RAD exam results

[Theatrefan]

Hello,

 

Looking for some advice my DD has just got her results though for her grade 3 exam she got a high merit (71) which I am very proud of but she is disappointed and down hearted. Previously she has got distinction on her exams, results being in the 80s she has improved on her previous score so to drop so many marks is disheartening for her. Her ballet teacher was surprised by the result, she's worked incredibly hard for it is an junior associates her teacher there has said how well she is doing. It was a video recorded exam rather than an in person examiner. 

 

I've told her we are proud of her, that she did her best and all she can do is move forward with more determination and focus. I can see in her face how disappointed she is and she's already wondering where she dropped marks. It does seem like she's dropped a lot when her teacher said she was ready and the exam went well. Has anyone else had this? Are the examiner harder markers? Ballet is very much her life and she's worried it will affect her applying when the time comes for dance schools/courses, I try not to talk about to far in the future but with a brother in secondary school and talk around future paths in school its hard to avoid especially as she is focused. She's 9 coming up 10.

 

Thanks 

[Anna C]

Oh gosh, I sympathise, Theatrefan, because my dd is a perfectionist and tended to be incredibly hard on herself, really took exam results to heart, and so on.

 

Grade 3 is not at all important when it comes to applying for ballet school.  Some children don’t even do exams.  When applying for full-time training, schools just like to know a rough idea of the level the student is studying.  That’s it.  
 

The only exams that are in any way relevant later on are the Vocational Graded Exams (Intermediate Foundation and so on), because if a student wants to either go in for teaching or, in future, enter RAD competitions, or take their Solo Seal award, a pass at certain levels is necessary.  
 

I used to tell my daughter that an exam is just a snapshot of one performance on one day, with one particular examiner (and yes, some examiners are stricter than others, but that’s often the case in all types of exams, especially in the arts).  It’s not a reflection on her talent, how hard she works, it doesn’t really mean anything in the great scheme of things.  It simply means that she can move on to learning a new grade.  Your dd won’t have to put this mark down on any application forms, it will just be a certificate and medal in a folder of certificates.  Plus a high merit is still a really good mark! 
 

My dd got a merit in her Advanced 2, and for a while she couldn’t be proud of herself, which was so sad.  She’d done the syllabus during Saturday classes, while taking her A’Levels, with a back injury and two chronic illnesses, one of which includes an inability to regulate her temperature.  On the day of the exam, it was 37 degrees outside in the shade, and the exam was in what dd used to call “the Greenhouse” at the old RAD HQ.  I can’t imagine how hot it was in the studio, and the only fan was pointing at the examiner.

 

When dd came out, I have never seen her look so ill.  She didn’t even know if she’d passed.  Yet she was still disappointed in her Merit, for a while, until - with counselling while at uni - she realised that what we’d been saying to her all along was true.  That we were proud of her for working hard and trying, that an exam is just a snapshot of one day, that not every exam has to be brilliant, and that it’s really not all that important in the long run.  She’s now really proud of her Merit and is glad she did the exam.  (It also helped her uni applications, but that’s another story).
 

And professional dancers HAVE to accept disappointment and move on.  I remember watching Matthew Ball’s debut as the Prince in Sleeping Beauty, before he was promoted to Principal. It was his big entrance; he ran on, slipped and went flying, ending up on the floor.  The audience gasped, he got up, and carried on.  The rest of his performance was beautiful, and while I’m sure he was embarrassed and disappointed, he had no choice but to - like the Taylor Swift song - shake it off.  And that’s a good mantra for perfectionists.

 

[Farawaydancer]

RAD results are very random at times. DD has scores from 65 to 86, DS got 89 for adv1 but ‘only’ 78 for adv2. It’s just a snapshot of that day and that examiner. It will make no difference when applying for schools etc. 

[MissEmily]

In my experience, remote exam results are always lower and seemingly random. My school is ISTD rather than RAD but I know other RAD teachers who would say the same. It’s so sad that after all her hard work, she has not been awarded a mark she’s happy with but it is good preparation for the rollercoaster coming up if she decides she wants to pursue ballet vocationally! And as @Anna C has said, it won’t matter a jot for any auditions. 

[LinMM]

You will find some Professional dancers have even failed the odd exam on the way to successful careers! 
It would be great if Life was always as straightforward as getting what we think we deserve because of our efforts etc.

Where any exams are concerned sometimes one can be disappointed with particular results being lower than expected but equally sometimes one can be very pleasantly surprised by achieving much better results than expected!! All you can do is put the work in and do your best on the day. 
 

