RAD - Special Consideration

[Dance.Mum]

Can anyone let me know of reasons a DC might get additional marks for an examination under the special consideration box?  Could this have been applied due to COVID?

[glowlight]

There's a policy document on the RAD website:

https://media.royalacademyofdance.org/media/2019/10/09110909/201901009-reasonable-adjustments-and-special-consideration-policies-and-procedures.pdf

 

It looks as if a request for 'Special Consideration' has to come from either the student, their parent, or teacher.  So if you didn't apply, maybe your teacher did?

 

It includes the following examples:

 

1. The following are examples of circumstances which may lead to special consideration being applied, provided they are substantiated by medical documentation or other evidence as appropriate:

   1. 2.2.1  serious disturbance or disruption during the examination such as a fire alarm or power failure

   2. 2.2.2  temporary illness, injury, or indisposition either before or during the examination (but assuming that the candidate attempted to, or did, complete the examination, and did not elect to withdraw)

   3. 2.2.3  illness during the examination of the examiner, pianist, or music operator

   4. 2.2.4  recent bereavement or terminal illness of a member of the candidate’s family, close friend, teacher, or pet

   5. 2.2.5  serious and disruptive domestic or personal crisis leading to acute anxiety and/or depression

[Dance*is*life]

The RAD have introduced many overall concessions due to Covid, such as not having to prepare exercises on both sides - these have become teacher's or candidate's choice of sides.  The special consideration is individual and not Covid related.

[Dance.Mum]

Thank you @glowlight I read this but it didn’t think any applied to DC.

@Dance*is*life this sounds like it might be what happened - I recall DC saying something about the side they did things on  - I will ask them.

 

They didn’t get anything on the previous exam and that was in the midst of COVID as well.  It doesn’t change the award so it was of no real importance.  I have had the marks card for a while now and only saw this when putting it away.

 

Thank you both for commenting. 😊

[Farawaydancer]

Dd had some marks added under this category for one of her vocational exams, when the studio they were in was “hotter than the sun” but also the pianist seemed to be having an off day and was playing inconsistently (maybe to do with the heat). This came about from the examiner on the day, not requested by the pupils or teachers. 

[balletgremlin]

My school had an entire exam session get the additional 3 marks - back in March 2020. On the Monday they were told exams would go ahead as normal, on Wednesday they were told they'd been cancelled and Thursday that they'd be filmed instead, all to take place on the Friday & Saturday.

[hfbrew]

I got special consideration marks for a set which included a deaf student when the nervous interpreter missed a couple of vital cues and put all the candidates off. 

[Anna C]

On 16/10/2021 at 16:52, Farawaydancer said:

Dd had some marks added under this category for one of her vocational exams, when the studio they were in was “hotter than the sun” but also the pianist seemed to be having an off day and was playing inconsistently (maybe to do with the heat). This came about from the examiner on the day, not requested by the pupils or teachers. 

 

Sounds like the day dd took her Advanced 2 at RAD HQ. ☀️😳 It was 33 degrees outside but the exam was in the big upstairs “greenhouse” studio (Genée, maybe?) with the huge windows, lunchtime sun roasting the studio.  The one fan was pointing at the Examiner.  I don’t like to imagine what the temperature in the studio must have been, but Special Consideration marks were awarded. 

[Sadielou]

My student took Advanced 2 at RAD headquarters this summer. On exam day due to sickness there was no pianist so accompaniment was by taped music.The day after the RAD emailed to apologize about the lack of a pianist and to ask if I would like to make a complaint directing me to the link to fill in a complaint form, which asked if there was any specific section of the exam that the student in question was disadvantaged.
 

This student had attended an Advanced 2 exam intensive at Headquarters on the Monday through Friday before her scheduled Sunday exam. Throughout the course the students were accompanied by piano and had been told that the pianist would play to their tempo during the pointe work turn sections - specifically fouettés and turns round the room. As there was no pianist on exam day and the taped tempo was much faster than had been rehearsed, this section went particularly badly for the student in question. So as prompted this is what we put on the form.
 

When the RAD came back to us  we were told that because of the lack of pianist two special consideration marks would be awarded.

However when we received the exam results this student was awarded 57 marks - generally a Merit - but not this time as result read  “Standard not attained” .
 

In both Advanced 1 and 2 the examinees now have to attain 4 out of 10 marks in each of the 10 sections of the exam to receive a Pass / Merit / Distinction regardless of the total mark. All lower RAD exams are passed on the total mark anything over 40. So hypothetically a student could pass Advanced 1 or 2 with 40 marks  - gaining 4 marks in each section, but could fail Advanced 1 or 2 with 97 marks if all sections were perfect and one was marked as a three.

