1. Whether you’re a verbal person or a quant person, taking the GMAT is inevitably going to force you to confront some kind of challenge. In this sense, it’s an equal opportunity test— or rather maybe an equal difficulty test. At least in theory.

    That’s why the GMAT goes to such lengths to enforce its many, many rules and standard procedures on test day (actually most of the rules are common sense, but it’s a good idea to check ahead of time to make sure you have everything you need and understand how to do your best on test day; you don’t want to show up with a #3 pencil).

    Of course, there’s much more diversity among us than the verbal-quant binary. We all have our own difficulties both in the GMAT world and in real life. And many GMAT students, handicapped ones in particular, face some additional difficulty in dealing with the particularities of the GMAT’s testing format. Luckily, the GMAT really does try to be as equal opportunity as possible in this regard.

    The GMAT and Disability Accommodations

    The GMAT can adapt to your disability

    There are a number of accommodations the GMAT makes for test-takers who are handicapped and/or face some circumstance that makes the test unusually difficult for them. The GMAC—which administers the GMAT—says it is willing and able to make “reasonable” accommodations. However, there are some things you have to know and do in order to access these accommodations.

    No one is automatically qualified

    Most of the relevant information is covered in a supplement to the GMAT handbook. The most important thing you need to know is that no one automatically qualifies for any particular need for accommodations—you have to request accommodations, and requests are decided on a case-by-case basis.

    Submitting an accommodation request to the GMAC

    Do it before you sign up for a test

    The GMAC instructs that, after familiarizing yourself with their disability accommodations policies, you should create an account but not sign up for a test until you receive a decision on your request, along with further instructions. And it takes approximately a month to receive a decision, assuming everything goes properly, so it’s a good idea to take care of this as far in advance of your desired test date as possible.

     

    Submit relevant documentation

    As part of your request, you’ll be asked to submit some sort of recent documentation regarding your particular disability or circumstance, in addition to a written explanation of how this affects your test-taking ability, and what sort of accommodations you are seeking.

     

    If you don’t know the exact answers to questions, we suggest you try to replicate all the test day conditions for the duration of one full-length practice test. It should be easy enough to replicate, as all the details are available in the GMAT handbook and the disability accommodations supplement.

     

    Take a practice test first

    You can even download a practice test from GMAC itself to perfectly replicate the software you’ll be using on test day. While doing this, take note of what elements of the experience present you with unique difficulties, and what simple accommodations might present solutions to those problems.

    Common GMAT disabilities and accommodations

    As we said, the GMAC website contains a lot of information, and even has some dedicated supplements for some of the most common disabilities cited in accommodation requests. The most commonly cited disabilities are:

    • Attention Deficit/ Hyperactivity Disorder
    • Learning and cognitive disorders
    • Physical and systemic disabilities
    • Psychological disabilities
    • Sensory disabilities (vision and hearing)

    The most commonly requested accommodations are:

    • Additional testing time (50% or 100% more time)
    • One additional test break OR extended test breaks
    • A reader who can read items to you
    • A recorder who can record your responses
    • JAWS software of Zoom Text

    Keep in mind

    The GMAC specifically notes that you should only request accommodations that allow you to approximate equal footing with other test-takers. The accommodations, in line with the ADA, aren’t designed to “maximize outcomes.” In other words, asking for more time just because you want the advantage of having more time to answer those data sufficiency questions is a no-no.

    mm
    Dave Green
    Senior tutor and professional test-prep writer. Interdisciplinary wizard, with Master’s degrees in economics, philosophy, and political science at HUJI.

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