When going to see ballet at the theatre we all have our particular favourite dancers even though they all work hard and have individual special talents but who knows why we have a slight preference to see one dancer to another!! 
Another examiner might well have marked slightly differently. Your DD has still passed the exam well so no need to worry!! 

[LaCamargo]

Completely agree with all of the responses. We are finding that RAD exam results are increasingly random. Our stronger dancers were awarded lower overall results in the most recent session than our less strong dancers in the previous session, with some completely non-comprehensible differences in marks. We asked if they would like a results enquiry but everyone has decided that it is too convoluted, especially when many of the vocational level dancers are moving on to university, further classical vocational training etc.

 

As @MissEmily mentions, filmed (remote) exams are even more puzzling.

 

When taking exams at HQ, we have had two of our students awarded a mark at least 20 marks lower than any of their 'usual' marks. We started an enquiry but found that the RAD was really unhelpful.

 

@Theatrefan the result for Grade 3 does not matter at all for auditions. Well done to your daughter for doing so well in her Grade 3 exam, especially as it was a videoed one.

 

 

 

 

Edited August 4, 2023 by LaCamargo
Correction to name

[EverHopeful]

I have recently been pretty put out by my latest result. I did feel a little angry/sad/frustrated at first. But at the end of the day, I’m doing this because I love it. So I need to just pick myself back up and try even harder next time. 
(For context, I’m an adult student working through the exams who had relative success at first but now dropping down the marks and result bands) 

[drdance]

My students have dropped marks over recent sessions and I'm now finding out that other local schools have had similar experiences. It seems as though even with childrens exams that 9's and 10's really are for perfection (impossible in my opinion) and Good to excellent children are lucky to get 8's for anything. And that's for live exams. Add into the mix the video element and marks seem to drop even more. I'm really disheartened by it at the moment. I still prefer the RAD syllabus to teach (over other exam boards) but the others seem to be much more generous in their marks which is very hard as a teacher, when parents naturally compare school to school either on social media or at the school gates etc. Many schools near me do BBO or IDTA and frequently announce marks above 90 on social media! 

Please reassure your DD that it is happening everywhere, and try and see it as a challenge to work towards improving for next time. You could always pay for a full detailed report from RAD, I did this once and it was very informative.

[Anna C]

3 hours ago, drdance said:

You could always pay for a full detailed report from RAD, I did this once and it was very informative.

Would you for Grade 3 though, drdance?  I probably would for a Vocational exam, say Intermediate/Adv 1/Adv 2, or for a fail/scraped pass by a student expected to get a Merit or Distinction, but personally, I wouldn’t for a high Merit at Grade 3.  

[NeverTooOld]

19 hours ago, drdance said:

I still prefer the RAD syllabus to teach (over other exam boards) but the others seem to be much more generous in their marks which is very hard as a teacher, when parents naturally compare school to school either on social media or at the school gates etc. Many schools near me do BBO or IDTA and frequently announce marks above 90 on social media! 

I am always wary of comparing schools on this basis as it is not always as it seems and schools are not always as clear as they could be on how they get their results. For example just in my local area, I have recently heard of a school not entering a student for an exam as the teacher wasn't certain she would get a distinction and also being incredibly selective on who is allowed to take certain classes or do certain exams to make sure only high marks are attained. There is also another school near me (not RAD) that was telling students and parents that they were being entered for a graded exam and charging the same money, extra classes etc but actually only entering them for class awards rather than graded exams which are not as intense as the graded exam so students were more likely to get higher marks. Most of the parents were completely unaware of this and thought their child was doing a graded exam. The picture some schools give out on their socials is not always the full picture! Thankfully there are also some really good schools that encourage everyone to progress and offer a truly supportive and nurturing environment as not all ballet students are destined for distinctions all the way through which is absolutely fine.

 

Also, although I do RAD now, I did BBO as a child and often got honours (distinction in old money!) but one year we had a different examiner and the highest mark anyone got during that session was a pass plus (probably a low merit). Some examiners are just a bit tighter with their marks than others.

[drdance]

On 07/08/2023 at 17:32, Anna C said:

Would you for Grade 3 though, drdance?  I probably would for a Vocational exam, say Intermediate/Adv 1/Adv 2, or for a fail/scraped pass by a student expected to get a Merit or Distinction, but personally, I wouldn’t for a high Merit at Grade 3.  

