Although EL students are allowed to apply for extra time on the SAT, not many take advantage of this fact.

College Board allows all students who have any implication that may cause them to read slower are allowed to apply for extended time on the SAT. This includes EL students. In order to apply for extended time you have to submit a request four weeks before the test. If granted, you get a time extension of 50% which equates to an extra hour and a half totaling to a full four hours on the SAT. Here at Morton East there are approximately 1200 EL students. Of those 1200, only 317 are Juniors taking the SAT this year and only 69 of the juniors applied for extra time on the SAT. This means that 21.8% of Junior EL students signed up for extended time.

“We encourage EL student to take advantage of the extra time and the use of a home language dictionary when they take the SAT.  Our main goal is for students to be able to show their true abilities.  The good news is that students who elect to take advantage of  these options earn reportable scores for college entrance and also for scholarships,” states Melody Becker, the EL director at Morton.

Extra time on the SAT’s relieves stress and many people wish they had the opportunity.

“I feel like extended time on my SAT would have helped me get a better score.” says Edgar Velasquez, a senior here a Morton East.

Although it being a great opportunity not many people know about extended time.

” It would be better if Morton announced better that we could apply for extended time if we have some sort of impairment,” states Morton East senior Gabriela Allon.