What is a 'typical' result for RAD Inter Foundation?

[mumofdd]

My daughter (just turned 12) took her IF exam at the weekend.  She joined the IF class last September and so had not had anywhere near the number of guided learning hours recommended by the RAD.  I think she's spent around 65-70 hours working on the IF syllabus.  She got her first pair of pointe shoes during the summer holidays (this year) so is pretty new to pointe, but has beautiful, strong feet.  Her result is already back... a 3-day turnaround has to be a record!!  She has passed with a merit (58 marks).  Is that a good result for somebody of her age?  She took her RAD Grade 3 exam in April this year and is used to achieving higher marks, but I understand that the examiners are much stricter in the vocational exams.

[EverHopeful]

Wow that is incredibly quick to receive results! Was it an in person exam, and in which part of the country are you based? 
It is pretty common for scores to be lower in the vocational exams I think, and Inter-Foundation is quite a step up from Grade 3. It sounds like she be has done very well. And congratulations for doing pointe work in an exam after only a few months!

[mumofdd]

Yes, it was in-person and we're in Norfolk.  There were 2 examiners present, so that could be why the results have come back so quickly, as the results haven't needed further verification...

[Laura_ballet]

Well done to your daughter on her exam. I can appreciate its hard to receive a lower score when you’re used to the graded system. I guess it’s worth remembering that the vocational exams are examining ballet in a different context, related to ballet being a “vocation” rather than just a hobbie. Don’t get me wrong, the vocational exams are open to all however the marking system is harder to fulfil as the technique and artistry required is more in line with what expected when training to a professional level. Hope that helps. And I hope your daughter isn’t disheartened.  Maybe run a grade class alongside the vocational classes so she gets to experience both standards 

[Kerfuffle]

I think she can hold her head up high with her exam result! It does get harder as you go on but remember that these exams don’t mean a huge amount - and if she does want to pursue it as a career they really don’t make any difference. My DD is applying to upper schools and only one so far has even asked for her exam results - we spent a fortune on them all so it’s actually a bit annoying 😉 

[glowlight]

I remember my dd's teacher giving us forewarning that we could expect results from vocational exams to be lower than graded.

 

To achieve a Merit in her IF is a great achievement, especially as she has only had 3 months working on the syllabus.

[HopelessMummy]

8 hours ago, mumofdd said:

My daughter (just turned 12) took her IF exam at the weekend.  She joined the IF class last September and so had not had anywhere near the number of guided learning hours recommended by the RAD.  I think she's spent around 65-70 hours working on the IF syllabus.  She got her first pair of pointe shoes during the summer holidays (this year) so is pretty new to pointe, but has beautiful, strong feet.  Her result is already back... a 3-day turnaround has to be a record!!  She has passed with a merit (58 marks).  Is that a good result for somebody of her age?  She took her RAD Grade 3 exam in April this year and is used to achieving higher marks, but I understand that the examiners are much stricter in the vocational exams.

First, congrats to your daughter. To complete IF after only doing Grade 3 in April is an incredible achievement. It's also a very massive jump.

 

58 is a very credible score but I wonder if your DD had more time, she might have done better. I sometimes wonder about dance schools' anxieties to put children in for grades before they are fully secure. This isn't meant to be negative- just a thought.

 

Well done again. She now has UCAS points too if she wants to go down the route of applying for higher education! 

 

[LaCamargo]

Well done to you daughter! That's a very good result after such a short time spent on the syllabus and very little time on pointe. Our students who take IF tend to be working at around the Grade 5 ballet level and do two or three IF classes a week as a comparison. That also has to be a record for the fastest RAD ballet exam result!

 

Exams at Level 3 (RAD Higher Grades and Intermediate and Advanced Foundation) carry UCAS points. Details here:

 

https://www.royalacademyofdance.org/exams/ucas-points/

 

 

[Viv]

You said she started last September. Is that September 2021 or 2022? In understanding whether that is a 'good' result for someone her age, we would probably need a bit more information. How long has she been dancing? Is there a reason she made such a large jump from grade 3 in April to IF in December? How many hours a week does she do the syllabus for? How many hours of non-syllabus ballet? What are her aspirations for her dancing?

