I voted for the "good venue" option considering the waiting room and warm up facilities too. I think it's all important. I found the Portland Place suite excellent - candidates seemed to glide through and the atmosphere was relaxed.

I also voted for venue as I have had some bad experiences with exam venues where you could not play 'p' otherwise the notes wouldnt sound

The students feel nervous when they couldn't find the venue, sometimes even think that's bad luck. It really affects their performance.

Oh, absolutely. My local exam hall is a little community centre tucked down a tiny road, behind quite a few very large buildings with no signs indicating it's there. Run back a year-or-so to when little ol' me was desperately trying to find it in time for my G1 Piano (my first ever exam)...I was certainly a little more than flustered when we eventually found it.
Luckily enough, I wasn't too late as they were running behind about 10-minutes anyway, and both the steward and the examiner were very sympathetic. Another boy who was there was meant to be doing his exam after me, but offered to go before me so I could catch my breath, bless him

I was predicted to get a merit, possibly even a distinction for that grade, but on the day I barely scraped a pass. Aside from the 'first exam nerves' I do think that slight <i>kerfuffle</i> contributed to my lacking performance.

Anyway, I voted for the facilities. As has already been said, especially when you're a pianist they're incredibly important. The piano at my local exam centre is a rickety, very old upright, which has horribly loose keys which are nigh on impossible for a beginner/intermediate player to even attempt dynamics. I dread playing the thing...

I agree entirely. I haven't voted yet, but in a moment I'll be voting for venue and facilities if that combination is possible. Just this morning my daughter used a venue in Belfast for her piano Grade VI and got on very well; the ambience, pianos (both the practice one and actual one) were of sound quality. Although it was a drive of three-quarters of an hour through rush-hour traffic, it didn't seem to stress her unduly and she felt that she wouldn't want ever again to go back to the local venue with rickety piano etc. such as was described similarly in the above post. Who knows? Perhaps the fact that it was further away contributed to the sense of occasion and allowed the adrenaline to flow in a way which it might not have if she had been going for just 5 minutes by car. Time will tell...

LR

plenty of notice beforehand please!
Very hard sometimes to get an accompanist if date of exam arrives late in post.

Amen to that! Rumour has it that exams are here the week beginning June 18th - still no dates through and the accompaianist is busy that week. I'm doing G8 so would find it hard to find another accompanisit if shes busy and it is unfair for me to expect her whole life to be on hold for the session time. 2 weeks is not really enough notice - it would be better to make the dealine earlier. Having said that I understand the AB are helpful if you need to rearange unlike some other boards (so I've heard but I've never tried - although I suspect I will be this time!).

Hi
With me time and date are important as i work nights

[quote name='maggiemay' date='Mar 18 2004, 12:35 PM' post='3454']
[quote]

I realise the board has a huge task arranging all the exams but having to make sure that a student is in principle available for any day in a period of several weeks has always been the biggest headache for me.

Maggie
[/quote]

I coudn't agree more. This is especially the case in the summer term with school trips. More notice would help - rather than entering candidates and then having to withdraw them at the last moment.

A convenient date and plenty of advanced notice!

For my diploma i had two weeks to find a pianist after getting my exam day because my original accompanist couldn't do the particular day.

It meant paying money to stay in a hotel overnight so i could have a rehearsal the day before and more money spent on the accompanist and less rehearsal time.

I voted for a convenient date but on reflection, if I could get the date in plenty of time I could probably make it convenient.

I'm an adult learner and work full time in a fairly senior role which means my diary is a nightmare and I usually have to plan whole days out months in advance. The exam centre is close enough that I don't really need a whole day out but from past experience, I'm a complete gibbering wreck on the day and there is no point actually being in the office as I spend all day in the toilet being sick!

As a comparison, I already have the Feb 08 theory exam date in my diary and people are already scheduling meetings around it!

In my last exam I wanted to exclude 2 weeks from the exam period because I knew I wouldn't be about. However, as there was no way to do that I just had to state the latest date I could make as the Saturday before the 2 weeks I couldn't make. Unfortunately, when my exam date came out it was after the cut-off I had specified and was a date I simply couldn't make.

