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timings of exams


balletmummy

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I'm not sure about specific timings - I would assume they would be set by the teacher? Obviously taking into account the examiner's travel arrangements.

 

Edited to add: Posting at the same time as Pictures. :-)

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I believe that if it's at an approved venue ie the school's own studio, then the teacher sets the times, but if it is at a RAV (approved venue set up by RAD) then it is set by the RAD themselves, taking into account travelling time etc of the participants ????

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I believe if it is at the schools own studio the teacher sets the times, although I think there may be guidelines. For instance if our teacher had five groups entered for grade five she would not put them all one after the other, but put a couple and then another grade. I do not know though if this is her preference or what she is supposed to do. I believe the examiner then has final say over the timetable about a week or ten days before. At our school it is often possible to swap times if needed by taking to the teacher. For recent exams for instance some groups needed changing round due to GCSE practical exams in school. We have however had a phone call before now only 48 hours before an exam when an examiner has changed her travel plans or wanted an earlier or later lunch and out exam time has changed by half an hour or so

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The timetable of the day (as in, the order of the exams) is set by the teacher but the start time is usually pre-determined by the regional organizer. It is possible for a teacher to request a certain start time and if the organizer can accommodate it then they may try to but it's very complicated organizing exam tours as the regions as quite large and examiners might have to travel quite a distance even if they're based within one region for the session. Exam days usually start at 10.00am (in my experience) so it's possible to predict roughly when an exam might be so if you have a request talk to your teacher and see if you can work it out.

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The teacher sets out the order in which sets are to be examined. RAD set timings. But unless otherwise stated the start time of first morning exam is usually 10am so I make a rough time table from that. Sometimes I've requested breaks at certain times to allow for pianist change and this has been granted.

 

A £25 administration charge is made by the RAD to late time table changes. And I have to say it's a pain jiggling around sets once everyone has been set a time and made plans accordingly.

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Its that 10am start that has affected us on more that one occasion when an examiner has decided to drive rather than go by train or vice versa and fairly last minute has decided she would rather start at 9:30, or the opposite and has delayed her start time to 11 am. On one occasion we got the phonecall from the dance school the day before that everything would be running half an hour early as snow was forecast for later in the day so the examiner wanted to start early.

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Our exams usually start at 9am or 9.30am, so that we can finish in time to start teaching as usual.  Our first classes are at 15.45.  There are mandatory length breaks throughout the day for coffee and lunch and we set the day to make it both varied and interesting for the examiner.  Having a day full of just one grade, for example, is really wearing on both pianist and examiner!  We usually start with the youngest ones and rotate throughout the day with the different grades.  The National Administrator makes the travel arrangements for the examiner, so that she can stay in one hotel for as long as possible and not have to travel longer distances than is necessary.  Within the two or three days that we are allotted, we can in principal change groups round if there is a problem, such as if, as someone mentioned, there is suddenly an important school exam that they can't miss.  The teacher knows who lives the furthest away from the school, so would presumably ensure that those girls don't start the day.  We usually ask the girls to come 1 1/4 hours ahead of their exam, so that they have plenty of time for warming up and preparing themselves.  The actual length of the exams is set by the Academy and must be adhered to.

Edited by Dance*is*life
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