Hi, I am in a bit of a panic and would welcome any advice. I have entered two grade one pupils (my first two) and although I requested the last week of the exam session, I got wk 2 instead. With one pupil this - though earlier than hoped - is fine, but with the other it makes what was already a bit of a rush into a mad panic.
The girl in question was well on track when I entered her, but has since had a bout of illness, followed by a couple of weeks of non-practice, followed by a last-minute week away next week!!! After the week away, This leaves us two and a half weeks until the exam and she only has one piece off well, with the other two only just at the stage of two hands.
Although inexperience on my part may have contributed, I don't feel I am fully to blame as I was really careful to ensure that there was enough time when I entered her, based on the girl's previous level of practice and commitment. I put her in for the prep test last year and she was more than prepared and got excellent comments.
I stressed to mum before entering that a lot of work would be needed and had all the right assurances.
She just seems to have hit a big dip and has put only a fraction of the practice that she needs to in recently.
She's a bright girl and maybe I am panicking too much.
HAs anyone got any advice/thoughts?
Is there any chance of getting a later date? Is it usual to request week 6 and to get week 2? I am not sure what reasons can be given for a postponement (if any).

Regarding your requested week it really depends on when your chosen centre is holding exams as they don't all run for the whole exam session - and you can probably imagine that a lot of people request the last week so not everyone is going to get it. The AB get lots of requests from teachers/parents for exams to be moved and rearranged. As an example you wouldn't be able to phone up and say that you'd hoped it would be a later date and that your student isn't ready, as an example. If your student couldn't make the date or their accompanist couldn't do the day then those are the kind of reasons you would phone up to get a different date, but it's not guaranteed as being at the same exam centre or even to be a much later date.

Good luck! Lucid

I would give them a call - i had exactly the same situation last term - with illness. I just explained that the child had been ill and I really needed a later date! They can only tell you yes, or no!

The quicker you call the more chance you have, before someone else gets in first

Personally, I would only be prepared to ask for a later date if there was a genuine emergency or something that prevented the child from attending on the given day. Lack of practice and parents deciding to take the child on a last minute holiday would not move me to start messing things around in this way. Illness is almost inevitable at some point in the run-up to winter exams and a week or so of missed lessons need to be factored into the planning. Don't take the blame - you gave them plenty of warning, and they have chosen to ignore your advice. If you start asking for later dates now, you will give them the message that it is OK to do this, and generate more problems for yourself in future. It isn't fair on all the other candidates who have to take the date they are given for people to start moving dates just to suit themselves.

Difficult situation. I hope it works out well. I try to avoid this by not entering anyone unless they are at a "Pass" level. Then we can spend the time up to the exam getting better. Not helpful advice just now, I know, but maybe next time.

OK. Firstly I would say, don't panic and don't panic the student, but at the same time be honest with her that because she's been poorly and the exam date has come through as an early one, she needs to really buckle down. Parental support will help. Make sure she's practising every day without fail.

And if you can, why not suggest an extra lesson or two?

How old is the girl in question by the way?

She is 10 - year 6, and incidentally has a grammar school test in a couple of weeks (1 week b4 the piano exam) which seems to be taking precedence. Good advice re; not panicking and I have called the parents to point out how important it is that she practices hard at this stage. Unfortunately she is away now until next weekend - leaving just two and a bit weeks after that to practise. I have also now scheduled in two extra lessons- making 4 lessons in all b4 the exam. Stikl not convinced it can be done...

As you said, she is a bright girl, so hopefully you'll be surprised at how much can be achieved in the last couple of weeks. Don't beat around the bush with her, next time you see her if there is no improvement be honest and tell her that with the level of the pieces at the moment she will fail, but then give her very specific things to concentrate on to pull them up to a pass. You have 4 lessons left, how are her scales etc. You could easily spend one of them solely concentrating on the technical side of things, Making sure she realises that this doesn't mean she shouldn't still be practising the pieces

One thing experience has taught me, is be very careful entering people grammar test term, some parents really do let panic set in and preparing for the test will take precedence over everything, so I usually ask the parent specifically at the time of entering, are they doing the test, will they still have time to prepare for the exam. I have a young girl doing g1 this time as well and she is missing 1 lesson to do the entrance test and another for a scholarship exam the following week, but she is a real worker so even though I was a little concerned last week I'm fairly confident that she will be ok by the exam.

