This has indeed been discussed before, but having just looked at the diploma fees for ABRSM and Trinity they both seem to have jumped by undue amounts. When I did my dipABRSM clarinet only three years ago it was about £120. Now, they are £160 - up 25% in only three years. Even inflation would not account for that much. And ATCL - a staggering £185. Also I thought Trinity were cheaper, but now they are even more expensive. Anyone know why?

In times of such economic difficulty you can see far fewer people affording those exams. We all know everything is going up in price more than before (except salaries strangely enough) but even this seems pretty steep.

Maybe they are, maybe they aren't. This is more interesting:

www.dcmbarton.org.uk

Halcyon Lament
Harvest Time

Great! When are you releasing the piano solo versions?

They are meant to equate to about a third of the year at their respective level (so 40 points, roughly), and of course part of the fees on said courses will be for tuition as well.

Maybe it reasonable, but it is a steep increase in such a short time. And why more expensive for Trinity? If anything they are more often considered lesser exams (though in reality are not).

From the experiences of people I know, it would seem that the ATCL fee has shot up to the same extent as their marking criteria! I get the impression that Trinity /Guildhall have got much harder in their marking recently - does anyone else share the same opinion?

for my LTCL for sure.

From whom?

I agree that TG exams have increased standards for marking, especially seen in piano candidates. I have 2 friends who took ATCL piano and 1 who took LTCL piano in the May/June period and all have failed, the lowest being 35.

However, my violinist friend who took ATCL violin got an astounding 90 for his recital, marked by the same examiner as the 3 of my friends. This could possibly be explained by the fact that TG doesn't use specialist examiners (the TG examiner was a organist & pianist) and the TG examiner would probably not have picked up on violin-specific flaws. This is illustrated by the fact that the section leader of my orchestra's violin 2s got 70 for dipABRSM violin, a spot-on distinction, having received her ATCL in violin four years ago, while the person who got 90 for ATCL violin was the assistant SL, only obtaining his ABRSM grade 8 violin two years ago with a 120. The examiner must have been impressed by his repertoire of LTCL/LRSM pieces for an ATCL exam.

Having said this, I will be using ABRSM's diplomas from now on, after the harrowing tales of my friends. At least I know a specialist examiner will be there to give a fair judgement.

Whilst this is true in the UK, it may not apply to exams taken in foreign climes.

I think it's probably just that everything costs more! I only know about DipABRSM, but you would have to pay the two examiners at least £30 each per hour, not just for the hour you are in there, but also for your share of their travelling time plus travel expenses. Hiring a good venue with a Steinway grand can't come cheap either. Then there's some charge for the moderation which takes place with the Diploma board in London, and the cost of producing the certificate. When you think about it, £160 doesn't seem a huge amount to pay.

Last year when I looked at prices, the DipABRSM cost £125, so if the cost has been around that figure for 3 years, maybe there has had to be a big jump this time to balance the budget. The more worrying thing, as cello_case highlighted, is that the cost goes up enormously at LRSM for what seems almost the same service as the Dip. That seems deliberately designed to stop people doing an LRSM just as the next goal to work towards, and ensures that the number of LRSMs awarded remains low.