SAT/ACT extra time in Pennsylvania

An IEP or 504 from a Pennsylvania district or intermediate unit does not travel with your child onto the SAT or ACT. You file a packet. The testing company decides. In this state the packet is usually written by a certified school psychologist in private practice — Philadelphia, Bryn Mawr, Paoli, Pittsburgh, Harrisburg.

We list independent Pennsylvania evaluators who do SAT/ACT accommodation testing — certified school psychologists in private practice.

Browse Pennsylvania SAT/ACT evaluators

The school plan is not the application

College Board and ACT want their own file: a recent comprehensive evaluation, a history of the disability, and a specific ask (extra time, breaks, a reader, a separate room). The IEP or 504 is useful background. It does not approve extra time by itself. Families lose dates when they assume the counselor can “just send the plan.”

Start from the registration calendar, not from the test Saturday. Review queues move slowly. A report finished the week of the deadline is how people sit the test without accommodations and try again later.

What belongs in the packet

Ask the evaluator, before you book, whether they have written SAT or ACT documentation and what they put on the page. You want a diagnosis or identification that matches the request, scores that explain why standard timing fails, and accommodation language you can copy onto the form. A table of numbers with no ask is a wasted fee.

Nobody on this directory is pre-cleared by the testing companies. There is no badge for that. If a first submission comes back with questions, ask whether they will revise. Get that in the engagement, not after the denial.

Who writes this in Pennsylvania

Parents here usually hire a certified school psychologist in private practice. That is the same credential many districts already use, which helps when you also need the report for school. It does not mean the SAT will approve the request. The company reads the document, not the license title.

If the underlying issue is giftedness plus slow production, say so. A gifted identification alone is not extra time. You still need a disability-related rationale. IQ-only testing is a different page: gifted testing in Pennsylvania.

Dates, fees, and what “done” means

Private comprehensive evaluations in Pennsylvania typically land around $1,500–$3,000. That is a market range, not a quote. Confirm testing hours, the written report, and a parent conference. “Done” means you have a PDF you can upload, not a verbal summary after the last subtest.

A few weeks is a fair private timeline if they have an opening. Count backward from the company’s published deadline for that administration.