ADHD accommodations and their requirements

[DCD202]

---

Members do not see this ad.

Anyone apply for accommodations on the MCAT?

I finally got diagnosed with ADHD recently (like last week), and I am currently reading through the aamc requirements to prove I need accommodations. Problem is that I have no track record of other institutions providing testing accommodations because I have been suffering quietly all these years. Anyways, so anyone else out there have any suggestions? I feel like aamc is not going to grant me the time extension because I am newly diagnosed and have no track record even though my doctor clearly indicates that I have it.

 

[mascot]

I had ADHD when I was real young like 10. I was not tested but my family doctor handed out the diagnosis off hand to my mom at that time.
Since I got into a good reputable college I;ve been following up with my conselor and psychologist on campus. the combo of good counseling and behavior therapy has helped a great deal. all my tests from college are under timed conditions. I've never had trouble with any of my tests regarding time, never asked for accomodations. I'm now a senior graduating soon, with 3.7 GPA, I;ve also passed some other important tests in the past without accomodations. just did MCAT this past week. I'm seen multiple people asking this question, think I might put in my two cents.
Dont let this be your hurdles think you cant surpass this. its treatable and nothing to be afraid about. also it interests me why you think ADHD has anything to do with timed situation?

Anyone apply for accommodations on the MCAT?

I finally got diagnosed with ADHD recently (like last week), and I am currently reading through the aamc requirements to prove I need accommodations. Problem is that I have no track record of other institutions providing testing accommodations because I have been suffering quietly all these years. Anyways, so anyone else out there have any suggestions? I feel like aamc is not going to grant me the time extension because I am newly diagnosed and have no track record even though my doctor clearly indicates that I have it.

 

[Pisiform]

.

 

[Pisiform]

I had ADHD when I was real young like 10. I was not tested but my family doctor handed out the diagnosis off hand to my mom at that time.
Since I got into a good reputable college I;ve been following up with my conselor and psychologist on campus. the combo of good counseling and behavior therapy has helped a great deal. all my tests from college are under timed conditions. I've never had trouble with any of my tests regarding time, never asked for accomodations. I'm now a senior graduating soon, with 3.7 GPA, I;ve also passed some other important tests in the past without accomodations. just did MCAT this past week. I'm seen multiple people asking this question, think I might put in my two cents.
Dont let this be your hurdles think you cant surpass this. its treatable and nothing to be afraid about. also it interests me why you think ADHD has anything to do with timed situation?

LOOK, ITS HER AGAIN.

THE COOLEST TROLL EVER

 

[mascot]

yeah! its me!!!😀😍😍

LOOK AT ME. I EVEN HAVE ADHD. COME IN HERE AND CELEBRATE.

you need a chill pill man. LOL.

LOOK, IT HIM AGAIN.

THE COOLEST TROLL

 

[mascot]

to make matters more complicated, , I'm a woman!
"look shes woman, so she's a crazy troll".
😍😍


QUOTE=Pisiform;9969014]LOOK, ITS HIM AGAIN.

THE COOLEST TROLL EVER
[/QUOTE]

 

[Dianyla]

Anyone apply for accommodations on the MCAT?

I finally got diagnosed with ADHD recently (like last week), and I am currently reading through the aamc requirements to prove I need accommodations.

I got diagnosed a few months before taking the MCAT. My advice is for you to try the medications and work through the behavioral retraining stuff.

If you respond well to meds+behavioral therapy, you'll be as functional as a person without ADHD, and therefore won't need accommodations. This should be your goal and highest priority.

If the meds are strongly counterindicated for you and you can't work through stuff with coaching/habit retraining, then you could try requesting accomodations. I believe it's fairly unusual to be granted any, though.

 

[DCD202]

I got diagnosed a few months before taking the MCAT. My advice is for you to try the medications and work through the behavioral retraining stuff.

If you respond well to meds+behavioral therapy, you'll be as functional as a person without ADHD, and therefore won't need accommodations. This should be your goal and highest priority.

If the meds are strongly counterindicated for you and you can't work through stuff with coaching/habit retraining, then you could try requesting accomodations. I believe it's fairly unusual to be granted any, though.

That's disappointing that they do not offer testing accommodations more often.

My biggest problem is I have no proof. no 504 or IEP or anything. I have always done well in school (4.5 in high school and 3.6 in college).

I'm getting 2's on Verbal even though I majored in dramatic literature in college! I just cannot finish the test fast enough due to my slow reading speeds. i have to reread paragraphs in the passage, question stems, and answer choices multiple times, which leads me to not being able to complete on time (even with active reading).

@ mascot, I did well in college and high school because the tests test my knowledge, not processing speeds or reading speeds. w/e i missed in class due to me not paying attention i would make up by going back into the text book to cement any cracks in the info i learned. on tests in college, the topics are familar, the answers are short answer and questions are less convoluted, requiring less concentration. so, i had an easier time adapting and did well. point is: i need testing accommodations because I am scoring well below the 25% percentile without it (2's on verbal is embarrassing for someone who majored in any field related to literature).

btw, i appreciate your input mascot. in fact, all input is welcomed because I feel as if i do not have very many resources since i graduated college (no access to disabilities center to follow through with me, and etc)

 

[LawNonTrad]

DCD202,

I have had (and been diagnosed with) ADHD (predominately inattentive) and severe dysgraphia (a writing disability) since I was born. Teachers noticed both about age 6, but I was not diagnosed until age 14 because ADHD is considered a relatively new learning disability, and in middle school my poor grades were chalked up to laziness and lack of motivation. Fortunately, there is medication for the ADHD that allows me to manage it quite nicely, but no such medication exists for the dysgraphia. I'll never be a great or even average writer, and my penmanship will always be horrific.

