I'm booked to accompany exams at two or possibly three different centres this session and haven't heard any definite dates yet. I would find it very helpful to know when teachers get their notification of dates and for which dates. I know which weeks most (though not yet all) of the teachers involved have asked for, so getting an idea of how far ahead the notifications are arriving will help me to get some idea of whether they have got what they wanted.

I often get some last minute panic calls as well as the ones planned and rehearsed in good time so it can be quite a human jigsaw puzzle! I realise that the early Easter has made it likely notice will be quite short this term so I'm hoping there won't be any time/centre clashes to try and sort out.

I'm hoping for mid-March and haven't heard anything yet.

Maggie

i havent had my dates yet. no news is good news i say!

I know that mine is between 28th Feb and 4th March but no more detailed information yet

I haven't heard my pupils' exam dates yet, but I asked for the last week and hope that "no news is good news"! I think you tend to hear earlier if you are given exams in the early weeks. I wouldn't expect to hear anything before half-term anyway.

One of the schools where I teach has a "special visit" at the school every term which is brilliant, you know from the start of the school year when the exams are going to be in each term.

QUOTE (Juze @ Feb 5 2005, 02:55 PM)

I haven't heard my pupils' exam dates yet, but I asked for the last week and hope that "no news is good news"! I think you tend to hear earlier if you are given exams in the earlY weeks.

Yes, that seems to be the case.

QUOTE

One of the schools where I teach has a "special visit" at the school every term which is brilliant, you know from the start of the school year when the exams are going to be in each term.

That must make life a lot easier. It is good to be able to pace the preparation knowing the date well in advance. I haven't checked whether it's still the case but I used to be able to telephone my local Trinity College rep. in January and get the date for July. The local reps booked the venues and accepted the entries for their area.

QUOTE

I wouldn't expect to hear anything before half-term anyway.

In my area it's half term the week starting Feb.14 and the exam session starts on the following Monday. I do hope we aren't going to finish up with less than 2 weeks' notice. It's ages since that has happened to me. When you consider that most children taking exams on instruments that need an accompaniment will have one adult taking them to the exam and another one accompanying them and both may have pretty full diaries it can be a nightmare getting it all organised quickly. Also the date notification goes to the person who made the entry, usually the teacher. Peris teaching in schools don't usually see their pupils for a fortnight over half term so they can find themselves with a long list of phone calls to make, probably finding that half the families are away.

I don't know how you can improve the situation in such a short term (I think I would have avoided entering any candidates myself - doesn't apply because I don't do any regular instrumental teaching these days).

Yes, half term finishes on the 19th for me and I go back to school around the 21st, and my exam could be just a week after! Infact, thinking about it, my exam would be in the week after. Eep. That seems really close now

QUOTE (nicki_flute @ Feb 6 2005, 09:20 AM)

Yes, half term finishes on the 19th for me and I go back to school around the 21st, and my exam could be just a week after! Infact, thinking about it, my exam would be in the week after. Eep. That seems really close now

it will soon creep up Nicki!!

I think the AB warned us all that short notice should be expected because of when Easter is... Nevertheless, I hope I don't only have a week - it happened to me once, my teacher had to go away for a week and came back to the entry letter telling me my exam was the next week! Very scary!

Got notification of date yesterday for piano exam 1st March - so 3 weeks notice.

QUOTE

Got notification of date yesterday for piano exam 1st March - so 3 weeks notice.

oh - that's the first March date I've heard yet, so will be welcome news to a good few people I guess. Three weeks is not too bad.

cheers Andy

Maggie

QUOTE (Andy-piano-flute @ Feb 8 2005, 02:02 PM)

Got notification of date yesterday for piano exam 1st March - so 3 weeks notice.

oooh thats my brithday!!

I have my flute lesson tomorrow, so hopefully I will find out. I don't fancy waiting until my next flute lesson after that which could be just 5 days before the exam!!

i have my piano lesson tomorrow so if its an early exam i hope i find out then!

I got my dates this morning for my students. Friday 11th March

I got my date for my students this morning friday 11th March

Just got mine - 10th March!

got mine 4th march!

Mine are 9th March!

Had mine this morning - exam day is March 16th.

Maggie

Mine is Friday 4th March, same as Nat's.

Had mine this morning, March 16th!
It is the week I requested so I can't complain.
Let's hope for good results now. I have tried to work on sight-reading at every lesson, because that seems to have been a weak spot in the past.


Katie

My dates arrived this morning - 21st March - great!

Teachers - do you tell your candidates their dates as soon as you get them? Or do you wait until the exam is about three weeks away? I sometimes find they work harder if they think their exam might be the first day of the session than if they know it is ina different month!

I heard last Friday (11th) that my couple of pupils have been given 18th March - that's 5 weeks notice! In fact it's the day they finish school for the Easter hols.

QUOTE

I heard last Friday (11th) that my couple of pupils have been given 18th March - that's 5 weeks notice! In fact it's the day they finish school for the Easter hols.

Wow, that is indeed a lot of notice. I wish I got that much. Actually, mine wasn't too bad, I got 3 weeks notice.

QUOTE (noodle @ Feb 14 2005, 03:59 PM)

My dates arrived this morning - 21st March - great!

Many thanks to everyone who posted about their dates - knowing what notice people were getting really helped me to get a good idea of whether the teachers I'm accompanying for had got the weeks they wanted. I should think most people must have heard by now as Noodle had heard a date in the final week by Feb.14. I haven't heard from three of the teachers yet but it's half-term in our area so they may be away. I know two of them asked for latish dates.

QUOTE

Teachers - do you tell your candidates their dates as soon as you get them?  Or do you wait until the exam is about three weeks away?  I sometimes find they work harder if they think their exam might be the first day of the session than if they know it is in a different month!

I've always told them straight away. As a parent with a complicated schedule I was always grateful for as much notice as possible to arrange time off school, transport to the exam, back-up help with other offspring etc.

I've always aimed to have everyone ready in time for the first possible date, and if they were but it turned out we had time in hand I've used some of it for quick study of some completely different repertoire.

I've just returned from a week away and found my pupils' exam dates - 21st March, the week I asked for.

I always tell the pupils the date straight away, at least at their lesson next week, as they and their parents will have to organise time off school and transport. I've also entered my son for his exam, so will need to organise transport for him - I can't expect him to sit around during the other three exams, and I can't really take him back to school afterwards myself (40 mins round trip) when the school I'm teaching at that day is 2 mins away from the exam centre.

Just got my dates...10th March for the pupil who requested the last week, and 15th March for the pupils who requested 2nd week.....strange.

Excuse me all, but this is the "Teachers' Forum", so please stop posting chitter-chatter here. For now, the "general" section is the place for it, and there's a plan afoot to try and persuade Christine to set up a chatters' section.

From now on, no more chitter-chatter here give or take the odd aside.

Thank you very much.

Violinia

Surely this is on topic though?? exam dates etc...?

QUOTE (Violinia @ Feb 20 2005, 01:41 PM)

Excuse me all, but this is the "Teachers' Forum", so please stop posting chitter-chatter here. For now, the "general" section is the place for it, and there's a plan afoot to try and persuade Christine to set up a chatters' section. From now on, no more chitter-chatter here give or take the odd aside. Thank you very much. Violinia

Violinia, what is your problem and who do you think you are? What gives you the right to tell us what to discuss and where? This as you point out is a teachers forum and teachers spend a lot of time talking about exam dates, preparing students for exams etc so if we want to discuss exam dates here we will until someone who has the authority to move us does. If you don't like it you know what you can do.....

As a new teacher I have found it very useful to see how much notice other people get for their exam dates. So thank you to everyone!