No I wouldn't personally do that for high merit at Grade 3. I'd simply chalk it up to one set of results and move on. But the system is there and I'm not sure people know about it, and if the OP or her DD wants more information then they can do so. 

[Dance*is*life]

Oh dear -your poor little daughter!  I really do think that in trying to make the marking more accurate over all by using a rather complicated marking system, that the RAD have ended up making it almost impossible to get a high mark!  I tend to instill in my students that they should not expect to get high marks for their RAD exams, so that way they are prepared.  I explain to them that I know them and watch their progress and dedication every day, but the examiner sees them for one short period on one particular day and that under the pressure of the exam they may not do their best on that day.  I send them for exams, because I see the difference it makes working towards them with that goal at the end.  The last couple of years marks have been lower than I thought they deserved, so I told them that although I would have given them more,  that I was still proud of their achievements and what was most important was how much the whole class had advanced over the year.  

 

We don't do graded exams anymore - only Class Awards. That way we can send the whole class and the marks are not the be all and end all of their efforts.   Also, that way they get to Inter Foundation and their first real exam by a much less stressful journey.  In the long run of things her mark for Grade 3 will not have any effect on her future as a dancer and honestly 71 is a really good mark!   Did you receive the breakdown of the marks?  There are ten marking categories, so getting one mark more or less for any category is pretty insignificant, even if it has an accumulative effect.

 

I should add that the RAD has always been tougher than most other systems.  When I was training - many many moons ago, we used to pass our Russian style ballet exams with marks in the high 90s, but if we managed to get a pass (60% in those days) for our Major (Vocational) exams on our first try,  we were in seventh heaven and considered it a much greater achievement!

Edited August 11, 2023 by Dance*is*life

[Colman]

That’s better than I did, and I’m forty years older than her. 🙂 (To be fair I was on the ibuprofen before the exam for an injury I got a week before, but still.)

 

The results for our adult class were mystifying as well, with marks in a quite narrow band despite a wide range of ages, abilities and experiences. 

 

Anyway really not worth worrying about, in the long term no one will even ask 

[EverHopeful]

I had a recent experience where I scored a decent high merit for a level 2 exam, and on the same day scored a full 10 marks lower for a level 3 exam. 
Other candidates that day got distinction for the same level 3 exam, but also a similar high merit for an equivalent level 2 unit 🤷🏻‍♀️ 

I personally find the result enquiry service very helpful. Ive used it a few times, and I probably will continue to do so whether I’m pleased with my results or not. I find the extra breakdown and explanation of marks to be really valuable. If we’ve put this much time and effort in already, surely an in depth analysis of the result is worth getting rather than just sweeping it under the rug and moving on as it were? 

[Colman]

The explanation of marks isn’t available with the iPad based marking system, apparently?

[EverHopeful]

9 hours ago, Colman said:

The explanation of marks isn’t available with the iPad based marking system, apparently?

I’ve had result enquiry reports from exams marked on iPad 

[Peanut68]

On 07/08/2023 at 14:17, drdance said:You could always pay for a full detailed report from RAD, I did this once and it was very informative.

Can you do this? I had no idea! Tbh, the examiner I had seemed to be spending way too much time looking at his screen as he used the then (were talking about 5 years ago) just introduced iPad system. I actually think he has pretty much ‘judged’ us adults alongside 12 year olds taking RAD intermediate (oh was tragicomedy to look at me alongside teeny perfectly proportioned pre-pubescents!!) as we walked into the room & felt scores didn’t not really reflect our dance ability or exercise execution at all. Yes, still gutted after 5 years!!! Need to get a life…. But would’ve really liked to see any justification behind scores (though in truth I suspect ipad marking was just a box marking system with no personal notes input. I think the good old days of deciphering hand written notes on pieces of paper was much more useful & represented better value for money & kind of proved they the examiner was actually watching & engaging & judging dancers!! iPads - ugh 

[balletfanatic]

9 hours ago, Peanut68 said:

Can you do this? I had no idea! Tbh, the examiner I had seemed to be spending way too much time looking at his screen as he used the then (were talking about 5 years ago) just introduced iPad system. I actually think he has pretty much ‘judged’ us adults alongside 12 year olds taking RAD intermediate (oh was tragicomedy to look at me alongside teeny perfectly proportioned pre-pubescents!!) as we walked into the room & felt scores didn’t not really reflect our dance ability or exercise execution at all. Yes, still gutted after 5 years!!! Need to get a life…. But would’ve really liked to see any justification behind scores (though in truth I suspect ipad marking was just a box marking system with no personal notes input. I think the good old days of deciphering hand written notes on pieces of paper was much more useful & represented better value for money & kind of proved they the examiner was actually watching & engaging & judging dancers!! iPads - ugh 

