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Administering digital tests with accommodations is very similar to administering the tests without them, but there are a few key differences.

Preparing to Give Tests with Accommodations

SSD coordinators need to check these tasks off their list before test day:

  • Request accommodations for students who need them. As with paper testing, College Board approval is required for students taking the SAT and PSAT 10. Students taking the PSAT 8/9 don't need College Board approval, but they can request it.
  • Complete the required training.
  • Work with the test coordinator to confirm that there will be enough testing rooms available for each testing group.
  • Order paper testing materials if you’re testing students who use accommodations that require them. PSAT 8/9 materials can be ordered on the test ordering website. For other tests, follow the instructions provided in your school's training materials or by your department of education.

Encourage Student Practice

Students can practice in the secure browser, where they can adjust the settings and use assistive technology to simulate their test day experience. They can do this on their own, but we recommend scheduling a practice session or using your preadministration session.

Practice is especially important for students who use screen readers. Several third-party screen readers, including recent versions of JAWS, have been tested to confirm compatibility. However, students use a variety of third-party software, so we recommend testing any approved assistive technology before test day.

Learn how to help students practice testing with accommodations.

Setting Accommodations in TIDE

The test coordinator or SSD coordinator needs to select the appropriate approved accommodations for each student in TIDE's Test Settings and Tools section. Universal tools, available to all students, aren't accommodations and don't need to be set in TIDE. See below to learn how to configure settings.

TIDE Test Settings

You can manage test settings in TIDE by searching for students and selecting their settings manually, or by uploading a file.

  1. To search for a student, select View/Edit/Export Students from the Student Information menu.
  2. Click the pencil icon next to the student's name in the search results.
  3. Expand the sections and make the appropriate selections. Find out which options to choose for students who use English learner (EL) supports, TTS, JAWS, NVDA, or STT.
  4. Click Save.

Make Critical Manual Selections

Before you can successfully upload your file, you'll need to make a few manual selections in each student's record.

  1. Follow the steps above, How to Select Test Settings for One Student, to set accommodations attributes on each student.
  2. For PSAT 10 and SAT: In the Accommodations drop-down, do one of the following:
    • Select College Board Accommodations if the accommodations have been approved by the College Board Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) program.
    • Select State-Allowed Accommodations if your school is part of a state contract and the accommodations are state allowed, not College Board approved.
    • Make no selection if the student is taking the PSAT 8/9 and their accommodations aren't approved by College Board or the state.
  3. Select Yes for Non-Embedded Accommodations if the student will use accommodations implemented outside the Cambium Assessment, Inc.™ (CAI) test delivery system, such as separate settings, writers/scribes, and human readers.
  4. Make no selection for English Learner (EL) Supports if the student will be using time and one-half (+50%) extended time for English learners.

    Do not include this student in the upload file unless they are receiving additional accommodations.


    Note: Don't select anything for English learners who are using EL supports with or without extended time or any other accommodation.
  5. Repeat steps 1–4 for each student you will upload.

Download a Template

  1. Log in to TIDE.
  2. From the Test Settings and Tools menu, select Upload Test Settings and Tools.
  3. Use the Download Template drop-down to download the Excel or .csv template.

Prepare Your File

  1. Open the file in a spreadsheet application like Excel or a text editor.
  2. For each student, add a row for every test setting the student needs in every test section. The example below includes settings for a student approved for text-to-speech and double time (+100%). There are 9 rows for that student: 5 for text-to-speech (one for each test section) and 4 for double time (extended time isn’t applied to the Questionnaire because it's untimed).
  3. In column A, add the student's registration number exactly as it appears in TIDE.
  4. Select from the drop-down options in columns B–D. Find out which options to choose for students who use English learner (EL) supports, TTS, JAWS, NVDA, or STT.
  5. Save the file.
screenshot of an example spreadsheet

Upload Your File

  1. On the Upload Test Settings and Tools page, click Browse to find the file you saved.
  2. Preview the file and make sure it has the correct values before clicking Continue with Upload. If you find errors, correct them by clicking Upload Revised File, and repeat the steps listed above.

Uploading your file can take a while; don’t press Cancel. Once the upload is complete, you'll see a confirmation.

Note: Large files are processed offline; you'll receive an email when the process is complete.

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