ABRSM Official Poll, Exam appointments - what matters most? Options

[lyegreen]

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of evening and weekend appointments being an option. I have entered pupils for many years and at one stage had so many pupils that I could arrange a visit at my house once a year. I did this in the February half term as I am also a full time teacher. However, as my responsibilities at school have grown, I have had to reduce the time I spend teaching private pupils. Unless I can arrange future exams out of school hours I won't be able to enter them.

[saxlover]

QUOTE (lyegreen @ Apr 8 2004, 08:00 PM)

I wholeheartedly agree with the idea of evening and weekend appointments being an option.

Nearly all my exams have been on a Saturday! I don't know if thats what my teachers have asked for but they are usually always on the weekends!!

Nat

[henthorn]

I think piano teachers are always going to consider the quality of the venue as very important. Not only are students at the mercy of the examination instument provided, invariably good in my experience, they are also subjected to varying provisions for a practice piano in a relatively private situation.

However, I would also have voted, if a second vote had been allowed, for the opportunity to ask for a date to avoid on the entry form. This term, a Muslim boy was kept on tenterhooks in case his exam fell during Eid.

[DomRUK]

I’m surprised to see a questionnaire with just one question, and only one option available to choose – but then it was certainly a way to get me involved in a forum, which otherwise I wouldn’t have done!

THE QUESTIONNAIRE ANSWER I CHOSE
I’m very keen, as I see other forum contributors are, to have the exam dates for centres as early as possible, as I’d be grateful to know them more than two weeks in advance – it would help me as I prepare my pupils. Of course I should have my pupils prepared for the earliest possible dates, but life isn’t always like that! Exam dates by email is I’m sure going to happen soon, which may speed it up administratively, anyway.

THE PROBLEM OF MORE OPTIONS
I’m sure in this computerized age that there are many ways that options (for dates etc.) could be given and sorted by computer to give the “best fit”. The right consultant could I’m sure do an excellent job, after a fuller questionnaire or consultation, and after a bit of logical thinking (I’m thinking of the exam times and dates issue). I don’t know how much it would cost, of course. Also I guess that the ABRSM would need to make a conscious choice between providing few options (as at the moment) that it feels it can attempt to fully meet (and hopefully re-arrange when problems happen), and the other possibility of providing more options for which it needs to state that they may or may not be met (but at least if it makes no difference to anyone else, they can be met – which is the missing possibility for most of us I imagine, as there is no box on the form to write a sentence about our times preferences or do anything other than just fill in the boxes as provided).

OPTIONS IN TWO GROUPS
This second possibility of providing more options for entrants to show their preferences, seems problematic at first (as the ABRSM wouldn’t know what was impossible for the entrant and what was just preferred) until it is considered that the options could be given in two groups: some options given as ones which the board will do its best to meet (such as impossible dates) which could perhaps be called “critical options” and other options which are then used to find a best fit within what’s left, perhaps called “preferences”. Difficult to sort in the old days using paperwork, but oh so easy for a computer to sort after a little time, with patience and intelligent work by a computer programmer/consultant (some flutists will almost [just in case re copyright] see a quote there…!). It all depends really on how serious anyone is about this as an exam “service” rather than an exam “provision”, I suppose – not that it’s that easy or that black and white I’m sure!, and I have very great respect for the ABRSM for the service it provides, very much so!

PROBLEMATIC OPTIONS
Regarding impossible dates, it’s important I’m sure to consider what the abuse of the option would be, so that it can be limited if appropriate, and qualified by other options as need. This would be true for other options too, I guess. For example, if an impossible dates option is provided, I guess the “ABRSM fear” (so to speak!) would be that some people would feel the need to put lots of impossible dates, because for them it would then leave only their preferred dates area as available! The solution I think, actually, would be to limit the number of impossible dates you can enter to, say, 3 (or 5?), and then have the current “last possible date” option also, to help those with other genuinely impossible dates to give a cut-off date at the end, to include those dates impossible for them but not included in the 3 given above. (Obviously a “first possible date” is unworkable, as we’d all be tempted to use it to get a late exam, whereas an early exam is not such an alluring prospect – though hopefully few would abuse a “first possible date” option overmuch!). These options could be in the “critical options” group rather than in the “preferences” group.

HOW THE OPTIONS ARE SORTED
I guess the Saturdays option would go in the “critical options” group, as Saturdays are impossible for some perhaps, but this could only be done if the ABRSM could generally hope to meet such requests. Also, there would be no reason why a Saturdays option could not also be given in the “preferences” group, since the computer would sort the options in two stages: first, restricting things down to what is available within people’s “critical options”, and secondly finding a best fit within people’s “preferences”. The first process would work by finding what dates are left, but the second would work by percentages of preferences (or some similar process) to find a best fit – two quite different processes.