I almost wonder if some examiners don't like adult dancers? I took grade 8 as an adult. The examiner was very stern and unsmiling throughout and it made me feel very nervous. I was very disappointed with my result and the lack of feedback. Apparently she was totally different with the children, smiling and encouraging 

[Colman]

8 minutes ago, balletfanatic said:

I almost wonder if some examiners don't like adult dancers? I

Some do, some don’t, I think. And they all have examiner faces which they wear differently for different exams and people. Best not to worry about it. 

[Colman]

On 12/08/2023 at 10:45, EverHopeful said:

I’ve had result enquiry reports from exams marked on iPad 

I’d got the impression they just ticked the scores, but maybe they write up notes later.

[balletfanatic]

1 hour ago, Colman said:

Some do, some don’t, I think. And they all have examiner faces which they wear differently for different exams and people. Best not to worry about it. 

It was a long time ago now so I'm over it but it took me a long time to put it behind me! 

[balletfanatic]

Just now, balletfanatic said:

It was a long time ago now so I'm over it but it took me a long time to put it behind me! 

I do think examiners should at least smile for all candidates though, put them at ease. It just felt at the time she had no awareness of how much courage it takes for adults to do an exam 

[balletbean]

On 14/08/2023 at 11:17, balletfanatic said:

I do think examiners should at least smile for all candidates though, put them at ease. It just felt at the time she had no awareness of how much courage it takes for adults to do an exam 

A smile would certainly go a long way, however, not receiving an encouraging smile is one thing but when the examiner spends more time looking out of the window than actually looking at the candidate you do begin to wonder whether you should be there at all!

Edited August 17, 2023 by balletbean

[Pixiewoo]

Many moons ago, as an adult, I did a tap exam ... the examiner beamed as we walked in, said we were amazing for even doing an exam, tapped away under the table with us, and made it as much fun as it could be. We all enjoyed it, so did the next exam the following year. We didn't get the same examiner... but one who looked bored stiff, totally uninterested and just barked at us. None of us did very well in that exam, and lost any interest in doing another one!

[balletfanatic]

5 hours ago, Pixiewoo said:

Many moons ago, as an adult, I did a tap exam ... the examiner beamed as we walked in, said we were amazing for even doing an exam, tapped away under the table with us, and made it as much fun as it could be. We all enjoyed it, so did the next exam the following year. We didn't get the same examiner... but one who looked bored stiff, totally uninterested and just barked at us. None of us did very well in that exam, and lost any interest in doing another one!

I can totally understand that. It's so nerve wracking taking an exam and just so much harder when the examiner has a stern and unfriendly demeanor. Really unnecessary in my view 

[LaCamargo]

Here's a conundrum. Earlier this week we received our latest set of results for a large entry of filmed exams. Our weaker dancers have been awarded Distinctions with marks 12-15 marks higher than our strongest students in two previous sessions who received High Merits when they would usually be in the Distinction+ region. The recent candidates most definitely presented work between the Merit and High Merit categories. It makes absolutely no sense but shows how inconsistent the marking of RAD exams can be. We are starting to look to move to a completely different exam board. 

 

@Peanut68 at one of our in person sessions the very experienced music operator reported that the examiner spent so much time looking at the iPad and not the dancers that they were surprised that marks could be awarded at all.

 

 

[Theatrefan]

Thank you for all responses I have read them and really appreciate the replies. It does seem interesting that there is such a difference in some marking, and doesn't appear to be any consistency with marking especially with video v in person examiners. 

 

My daughter is still feeling disappointed in her marks but starting to feel proud of herself as she still sees that it is a good mark. 

 

I am curious about the detailed report I didn't know you could do this, does her ballet school need to do it or could I request one. @drdance thank you for mentioning it I didn't know it was a thing I realise it does seem a bit extreme for a grade 3 exam when she got such a good mark but now she's got the brake down of her marks she needs more information what she did well, what she needs to work on etc I don't know if this report would answer these questions but she's comparing her grade 2 (which was an in person examiner) results to her grade 3 results.  

 

She is very focused and determined so it's about getting back to where she was for her. She's back to grade 4 has started inter foundation and is back to her JA classes as a year 5.

 

All your comments are very much appreciated, Thank you.