Accessing Bluebook Features and Content

Keyboard Shortcuts

Students testing with certain types of assistive technology may find it helpful to use keyboard shortcuts to navigate within the digital exam. Open the More menu in Bluebook to see keyboard shortcuts listed for your operating system. No separate configuration is needed to use keyboard shortcuts.

Move (Drag) Calculator and Reference Sheet with Keyboard

The built-in calculator and reference sheets in Bluebook can be moved with the keyboard. Navigate to the Move (Calculator or Reference) button with the Tab key. Place the Move button into a draggable or “pressed” state by pressing the Space bar or Enter key.  

Note for JAWS and NVDA Users: Users of JAWS and NVDA must “pass through” the Space bar or Enter keystrokes to put the button into a pressed state. 

JAWS Users

• Press Insert (JAWS key) + 3 and then press the Enter key or Space bar to put the move button into a pressed state.
• To move the calculator or reference dialogs, JAWS users may want to force PC cursor mode by pressing Insert + Z and then move the window with the Arrow keys. 
  • Press Insert + Z again to return the virtual PC cursor.

NVDA Users

• Press Insert + Space for focus mode so the Enter or Space keys can put the move button into a pressed state.
  • Press Insert + Space again to return to browse mode.

iPad Only: Keyboard Navigation with Special Characters and Answer Options

• Keyboard-only users can open the special characters when focus is in the Free Response Editor by pressing Command + Control + /.
• When the special characters are displayed, keyboard-only users can navigate with the Tab key when using an external keyboard. 
• Keyboard-only users can press Enter to choose a special character that is focused. The choice will be added as a textual value within the Free Response Editor.

iPad Only: Navigating Multiple-Choice Answer Options

• Keyboard-only users can navigate to a Radio button option with the Tab key.
• Subsequent radio button options can be accessed with the Tab key along with the Space bar to make an explicit selection.
• Alternatively, keyboard-only users can navigate through multiple-choice options with Option + Arrow keys or Control + Arrow keys.

Recommended Verbosity and Punctuation Settings

SAT Reading and Writing Section Features in Bluebook

Underlined “Referenced Content” Text 

Some questions within the SAT Reading and Writing section contain underlined text that is the focus of a question. The underlined sentences are structured as landmark regions and are identifiable and navigable with mainstream screen readers like JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, ChromeVox, and Narrator.

Answer Options with Differing Punctuation

Some questions within the SAT Reading and Writing section contain answer options that have varying punctuation characters. Some mainstream screen readers will not announce these punctuation characters by default. Users of screen readers like JAWS, NVDA, VoiceOver, ChromeVox, and Narrator must ensure that the punctuation settings are set correctly.

Configure the verbosity, punctuation, text processing, and other settings for each digital exam subject as needed. Configuration needs to be done before opening Bluebook to answer preview questions and again before exam day. Configurations must be in place before students begin the check-in process on exam day. On exam day, students won’t be able to adjust these settings after entering the start code at the end of the check-in process. Follow these steps below:

JAWS Screen Reader

Adjust the voice profile, speaking rate, verbosity, and punctuation settings before test day. 

1. From the JAWS Quick Settings Center (JAWS Key + F2 > choose Quick Settings):
   • Go to Punctuation and select from the Punctuation Level drop-down list.  

     • A higher level of punctuation can be helpful for proofreading and editing.  

     • Some students find a lower level is less distracting for more casual reading.  

     • Click Apply, then OK.  

2. Go to Virtual Cursor Verbosity Level:  

   • Configure the Virtual Cursor Verbosity Level to High so that regions within passages will be announced. 

NVDA Screen Reader

Adjust the voice profile, speaking rate, verbosity, and punctuation settings before test day. 

1. From the NVDA Menu, go to Preferences and Settings (Insert + N > Preferences > Settings):  

   • To set landmark and region announcements, choose Document Formatting in the list within the Settings dialog. 

     • Navigate to the Elements group and check (enable) Landmarks and Regions

• To set Punctuation, choose the Speech category in the list within the Settings dialog. 

  • Navigate to the Punctuation/symbol level combo box.  

    1.  A higher level of punctuation can be helpful for proofreading and editing. 

    2. Some students find a lower level is less distracting for more casual reading. 

• Alternatively, NVDA users can change punctuation settings without going through Settings by activating the keystrokes Insert + P. 

By default, the NVDA screen reader will only announce ellipses (e.g., “...”) when punctuation settings are set to All. College Board Accessibility Compliance Office (ACO) recommends that NVDA users set the symbol/punctuation level of ellipses to Most. 