MORNING/AFTERNOON PREFERENCE
As a teacher who has chosen to provide the “lessons in the pupil’s home” option, rather than providing “lessons at the teacher’s home” or “lessons at school” services, I would be interested in an A.M./P.M. choice, as my work hours are mostly afternoons and early evenings, to suit school pupils and adults – and when I accompany instrumental or singing pupils on piano, an A.M. exam is useful as it then doesn’t disrupt my lesson schedule. Most exams seem to be in school hours in my recent experience, so I guess the option would be useful for teachers but wouldn’t make much difference to the school pupils taking the exams – but then if it makes no difference to anyone else, the option could be easily met if known to be a preference.

OPTIONS FOR EACH PUPIL?
It certainly is a help if sometimes a teacher can put in two different applications for two different groups of pupils. (I’ve done this with one board I think, or was it a music festival?). This is probably available at the moment, certainly using paper applications, as you can just send in two forms, but is it available online? – I’m not sure. Forgetting my suggestions above for a moment, this is important in the current system, as one pupil with various impossible dates doesn't then need to dictate dates (or times) for other pupils. Regarding my option suggestions above, I would tend to put the pupils I need to play piano for on a different application, if I had an A.M./P.M. option. Actually, if things are sorted by computer, the options could all be provided for each pupil – again, at first this sounds like a headache-provider for the ABRSM, but with computerization this makes it easy to sort (perhaps easier?), and with a well laid out form provided, is very simple to do – just a few boxes to fill in or tick at the end of each pupil’s fill-in line. Teachers if they wish could just choose to fill them in all the same for every pupil (for example if they have no parent contact, or choose to not provide the options to their pupils). I see parents at each lesson, so it would be easy and beneficial for me.

WHAT OPTIONS TO PROVIDE
I guess the easiest way to know what “critical options” and “preferences” are really needed, is to start with what people, like myself, have felt they have needed to write on the paper form even though no box was provided, as these were surely the more necessary requests that are currently unavailable (online anyway). This forum discussion is also likely to be immensely valuable for this. The current “preferred week” option would of course go in the “preferences” section. If options are done for each pupil, the choice of centre could go in the “critical options” for each pupil, which would make it a lot easier for teachers to fill in forms – if they have advanced pianists that they wish to send to a centre with a grand piano, for example, or if they have pupils on both sides of a city to go to different centres.

VENUE & EXAMINER INFO
I agree with others on this that it would be good to have some more details (only a bit on examiners, so as to respect their preferences too). The website would be a great place to give locations and profiles of each venue (a multiple choice type profile, rather than a paragraph of text?), and profiles of each examiner.

Apologies if I’ve been a bit wordy, just trying to be clear! Many thanks for this opportunity to contribute to the discussion.

[Gemini]

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Mar 17 2004, 04:15 PM)

I voted for good venue facilities because I believe it's essential (especially for pianists as they use the piano provided) for people who have put in a lot of work to have a good instrument to play on (and for other instruments to have a good accompaniment).

[QUOTE] I SO agree with the fact that it is only fair to offer students a good piano to play and also for the accompanist to play too. Those of us fortunate to have a good piano may well be thrown (as I was only last week) by having to tackle a somewhat veteran piano which is well "past it's sell-by date". Are there criteria by which examination centres and their pianos are assessed? Is it necessary to offer both a grand piano and an upright piano for the examinee to choose from?

[AnotherPianist]

QUOTE

I’m sure in this computerized age that there are many ways that options (for dates etc.) could be given and sorted by computer to give the “best fit”. The right consultant could I’m sure do an excellent job, after a fuller questionnaire or consultation, and after a bit of logical thinking (I’m thinking of the exam times and dates issue).

Could this be a job for me ;) ? I am currently doing a PhD in computer science and deal with problems which are quite similar to this one. I can certainly say that this is the sort of thing that can be done by a computer.

Impossible dates would be fairly easy to deal with: my only worry would be that everyone would say the first week is impossible (because anyone not saying that would get the first week as everyone else said it!) so there'd have to be some way of preventing that. Limiting the number allowed would probably help too (although holidays would then not be allowed). The system could, however, track certain people who always say the first week is impossible and give them less priority in an attempt to stop it happening all the time. A preferred-not week would be a lot easier to honour than a preferred week as there's more chance of doing this! The point about being able to split a given teachers pupils if only one pupil has problems with certain exam times is a good one.

It would, of course, be possible to have all the available dates and times available through the online entry system and people could choose from the available slots on a first-come-first-served basis; this would, however, be unfair to those using the postal system and may annoy teachers with a large number of pupils (such people generate a large amount of business...) if they enter late.

