By Tara Weiss

Adarsh Vijay Mudgil thought his children had every advantage for college admissions: a top high school in Long Island that offers plenty of AP courses, test-prep tutors and a private adviser to guide them on applications.

Then his daughter told him at least 60 peers received extra time to finish the ACT during their junior year at Jericho High School.

Mudgil said he doubts they all had legitimate reasons for the special accommodation. More likely, they had parents who found a loophole.

"It's cheating," said Mudgil, 50, whose daughter is now at the University of Virginia. "It puts our kids at a disadvantage."

Test time has emerged as a fierce battleground among parents of high-schoolers. Students with diagnosed disabilities or medical issues for years have been given longer to finish college-entrance exams. But the ranks of the extra timers have surged, with a concentration in wealthy areas. And many parents are crying foul.

They're training their anger on families who are going to extremes for an edge, from spending $10,000 for a diagnosis from a neuropsychologist to finding a gastroenterologist to support requests for unlimited bathroom breaks.

Another tactic, several parents said: Seek out teachers who give their kid extra leeway with test time in class and have them write letters attesting to the student's anxiety or other reason for special treatment.

Mudgil, a dermatologist, devoted two episodes of his podcast -- typically about skin care, fitness and inspirational people -- to the topic.

"We're grooming a generation that is just not going to be capable of performing under pressure, and that's a scary thought," he said on an April episode titled "Special Accommodation or Cheating."

Accommodations vary and depend on the issue. They can include time-and-a-half or double time, testing in a separate room to reduce distractions or having unlimited breaks. Some students with severe anxiety can take the ACT over four days.

ADHD is a common reason. There are also psychiatric factors including anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Several Manhattan private-school parents said another key to getting extra time -- and unlimited bathroom breaks -- is enlisting a gastroenterologist to diagnose inflammatory bowel disease or irritable bowel syndrome.

Parents of children who have fought for extra time say they are tired of defending themselves, and call the cheating accusations offensive.

"You don't want this for your kid," said Marni Levine, a college counselor from Marlboro, N.J., whose now-adult daughter was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder in high school.

Levine said she got the "side eye" and questions from other parents about why her high-achieving student suddenly got time-and-a-half for the ACT and SAT. Since her test was administered in a separate room, peers noticed and asked questions. One critic then asked for her doctor's information.

"If you've got an awesomely average kid, take the win," Levine said. "Having an extra half-hour on the test is not going to get your kid into Harvard."

ACT spokesman Juan Elizondo said getting extra time isn't as simple as paying a neuropsychologist for an evaluation, which can cost between $2,000 and upwards of $10,000 and often isn't covered by insurance.

He said the ACT also looks for a demonstrated history of special allowances such as a customized curriculum or a 504 plan, a set of accommodations for students with learning disabilities.

The ACT said the share of exam takers who got special accommodations rose to 7% last year from 4.1% in 2013. The College Board, which administers the SAT, said about 6.7% of students taking the exam got extra time last year, compared with 2% a decade ago.

Shannon Alsheimer said students in her daughter Haylie's Carver, Mass., high school brag that "their mom got them a 504" before the SAT.

"We're making it too easy on kids to find excuses rather than digging deeper and putting the time and effort in," said Alsheimer, whose daughter starts at Boston College in the fall. "It's a crutch."

Laurie Kopp Weingarten, a college-admissions consultant in New Jersey, rarely got questions about extra time until about two years ago.

During a presentation at a Harvard Business School reunion, one mom asked if colleges know which students get the added time.

When Kopp Weingarten said no, the mom became visibly frustrated and said, "I feel like 80% of the students are getting extra time, and they don't need it!"

Now she gets the same question at every PTA meeting and presentation -- and she understands the exasperation.

"The accommodations were meant to level the playing field," she said. "But what's happening is they're tilting the playing field toward those with money and access."

Scott Hamilton, an Atlanta-based clinical psychologist, described a "surreal" experience with a family after he evaluated their high-school junior and didn't find evidence that an accommodation on the SAT was needed.

"In what universe do we live in when I said their kid functions really well and they were mad at me?" said Hamilton. "Not finishing the SAT is not a disability."

He said it's rare to diagnose a learning disability in high school, and when someone comes to him for an evaluation that's curiously close to the SAT or ACT, it's a "red flag."

"I agree wholeheartedly that accommodations are being abused, and my profession has contributed to this," he said. "I don't think it's a willful conspiracy, but we lean toward wanting to help."

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

May 18, 2026 21:00 ET (01:00 GMT)

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