Luckily, when I phoned up the people I spoke to were incredibly helpful and I ended up getting a more convenient date but still had to try and rearrange my diary around it.

Hence, this rather rambly response can be summarized as - I would like lots of notice for the exam date. I think this is particularly important for adults who work full time and need to arrange time off work for the exam.

all are very important but what matters the most to me is the date of the exam and the time of day and making sure i have everything i need.

Brumby

Post deleted

I've selected good venue facilities. When I did my grade 1 exam there weren't all that many practise rooms and we were being shifted around to try to faciltate everyone who wanted to practise/warm up.

It sounds like they had pretty good facilities where you were then if there was more than one practice room. I'd counted myself lucky that at our centre, they have a room where you can warm up as the person before you has their exam, which is pretty good if you're after a grade 8, but not so great if the one before you is a prep-test, which is what almost always seems to happen to me. I think a lot of places don't have anywhere to warm up at all.

A convenient date and time are helpful. Good venue including warm up rooms really help. Cloakrooms and waiting rooms need to comfortable, not super trendy, just comfortable. Good public transport and car parking all help. Access to cafes for those who cannot avoid a long journey, or for those with things like diabetes who have to plan meals around the day. Possibly one dedicated day for those with SEN just so amenuenses could be pooled or even allocated by the Board. This could be a lot fairer and mean that those who need a little extra support do not have too much done for them, whether by design, or more usually by ignorance of accepted practice.

Our nearest (and very busy) centre in South London has no piano to warm-up which is very frustrating.

Ours does not either. I wonder if it's the same centre? otherwise there are two, not so far apart, with the same shortcoming.

I also believe that information about the examiner the student will be having would benefit as well. i have voted for other for that reason, However I do feel that facilities at the venue are important too. This is because with my students they like to go over the pieces one last time or go through some last minute scales or oral practise. Therefore I feel that there should always be a extra rehearsal room for the next student in-line for examination that contains a piano!

The most Important thing is that the Examiner follows ABRSM guidelines.

Unfortunely my daughter was informed in no uncertain terms she had to sing her Aural, no option to hum etc in a Violin exam.

Said daughter was already nervous.

Someone high up should get repremanded for not training examiners properly and said examiner should be sacked or repremanded and re-trained.

Hum!! Not come across this one before. You need to discuss with your child's teacher! You "sound" so furious! ABRSM examiners are really exceedingly well trained.

Perhaps you should consider Solfege training so that your child become more familiar with the idea behind the Aural part of the exam.

I've moved all my exams to a different centre that is not so near so that there is a practice room which is vital, especially in the colder months when fingers needs warming up, particularly for pianists.

There are five potential centres near my pupils. Have never used two of them, but of the other three, one has a lovely warm up area with piano, one has a piano, but it's combined with the waiting room (it's still OK though), and one...er...doesn't have a piano to warm up on...

I used to love the Blackheath centre with its proper warm up facilities. My local centre now has NO warm up area at all. The waiting area is a sitting room, directly opposite the exam room so no opportunity to make any noise at all...

W

You worked out I was talking about Blackheath then

I've done exams at Blackheath - I preferred the warm up piano to the one they had in the exam room... Going from that to a bright yamaha hurt my ears.

I've only ever had a couple of times where pupil could not make the date allocated, and I rang up and they were very helpful and accommodating, so I would not be put off entering just because of this. It's a very long time to wait until the next exam period!

Living in a remote place, being able to request a time is of greatest importance as my pupils have to rely on a ferry for the first leg of the journey. For example, a 1015 appt means leaving home around 0800 and arriving at their destination around 0920. Any time before that means leaving home around 6.40am to fit in with the ferry timetable. It makes for a long morning for them. I have learnt to email once an entry has been made and so far ABRSM have tried to be accomodating, but an opportunity to suggest a timescale at the start would be very helpful.