3.2 Accommodations, English Learner Supports, and Away Students

Most 8th and 9th graders take PSAT 8/9 in a standard Bluebook room at the school they already attend. Three groups need extra planning: students who need disability accommodations, English learners who need language supports, and Away Students (including many homeschoolers) who test at a school that is not their usual campus. The processes overlap on the calendar but they are not the same request.

Disability accommodations through SSD

If a disability requires a screen reader, extra breaks, permission to test blood sugar, or another accommodation, the school should request College Board approval through the SSD office at least about seven weeks before the test date that needs the support. The Student Guide is direct: work with the school's SSD coordinator, counselor, or other appropriate staff. That path is faster than a family filing alone. Homeschool families who cannot go through a school can download a Student Eligibility Form from College Board's requesting-without-the-school process, but the seven-week clock still matters.

Once approved, most students remain approved for later College Board tests, with listed exceptions. If you change schools, give the new SSD coordinator your SSD number. Check the Accommodations & Supports Dashboard for decision letters. Give the coordinator a current email address so you can open that dashboard. One-Time Supports—limited PSAT 8/9-only supports the Student Guide mentions when fewer than seven weeks remain—do not appear in the dashboard. State-contract schools may not offer One-Time Supports the same way; ask the coordinator.

What Bluebook can deliver

Most accommodated students still test digitally. Many supports are inside Bluebook:

• Extended time arrives as a digital exam provisioned with the approved time per section.
• Large print is often handled with zoom (pinch-zoom on tablets; keyboard shortcuts on laptops). Universal zoom is available to all digital testers and does not by itself replace every large-print request, but it is the on-screen enlargement tool.
• Text-to-speech (embedded) is built into Bluebook. No extra software setup is required. Practice with it before test day.
• Screen reader (non-embedded) means your own assistive software or the operating system's reader. Start that software before launching Bluebook. Adjust settings before check-in. Bring wired, non-Bluetooth headphones if you are approved for a reader or text-to-speech.

Classroom accommodations and College Board accommodations are not automatically identical. If the approved tool is not what you need in Bluebook, talk to the SSD coordinator before test day—not during Module 1.

Reading versus math-only tools

This rule is easy to miss and expensive to miss:

• If you are approved for extended time, text-to-speech, or a screen reader for reading, you receive that accommodation for the whole test.
• If you are approved for any of those for math only, you receive it only on Math.

EL text-to-speech for Math, discussed below, is a language support rather than a disability accommodation, but it is also Math-section-only by design.

Using extended time without racing the extra clock

College Board's standard-time rule is that you stay for the full standard length and cannot submit before the standard timer ends. Extended time works differently after that standard block. Once standard time has elapsed for a module, an extended-time student may move on when ready instead of waiting until every extra minute expires. College Board encourages you to use the full allotted time and says you should move ahead only if you have completed the module. That is permission to leave a finished module, not a hint to skim.

Extended-time testers should bring a power cord. The site should provide an outlet. At the end, wait until staff confirm submission before closing a laptop lid, turning off a tablet, closing Bluebook, or shutting down. Closing early can drop unsaved work.

Practice with the same tools you will use. Toggling extra tools on a Bluebook practice test does not mean you are approved to use them on the real exam.

English learner supports

Supports for students who are non-English proficient or limited-English proficient include:

• An approved word-to-word bilingual dictionary (not a translating encyclopedia).
• Translated test directions.
• Extended time (educator materials describe EL extended time as up to time-and-one-half when requested through the EL supports process).
• EL text-to-speech for Math sections (embedded) in Bluebook, with no extra software.

Work with the school so the support is actually in the room. Translated directions and approved dictionaries are school-provided tools: staff hand them out and collect dictionaries. Ordinary dictionaries, notes, and reference books remain prohibited items on the testing-rules list. The dictionary on test day must be on College Board's approved word-to-word list, not a random paperback from home.

EL supports are not the same as SSD disability accommodations. Educator guidance treats EL supports as temporary and typically requested each school year. Schools request EL extended time and EL Math text-to-speech in the EL supports tool inside SSD Online. College Board's educator pages tell schools to finish EL requests about four weeks before testing; state-contract deadlines can differ. If you need both disability accommodations and EL supports, the coordinator should file both tracks—do not assume one letter covers the other.

Students using EL extended time generally sit with other extended-time students. After standard time, they may move on when finished, with the same encouragement to use the time they need.

Away Students and homeschool testers

If the test is state-provided, Away Student procedures may not apply. The Student Guide flags that state programs can change fees, dates, and rules for students who do not attend the administering school. Ask the counselor before you assume you can appear at a neighboring campus.

If you are an Away Student or homeschooler under the national process:

1. Use College Board's in-school assessment search to find a testing institution.
2. Contact that school about 4 weeks before the testing window begins and ask to be included in their registration file. Some districts need an earlier deadline—check the administering district's site.
3. Provide legal first and last name, date of birth, gender, plus name/school code and student ID for the school you normally attend (homeschoolers instead state that they are homeschooled), and an SSD number if you are approved for accommodations.
4. Confirm whether they provide a device or you must bring an approved one with Bluebook installed.
5. Bring a valid photo ID to check-in and keep it with you, including if you leave the room. Testing rules point to College Board's photo ID requirements page for what counts.

2026–27 windows are October 1–30, 2026 and March 1–April 30, 2027. Four weeks before October 1 is early September; four weeks before March 1 is late January. Religious conflicts with the home school's date can sometimes be solved by testing as an Away Student on another school's date—start that conversation with your counselor early and still bring ID.

If you will be in another country during the window, search including that country and contact the coordinator with the same registration details at least four weeks ahead.

Scores for Away Students go to the school the student regularly attends, not the host school. Homeschool scores are not shared with the administering school.

One valid score, retests, and taking the whole test again

Different students in a school may test on different days inside the window, but each student can obtain only one valid score during the testing window. Current testing rules say you should take the test only once in the window. If you test more than once without an authorized retest, College Board cancels the most recent score.

Retests are not a second try because you disliked Module 2. They exist when an irregularity warrants a new sitting—administration problems, defective equipment, network or system failures, fire alarms, and similar disruptions, including events you did not cause. The Student Guide says that if an irregularity warrants a retest, you have up to two opportunities to retest for a valid score. Testing rules similarly permit up to 2 retests after a testing irregularity. If you retest, you must take the entire test again. You cannot retake only Math or only one module.

If something goes wrong, tell the test coordinator immediately. Waiting a week can close the window. Canceling a score you do not want reported is a different process (staff form on test day, or a request within 5 days) and is not the same as an irregularity retest.

Build the request before you polish Math pacing. A missing SSD letter or a host school that never added your name cannot be fixed with extra Desmos practice the night before.