Is the system currently automated or is it done by hand at the moment?

[jonesthehorn]

Convenient date is important (it would be very useful to be able to specify one or two unavailable dates, although an administrative nightmare, I'm sure) but No.1 on my list is:
A warm-up room, with a piano!
I'm a brass teacher, and I've learnt the hard way which centres to avoid - those in private houses where the waiting room is the lounge, and if the student blows a note the invigilator appears instantly and says "shhhh"... or those where if you're a brass player you warm-up in the kitchen with the cat food bowls and the dishwasher for company.
My students need at least 15mins playing beforehand to be at their best, as do most professional brass players. I also like to have a piano to test the speed of the pieces and try a few aural tests - for students playing with an unfamiliar accompanist, the opportunity to play a few bars and check that the accompanist has the correct tempo is vital.
Maybe somebody could post a list of centres with/without this facility or start a thread here... my two-penn'orth so far is: in Herts, avoid Watford and Bushey like the plague, Hemel is fantastic, Harpenden is fine, St Albans has a room but no piano, and in the SE, avoid Hastings, Tunbridge Wells is an excellent centre, even has a cafe on site!

[chrishoyle]

I am lucky in that the venue used for my pupils(singing) is wonderful. The acoustics are splendid, the piano superb and the atmosphere could not be better. This is nothing like the awful venues I endured as a child. A waiting/warm-up room is available but perhaps facilities for singers could be improved by the availability of drinking water.
I am impressed by the attitude of examiners and their efforts to put pupils at ease.

[liz]

This term my 4 pupils taking exams were sent to a venue I'd not been to before.Luckily I heard rumours about the place and managed to move 3 of them to other places. The venue was awful;we sat in a rather grubby,cold kitchen waiting.Still,at least we weren't in the shed where we were sent once to wait at one centre.I feel so sorry for the kids when they have worked towards this special day and they are sent to this sort of place.

[saxlover]

QUOTE (liz @ Apr 15 2004, 07:54 PM)

Still,at least we weren't in the shed where we were sent once to wait at one centre.

how awful!!!how on earth are exams allowed to take place in places like that?! <_<

Nat

[obvious_outlawed_pianist]

i would say a variety of things.

first of all, although a candidate's performance is not based solely on who the examiner is, it helps if the examiner seems more like just another person and not someone who will either pass/fail them. perhaps a little more info about the examiner/s and kindness (although i know the board is already working on this) b/c i know of some ppl who have complained that the examiner was too strict on them.

flexibility and times is also very VERY important! i know that the board cannot always make suitable exam appointments for everybody, but it seems to me that many students are dropping their exams b/c of conflicting events. for example, during the week of my teacher's students' exams, there is STAR Testing(CA Testing for middle-schoolers) the whole week and one cannot miss school. i myself have an AP exam on the day of my ABRSM exam - fortunately, i was able to rearrange my AP exam to later in the week. but in the event in which i was not able to do so, i would probably be forced to drop the ABRSM exam as i am still in secondary school and my parents see education more vital to completing. The board must take into consideration that some candidates are still in school and that some people will prioritize school over music (parents).

anyway, this is what i see . . .

[jillmunnery]

I agree that a convenient date is the most important thing. At 1 of the centres I use (I teach in different areas) I have found that the date I'm given always falls at the start of the exam period these days, despite my requesting the last available week. :angry: I understand that lots of other people request the last week- it does lead me to question whether, as so many teachers would like exams at the end of term, and the pressure on the last week is so great, a change in the exam weeks might not be overdue. With the best will in the world, it can be difficult to avoid school exams, which in my schools usually are timetabled for earlier in the term;as well as potential clashing dates, it can cause conflict with the demands of practicing/revision. In an ideal world, every student would be ready at the start of term, so the dates shouldn't make a difference-in the real world this isn't always the case! :) B)

[sbhoa]

I don't think that it is about when the exam periods are.
There are some (possibly a large minority) who will always ask for the last week because they put in entries before the exam work is completed.
They want the last week to give extra time to finish preparation instead of making sure that their pupils are ready for the exam at the time they post the entry.

[Ben Graves]

I think a nice, happy, smiely examiner always helps, especially wen ur nervous.

[Fantan]

I teach quite a few students at about Grade 8 - diploma level. Despite the fact that I always get my students to practise or give them a lesson on as many different pianos as possible, I notice that they always remark on the quality of the piano that they are examined on. Given the fact that pianist in particular have to cope with different circumstances in a way other instrumentalists do not, would it not be an idea to build into the examination timetable some availability to practise on the "examination piano". I have, in fact in the past, arranged that privately with my local examination centre, but should the Board not cater for this?
Fannie Leigh