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She is 10 - year 6, and incidentally has a grammar school test in a couple of weeks (1 week b4 the piano exam) which seems to be taking precedence. Good advice re; not panicking and I have called the parents to point out how important it is that she practices hard at this stage. Unfortunately she is away now until next weekend - leaving just two and a bit weeks after that to practise. I have also now scheduled in two extra lessons- making 4 lessons in all b4 the exam. Stikl not convinced it can be done...
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Dear Gards, you seem to be taking this a lot on yourself.

As a parent I think that grammar school entrance exams preparations take a lot of time and therefore wouldn't timetable music exams at the same time!

I read that these are your first entrants to this exam system and am sure that the teachers will tell you that they learn when a pupil is ready to be entered for an exam.

This is not really in reply to the original post but the title was very fitting . . .

I've just spent this week doing 'mock' exams with my batch of pupils who all have their exams in 3 weeks time.

The marks range from 90 to 111 (I think I mark quite fairly). This is Grade 1 to Grade 4.

I knew it was all a bit touch-and-go - they had to be entered back in September just after school went back and they'd been on holiday for 11 weeks (11 weeks!!!) and I needed a 'critical mass' in order to warrant a specail visit so they were all put in, come rain or shine.

How much do you think people can improve in 3 weeks ?

Is it best to bash on doing a bit of everything like normal ?

Should I concentrate on the weakest piece and try and get that up to scrtach ?

Or should I concentrate on the better areas and try and hope that a 25, say, in one piece will make up for an 18 in another?

Is sight-reading/aural for those who struggle with it just a lost cause this late in the day ?

Any ideas gratefully received . . .

Commiserations - I'm sure we've all been there.

I think there's a lot you can do in three weeks. It would depend to some extent on the student, and what I feel they are likely to make the best of - but I would probably aim for all three pieces to be on the right side of 20 marks if possible.

With sight-reading I try to give them a working method to focus on in those thirty seconds, so they know exactly how they will go about it. And knowing what to expect in the aural is sometimes half the battle, even if it's not their strong point.

Some pupils do thrive on last minute catching up, so they may surprise you. Doesn't do the teacher's nerves any good though!

A very similar thing happened to me once. We had planned to do grade 3, but I had made it clear in the last lesson before the holiday that a certain amount of work had to happen over the holiday in order to be ready to enter. Lo and behold he barely touched the piano during that time, and when it came to the entry date, I told his Dad that we were behind and I was wary about entering. However he was very certain that he should be entered since once he knows he has a deadline he works far better. I knew this about him as well so sensed it was the right thing to do, in spite of feeling nervous. Then, having never missed a lesson in my whole time teaching him, he missed three due to separate bouts of illness, then having asked for the last week, they gave me week 1 or 2. Of course we were sent into a panic, but he did work very hard at the last minute. He came out with 120, far lower than he would have been capable of in more ideal circumstances, but a massive relief all the same.

What's more important though was that in the end this whole experience was positive for him. He knew he had insufficient time to prepare, and was proud of what he had achieved in this limited time. Even though he might have got a distinction had we done it the following term, he had learnt a vast amount from doing it at that time, whereas I could have imagined him losing motivation if we had waited another term, so looking back entering had been the right decision.

It might make us teachers grow old before our time, but often our pupils will only pull it out of the bag at the last minute, and they can learn a lot from having to do that. So long as we hold no punches and tell it exactly how it is, when several weeks before the exam we feel they are no where near ready, and just say 'For the next few weeks you have to work like you never have before - you still have time and I think you can do brilliantly, but you must find new reserves of determination from this point on' or words to that effect.

I hope if you lay it on the line with your pupil they will surprise you in a similar fashion.