That said, I won't be applying for accommodations on the MCAT because the schools can see when someone takes the test untimed. I also want to do my best on the test without any additional or unwarranted help. I will, however, be mentioning the dysgraphia in my personal statement.

Forgive my bluntness, but if you just got diagnosed with ADHD last week, that is going to look mighty suspicious to the AAMC. I'm not affiliated with them (just another premed like you, albeit a nontrad one), but I think that the chances of you obtaining accommodations after such a recent (and it might also be seen as convenient) diagnosis are between slim and none.

From what I understand, the AAMC is reticent to give these timing accommodations to people with proven, long-term learning disabilities (people like myself). They'll look upon your claim with a substantially higher degree of skepticism, as they should. People with untreated ADHD are substantially less likely to finish high school, let alone complete college, which you seem to be doing just fine. If your doctor puts you on medication and it works wonders for you, then you probably do have ADHD, and thus no longer have any need for said accommodations.

Regardless, best of luck to you in your quest to obtain these accommodations.

 

[mascot]

well, I knwo what MCAT verbal is about, i guess you didnt read carefully. I'm done with it, and of course its partly speed of processing, i'm sure your college has a department that can help you particularly on speed itself, even the community college I went to many year ago tested our reading speed before we could take a english class, and have specific classes tailored for us. however I passed it the first time because I had no problem, so I never knwo how nice the classes might have helped me (not that I needed help).
an old champ I know with very low verbal scores on the GRE from 1999, has passed verbal with a not so humble score, ( a huge improvement for him), so you can do it.

That's disappointing that they do not offer testing accommodations more often.

My biggest problem is I have no proof. no 504 or IEP or anything. I have always done well in school (4.5 in high school and 3.6 in college).

I'm getting 2's on Verbal even though I majored in dramatic literature in college! I just cannot finish the test fast enough due to my slow reading speeds.

@ mascot, I did well in college and high school because the tests test my knowledge, not processing speeds or reading speeds. w/e i missed in class due to me not paying attention i would make up by going back into the text book to cement any cracks in the info i learned. point is: i need testing accommodations because I am scoring well below the 25% percentile without it.

btw, i appreciate your input mascot. in fact, all input is welcomed because I feel as if i do not have very many resources since i graduated college (no access to disabilities center to follow through with me, and etc)

 

[BigRedder]

If you are actually getting 2s, that is embarrassing for anyone that can read English, let alone studied Literature, and I would expect that a deficit of attention would hurt every section. Did you just start taking medication? Maybe it is dulling your ability to think creatively and expansively, and you are just zooming in on superficial details. I am sure that I have some sort of attention deficit, and most of my teachers in grade school would agree. Terrible time management, horribly distractable. I couldn't study worth a damn until late college. But verbal was my best section. Why? I think that my mind was working so fast on every little piece of the passage that I noticed things that helped me answer the question. ADHD medication works by focusing you on a task. You will read the passage and not get distracted by the other kid typing away at his keyboard, but will your mind start spinning out the meaning and looking between the lines? I'm not so sure. Maybe you should talk to your doctor about coming off your medication to see if it helps your performance. You've gotten this far without it!

 

[LawNonTrad]

Hey DC,

I hope you don't mind, but I wanted to expand a bit on my earlier thoughts.

I'm just a fellow premed, but I have to think that if you are successful in receiving accommodations for ADHD, that this will throw up big red flags to ad-comms. They will expect you to take tests like the USMLE without accommodations and they will have grave concerns about your test-taking ability because you don't always have large amounts of time to make decisions in medicine. Thinking critically and thinking fast are important tools. So I actually think that even if you are successful in receiving these accommodations for your ADHD (and the decision of whether or not to apply for them is yours to make and yours alone), that this could possibly kill your application. It will undoubtedly come up in every interview because, as mentioned earlier, every MCAT that is done with accommodations (like extended time) is flagged by AMCAS and the medical schools see that. They will ask you what the accommodations were for and you will have to tell them that you have ADHD.

I don't think that ad-comms really have a problem with ADHD assuming that is is managed through medication (as I do). But ADHD that isn't treatable with medication or therapy is probably a disqualifier for most medical schools. Now if you did well in school then the medical school would probably never even know about your ADHD UNLESS you told them, but if you're successful in obtaining these accommodations, they will automatically know about it (because they will ask), and I think you're done. I don't want that to screw yourself out of a good chance at medical school. You may need higher doses of whatever you're on (Adderall? Adderall XR? Concerta? Ritalin?) Giving the name would help, I've been on pretty much all of them at one time or another.

Ad-comms on here or more knowledgeable people can correct me about any of the above if any of it was incorrect, but that's what I've heard from multiple people.

Good luck.

 

[RogueUnicorn]

this entire discussion is a moot point. the aamc will not give you any consideration. there are very specific requirements (you can look them up) and you meet essentially none of them

 

[DrBowtie]

this entire discussion is a moot point. the aamc will not give you any consideration. there are very specific requirements (you can look them up) and you meet essentially none of them

This. They are very strict about the requirements.