

When the Data is Mixed or Indirect

If your reasoning, memory, and processing speed scores all fall in the average or high-average range, and your attention measures appear normal, it suggests you can work as quickly and consistently as your peers. Yet in real-world testing situations, stress, anxiety, or inefficiency can interfere with performance. The result is not always captured by a single score.

In these cases, neuropsychologists look for patterns across different measures:

• Does your sustained attention drop off over time?

• Do your memory and retrieval skills falter under pressure?

• Do you screw up on easy questions instead of on only the hard ones?

• Are your written responses less organized than your verbal reasoning?

• Does anxiety show up in both your self-report and observed test behavior?

These patterns help explain why you may still need support, even if processing speed and attention scores alone do not tell the story.

The Role of Diagnosis

Testing agencies only grant accommodations for students with documented disabilities. Inefficiencies or stress-related difficulties must be tied to a recognized diagnosis such as ADHD, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, or Social Anxiety Disorder. A pattern of test struggles alone is not enough; the data has to demonstrate how a disorder creates functional limitations that justify the request for extended time.

Impact on the Evaluation Process

When the evidence is less straightforward, your testing accommodations evaluation has to be more extensive. Instead of a focused 4- to 5-hour session, it may take a full 8-hour day to administer additional measures, allow for rest breaks, and conduct a thorough clinical interview. The longer visit ensures that subtle inefficiencies, attention fatigue, stress effects, and real-world test-taking challenges are captured in the data.

This also means that the cost of the evaluation can be higher than for cases where the profile is clear-cut. More time with the clinician, more test scoring, and more complex report writing are required to make the case effectively.

Why Teacher and Historical Reports Are Not Enough

You may have teacher letters, past IEPs or 504 plans, or personal accounts of difficulty during timed tests. While these sources are valuable for context, they are never sufficient on their own. Testing agencies require current, objective data. A teacher may describe you as bright but slow, or anxious under pressure, yet without test results linked to a clinical diagnosis, agencies like LSAC or AAMC are unlikely to grant extended time.

Three Types of Cases

Student A (the slow one): Processing speed scores fall well below average, consistent with lifelong struggles in timed settings. This person often feels slow compared to peers and has a history that reflects this. The evidence is clear, and extended time is strongly supported.

Student B (the worried one): Reasoning, memory, and processing speed are all in the average to high-average range. However, during lengthy or stressful tasks, attention and efficiency drop noticeably. Teachers have long noted anxiety during exams, and this student has a history of managing anxiety through psychotherapy. The case is valid, but the support must come from a nuanced explanation that ties the test observations to a diagnosis such as anxiety or ADHD.

Student C (the inattentive one): Performs well on early measures of sustained attention, even acing tasks like the CPT-3. Yet over the course of longer sessions, focus and efficiency begin to erode. In real exam conditions that stretch for hours, this decline becomes disabling. Extended time may be justified not because of poor baseline performance, but because of the documented difficulty in maintaining performance across time.

What If No Evidence Is Found?

Sometimes, despite a full evaluation, there is insufficient evidence of a disability or functional limitation that would support accommodations. When this happens in my practice, I stop the assessment. This prevents you from spending additional time and money on a process that cannot be justified. It does not occur often, but it does happen with students who are ultimately too functional under test conditions.

What This Means for High-Achieving Students

If you are very smart, you may not show obvious deficits on paper. That does not mean your struggles are not real. It does mean that the case for extended time has to be built differently. Historical records, teacher observations, and self-reports can strengthen a case, but only when combined with objective evidence from testing and a documented diagnosis.

The Bottom Line

Extended time is most easily supported when there is a clear processing speed or attention deficit. For bright students, accommodations are still possible, but they often require more in-depth testing, longer visits, higher costs, and a clear linkage to a diagnosis. Teacher reports and personal accounts help, but without data and a recognized disorder, they rarely carry weight. Cases where attention appears strong at first but declines with fatigue also require careful explanation and evidence. Planning early and working with a clinician who understands these nuances can make a big difference in both the process and the outcome of your psychological evaluation.

Just as in FAA evaluations, documentation for LSAT or MCAT accommodations requires clear evidence and careful explanation. For a breakdown of LSAT registration deadlines, see my guide on how timing affects documentation.

Need an evaluation for LSAT, GMAT, SAT, or MCAT accommodations? Book a consultation today.