Added Test Time
Your March 6 editorial offering a “Bright Idea for a Fairer SAT” prompts me to suggest an even simpler idea: Ask the College Board to increase the time for all test-takers from three to four hours. It would still be a half-day test, but students would have about a third more time per question.
Your initial article on this subject noted that 20% of SAT takers do not finish the test. This is unfair: How can you determine what a person knows if you shut him off before he answers? Further, it puts emphasis on mastering quick ways to eliminate wrong answers, not on learning the subject matter being tested to identify the right answers.
More time will not eliminate all requests for ADA-mandated accommodations, but it should limit demands for extra time to those who really need it. I make this suggestion based on experience with a number of licensing and certification exams.
THOMAS M. STOUT
Northridge
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The only truly fair solution is for the scores of all persons granted extra time be made to bear an asterisk noting the point. The present unfairness comes when judgments are made without knowing who did or didn’t have that advantage.
RUSSELL DOOLITTLE
La Jolla
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