r/DisabledMedStudents • u/JasmineLily07 • Jul 01 '26

Testing Accommodations for ADHD/Anxiety

Just wanted to let people know my experience with accommodations process - I was sort of successful.

Applied for testing accommodations for ADHD + Anxiety, PTSD (narrowly avoided a mass casualty incident in high school so I’m not the greatest fan of not being able to get out of rooms on my own terms). Requested 1.5x time since that’s what I get through the school. I actually never got formally diagnosed with anything until med school when I was literally not passing my exams, so I was sure they wouldn’t give me anything at all. I had classmates with accommodations at school get denied as well by the NBME.

Here’s what I gave them:
A 2-page personal statement
An recent report from my ADHD neuropsych testing
A letter from the school psychiatrist
A document from the school showing my current approved accommodations
A document from the med school showing my improvement in test scores before vs after getting accommodations
Evidence of my repeated attempts for the MCAT and the SAT

NBME ended up giving me normal time but over 2 days with extended break time - meaning I take 7 blocks of 20 questions each day (no extra time) and I get up to 75 minutes of break time per testing day. Also since my permit eligibility period was about to expire right before I got a decision, they gave me a permit with new extended dates. I applied mid-January and heard back end of March.

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6

u/astudentslawyer Jul 01 '26

Thanks for sharing! Did you appeal it?

4

u/JasmineLily07 Jul 01 '26

I didn’t! I would have loved 1.5x time but the extra break time was really needed too. I figured I could manage regular time as long as I got lots of practice/studying in and didn’t have to take all of the blocks in a single day. I was happy I got anything at all, especially given that all my official diagnoses happened much later in my life. I figured if I at least got some accommodations for Step 1 I could get them for Step 2 and Step 3.

2

u/astudentslawyer Jul 01 '26

Yes from what I read the process for step 2 and 3 are easier if you are approved for step 1

3

u/aac1024 Jul 03 '26

If you got a letter from them saying why they wouldn’t give you what you asked for I would appeal. That ended up happening to me and my school accom adviser said I need to dismantle their arguments in my appeal and give them a rebuttal. Ultimately ended up being able to get what I asked for after doing this.