The number of high schoolers who are getting extra time on college exams has more than tripled in the last decade — and parents are fuming that “cheaters” are doling out up to $10,000 to secure accommodations for their kids through dodgy medical diagnoses.
About 6.7% of students sitting the SAT in 2025 were given extra time on the standardized test — up from 2% a decade ago in 2016, according to test administer College Board.
The ACT saw a similar increase, with 7% of students receiving accommodations compared to the 4.1% who did in 2013, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Such accommodations are typically reserved for students with learning disabilities like Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) — but parents at some schools insist the numbers of students getting extra time far outpace those who have real diagnoses, and even the numbers reported by College Board.
“I feel like 80% of the students are getting extra time, and they don’t need it!” one parent raged at New Jersey college admissions consultant Laurie Kopp Weingarten during a recent admissions presentation, according to the WSJ.
“The accommodations were meant to level the playing field,” Kopp Weingarten told the Journal. “But what’s happening is they’re tilting the playing field toward those with money and access.”
Money and access seem to follow the rates of extra time accommodations — affluent areas in the likes of New Jersey and Long Island tend to have higher rates of students being given extra time on tests, the Journal reported.
Some well-heeled parents have even gone so far as dropping $10,000 on neuropsychologists to secure diagnoses for their kids that will allow them extra time.
Others have turned to gastroenterologists to diagnose their kids with digestive problems like irritable bowel syndrome so they can qualify for the likes of unlimited bathroom breaks.
Depression, obsessive compulsive disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder and anxieties can also secure ACT-takers twice the standard test time or unlimited breaks — and even as much as four days to sit the test.
“I agree wholeheartedly that accommodations are being abused, and my profession has contributed to this,” said Atlanta psychologist Scott Hamilton. “I don’t think it’s a willful conspiracy, but we lean toward wanting to help.”
Hamilton even once had the “surreal” experience of having a family see him in the hopes of securing an SAT accommodation-qualifying condition for their child — but they became enraged when he couldn’t diagnose any disabilities.
“In what universe do we live in when I said their kid functions really well and they were mad at me?” Hamilton said.
“Not finishing the SAT is not a disability.”
A history of accommodations is typically required to gain extra time. A simple note from a doctor is not enough to qualify, an ACT spokesperson told the Journal.
But some parents have simply sought out teachers who will give their kids extra time during school tests, and then write letters recommending extra time.
Long Island parent Adarsh Vijay Mudgil — whose daughter told him at least 60 of her classmates received extra time — put it bluntly.
“It’s cheating,” said Mudgil. “It puts our kids at a disadvantage.”
But some parents of students with accommodations insist they are necessary — even if others might be abusing the system.
“You don’t want this for your kid,” New Jersey college counselor and mom Marni Levine told the Journal, recalling getting the “side eye” from parents over her daughter’s accommodations — before those same parents started asking who the girl’s doctor was.
“If you’ve got an awesomely average kid, take the win,” Levine added.
“Having an extra half-hour on the test is not going to get your kid into Harvard.”