Symbol punctuation in NVDA can be adjusted to align with the speech punctuation. From the NVDA Settings (Insert + N > Preferences > Punctuation/symbol pronunciation), select Symbols to adjust the level and select an option as appropriate:

• Filter by the text “...”
• Navigate to the Level combo box and choose Most
• Either All or Most is recommended for the SAT Reading and Writing section and AP Exams that contain ellipses

Apple VoiceOver

Speech, Verbosity Category, VoiceOver Utility for macOS

Use the Speech pane of the Verbosity category in VoiceOver Utility to specify the verbosity level. 

• From System Preferences > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Open VoiceOver Utility > Verbosity > Text > Punctuation:  

  • A higher level of punctuation can be helpful for proofreading and editing.  

  • Some students find a lower level is less distracting for more casual reading. 

• Alternatively, punctuation can be adjusted while VoiceOver is enabled:  

  • Press VO-F8. Navigate to Verbosity > Text tab > Punctuation.  

  • To use the Verbosity rotor to change the default verbosity level while working, press VO-V > Punctuation > All. 

Windows Narrator

Narrator key: Caps Lock or Insert

Verbosity

To change the level of verbosity, press Narrator + V or Narrator + Shift + V until you hear the level of detail you want.

Formatting

To hear formatting attributes, press Narrator + F. To hear the next group of formatting attributes, press Narrator + F again. To hear the previous group of formatting attributes, press Narrator + Shift + F.

Punctuation 

To change how punctuation is read aloud, press:
•    Narrator + Alt + Subtract (numeric keypad)
•    Narrator + Alt + Minus sign (-)
•    Narrator + Alt + Add (numeric keypad)
•    Narrator + Alt + Plus sign (+)

You can select from the following levels of description:
•    Default. Hear little to no punctuation. Natural pauses will indicate items such as commas and periods.
•    Math. Hear most mathematical symbols.
•    Some. Hear most conversational punctuation, such as commas and periods.
•    Most. Hear additional symbols, such as parentheses.
•    All. Hear all punctuation, including all special symbols.

ChromeVox

• To adjust punctuation levels with ChromeVox, press Search + A then P to cycle through the options and choose “All.” 
  • Important: Note that ChromeVox reads “commas” after all punctuation characters by default. 

• By default, ChromeVox should have the “Enable verbose descriptions” setting checked. This setting will allow the “referenced content” region to be announced when navigating with the ChromeVox cursor.  

• If this setting is not enabled, then users of ChromeVox must have the managed Chromebook setup to display the Kiosk Floating Accessibility Menu enabled to access ChromeVox Options: 

  • Press Shift + Alt + L to open the accessibility menu, then press enter on “Open Accessibility Settings.”  

    • Note: Focus should land on this option right after pressing Shift + Alt + L. 

  • Navigate to and activate Accessibility settings. 

  • On the Manage Accessibility Features screen, navigate to and activate ChromeVox settings. 

  • Navigate to and check (enable) the “Enable verbose descriptions” setting. 

Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Content

Some STEM content within Bluebook exams may contain acronyms, chemical equations, camelCase, or PascalCase that need to be announced clearly or verbatim by screen readers. Below are specific screen reader commands that will announce capital letters distinctly with varying pitch or, depending on the screen reader and operating system, spell out the content character-by-character.

JAWS Screen Reader

• INSERT + Numpad 5 twice quickly. 
• If using a keyboard without a numeric keypad, INSERT + K twice quickly. 
• Refer to JAWS Reading Commands.

NVDA Screen Reader

• INSERT + Numpad 5 twice quickly. 
• If using a keyboard without a numeric keypad, INSERT + K twice quickly. 
• Refer to WebAIM Keyboard Shortcuts for NVDA - Reading Text.

VoiceOver on macOS

• VO-W-W. 
• Refer to Use VoiceOver to correct misspelled words on Mac.

VoiceOver on iOS

• Set VoiceOver settings using the rotor to Characters. 
• Refer to Control VoiceOver using the rotor on iPhone. 

ChromeVox on ChromeOS 

• In ChromeVox Options choose ‘Speak “cap” before letter’ from the “When reading capitals” drop down 

• Students may also find it helpful to have ChromeVox phonetically spell out text by pressing: Search + A, then C 

• Learn how to use the built-in screen reader.

Narrator 

In Narrator settings > Change what you hear when reading and interacting > Change how capitalized text is read: 

• Don’t Announce (default) 

• Increase Pitch 

• Say Cap 

Keyboard shortcut: Press Narrator + 4 to change how capitalized text is read. 

Annotations

The annotation tool in Bluebook contains features to enable students with disabilities to use screen reader software and/or a keyboard only to highlight text from a question or leave themselves a note. This guide provides detailed steps for using the annotation tool on all operating systems.