 

Scrutinizing my students marks, seven sections were marked at 6 and two at 5. There was one section marked at 3 which was the very section we had pointed out on the complaint form. I contacted the RAD and asked why the Special consideration marks had not been added to the section that they were awarded for and was told that these marks can only be added to a total mark, which at Advanced level makes no difference at all to the outcome. They could have awarded 20 extra marks and the standard still would have not been attained. This makes the awarding of these marks totally nonsensical and purely virtue signaling of behalf of the RAD for something that was their fault.

 

The student in question has loved her ballet throughout the years and this was her last exam before leaving for Uni. She is not a dancer and was doing this purely for her own satisfaction and would have been very happy to receive a pass in her last ballet exam. So failing by one mark through no 

fault of her own is extremely upsetting. 
 

I have made a complaint to the RAD but basically have been told that the computer says no. I would just like to know if anybody else out there teachers / parents/ students have had similar problems. I am now very angry about this and would like to take it further.

[Meetmeatthebarre]

4 hours ago, Sadielou said:

My student took Advanced 2 at RAD headquarters this summer...

 

Sadielou, I have no specific experience or advice I can offer (I clicked through the thread thinking it was about COVID-related concessions), but wanted to extend my sympathy. What a horrible set of circumstances. 

 

Reading between the lines however, it seems like a lot of emotional weight has been placed upon this being a "last ballet exam" at the highest level, before stopping being a "dancer" and progressing onto an academic career. Isn't a retake possible, especially when she is already at standard, but for these circumstances? Whilst it's nice to have that symmetry to closure, the two don't always coincide. Regrets (I have a few) but a close parallel is my piano performance diploma, which was not quite ready before I left for university, and which I elected not to continue whilst there, wanting a "fresh start". A decade on, I wish I had put in those few months, just to put a crown to the multiple years of work to get there, even if I had wanted to leave serious study of music behind at that juncture. 

 

Sending you and your student virtual hugs whatever you decide. 

[taxi4ballet]

On 22/10/2021 at 15:31, Sadielou said:

This student had attended an Advanced 2 exam intensive at Headquarters on the Monday through Friday before her scheduled Sunday exam. Throughout the course the students were accompanied by piano and had been told that the pianist would play to their tempo during the pointe work turn sections - specifically fouettés and turns round the room. 
 

I have made a complaint to the RAD but basically have been told that the computer says no. I would just like to know if anybody else out there teachers / parents/ students have had similar problems. I am now very angry about this and would like to take it further.

 

So the computer was in the studio during the exam, was it?

 

I am furious on your student's behalf.

 

Could you contact the RAD and ask them to speak to the teacher in charge of the intensive during the week prior to the exam? Perhaps they could comsult this teacher and ask whether they think the student's exam marks show a true picture or whether she was severely disadvantaged during that particular section, and had actually performed far better when dancing with a pianist during the intensive.

[Dance*is*life]

Sadielou,  I agree that that is really unfair and should be addressed!   At the very least I would have expected the music operator to have slowed the music for each candidate individually.   Under the circumstances the fact that this was thrown at the students was totally unacceptable.   Some of the CD timings are impossibly fast at all levels!  I really can't believe that at RAD headquarters they couldn't provide a pianist!  

 

When I took my Advanced (2) over 55 years ago, the examiner was known to be so tough that one candidate immediately dropped out, leaving myself and a student who was on her 6th try.  Pass mark was then 50 or even 60 I believe and like today all sections had to be passed.  The poor girl I was with failed for a 7th time and I got a pass.  I was relieved to have passed, but thinking about it now, I imagine it was one of the reasons the Royal Ballet School did not let me enter for Solo Seal, which I have always regretted.  Like your student, I really wanted to reach that final exam. 

 

In the old days you had to pass every section for all the vocational exams.  I remember a case where a colleague entered a student for her Elementary exam and for whatever reason she failed the pointe.  Undeterred her teacher entered her the following year for both Elementary (Intermediate today) and Intermediate (Advanced 1).  She passed the one she had previously failed with Highly Commended and the Advanced 1 with Commended!

 

As your student got decent marks for the rest of the exam, I would not let this go. It was not as if she'd got all 4s and 5s.  Had they provided a pianist, she might very well have passed the  pointe section.  What did she get for the technique mark of the variation?  That might help your quest.  

 

Edited October 31, 2021 by Dance*is*life