 

To achieve an overall mark of 58, I'm assuming your daughter achieved mostly 6s and some 5s in the individual sections of the exam. The RAD says that a 5 is awarded when a candidate shows a "fair" ability to achieve the elements assessed. A 6 is awarded to a candidate who shows a "fairly good" ability. 7 is a "good" ability, 8 is a "very good" ability and 9 is an "excellent" ability to achieve the elements. If your daughter achieved some 7s for some elements, but then maybe some 4s for things like pointe work or free enchainment that she has done for less time, then that would show your daughter has some solid technique but also areas to work on. I will note that in the higher vocational levels like Advanced 1 and 2, a candidate must get a minimum of a 4 in all areas of the exam or they fail the whole thing (so even if the other areas are at a very high standard, if they get a 3 for pointe they will fail). That might give an indication of the kind of 'minimum standard' a dancer doing a vocational exam should be looking at. A 4 is said to show an "adequate" ability. 

 

It's hard to say whether it is a 'good' mark for your daughter without knowing more about her training to date, and what she wants out of her ballet. I would say most of the girls at my studio who are at that level are training IF specifically for 2-3 hours a week, along with 1-2 hours of grade ballet classes. They are aiming to get marks of 70 and above and would consider that a 'good' mark. All of them have many years of ballet training and are hard workers, and are doing a good number of hours a week, so I think it is highly likely they will achieve that goal. If your daughter has any aspirations at making this a career, and keeping in mind she is still very young, I would say that a higher mark would probably be her goal for Intermediate. Although exam marks have no bearing on a professional career or place at vocational school, I would say most students looking at the vocational route would be trying to achieve 'very good' or 'excellent' marks against the RAD markscheme. If your daughter just enjoys her dancing with no desire to take it further, then her mark is a 'good' one as long as she is happy with it And by the time she does her Intermediate exam, I doubt she'll even remember what score she got for IF! I know I don't!!!

[mumofdd]

My DD started IF in September 2021 after a term in Grade 3. She had been doing 1 hour IF, 45 mins grade 4 and 30 mins pre-pointe (stretching) a week. At the time of being entered for the IF exam, she hadn't started learning the variation and did not know one of the allegros and a couple of other exercises so she had 2hrs privates a week for the 6 weeks leading up to the exam to learn what she didn't know and make sure she was secure in everything else.

 

She doesn't know what she wants to do when she's older, but potentially she wants to teach...

[mumofdd]

She's been dancing since she was 3, but didn't really start properly until she moved to her current studio when she was 6.

[EverHopeful]

It sounds to me like she has been given the opportunity to progress quickly and has risen to the challenge. 
Personally though I also wouldn’t push to take her out of “lower grades” as I think it will be helpful consolidation for her. 

[mumofdd]

Thank you, that's really helpful

[Viv]

I have to say, the fact that she was in the class for 14 months but didn't know the variation or some of the other exercises for at least 10 of them does give me some concerns... 1 hour for IF is a really limited amount of time! Both to learn everything, and for your DD to have the necessary strength and stamina to make it through. It's a long exam compared to something like grade 3. Your DD should be proud of what she achieved. Is there any possibility of adding another 1 hour class of Intermediate? 

[Kate_N]

On 11/12/2022 at 15:53, EverHopeful said:

Personally though I also wouldn’t push to take her out of “lower grades” as I think it will be helpful consolidation for her.

 

I totally concur with this. She should get very established in the foundations of dance. Grades/level exam results shouldn't be an end in themselves - they're merely an indicator of achievement at that specific hour. And any syllabus is simply an organised recognised way of learning first the fundamentals, then the repertoire of steps, in a progressive logical way. 

 

If your daughter may want to teach, then learning the basics and really having the fundamentals in her body, will be the most important learning she can do. Slow and steady is important, particularly at the age of 12, which is when serious study really starts - don't get swayed by speed of travelling up the levels - your DD needs a solid foundation. It sounds as though she's very talented, so she's got time and potential! 

[Dance*is*life]

12 is the average age of our IFs and they have 3 hours a week syllabus and pointe training.  We call IF our 6th level - Grade 3 would be the 3rd level, so your daughter did a very big jump in order to take IF!!  They mark IF very differently from the grades, so 58 is a reasonable mark, especially under the circumstances.  I would guess that they recognise your daughter's potential and talent and decided to give her a push.  She will need much more than an hour a week on the Inter syllabus.