Loosing marks in ballet exam

[Ithinkmycatisevil]

My dd1 14 took her intermediate ballet exam yesterday. She came out quite upset as she messed a couple of things up that she is normally good at and is worried about how many marks she’ll loose.

The first was that on one of the barre exercises she and her friend she was taking the exam with both forget to turn. Something that dd has never done before. The examiner actually stopped them and asked them to start again (this is what she is most upset about), the other thing was in pirouettes, though she said her doubles were actually ok, during the pose turns she felt like the floor was sticky and she ended up going in a bit of an arc and not ending up where she should have.

There was also obviously the normal I could have done this better and that better, but those were the two things she was most worried about.

The examiner seemed nice and I’m hoping that she asked them to start again so that she could get the best out of them and won’t mark them down too much, this is what I told her. Does anyone know how many marks this is likely to loose her? She’s desperate for at least a merit, she got a high merit for intermediate foundation and would be quite disappointed with a really low score.

RAD?

My dd fell down flat on the floor in one of her vocational exams and got a good mark, so I wouldn't worry too much!

The examiners can tell that a mistake has been made because someone is nervous rather than because they either don't know the work or their technique is wrong, so it is unlikely that she will lose a heap of marks over it.

Examiners sometimes ask for an exercise to be repeated because they want candidates to be able to do their best and will help when they can - it isn't all that unusual, so tell your dd that there is nothing to worry about.

If at the end of the day she isn't happy with the mark take heart, it is literally only one person's opinion on one day and isn't the be-all and end-all.

And she can take it again in the next session next term if she wants to anyway. You can go to HQ or another major centre to take vocational exams, your teacher just books you in whenever.

Otherwise, crack on with Advanced

Forgot to mention - if the floor was sticky (and that can happen on hot humid days), the examiner will have already noticed that during the exam session anyway and been aware of its effects.

Thank you, I’ll tell her what you’ve said.

Yes it was RAD. All the girls, the one in her exam with her, and the others from her dance school who were in before her, all said they made loads of mistakes! I think they were all nervous. It was at a centre they’ve never been to before, as the one they took inter foundation at has closed. We will just have to wait and see. I’m proud of her whatever. She’s worked so hard for this exam.

I've heard about sticky floors at a couple of vocational centres (Manchester I think was one). Luckily dd has always been able to take her exams at school.

Knowledge of syllabus is just one section so I can't imagine she will lose much for forgetting to turn just once.

I've heard that about Manchester too.