i have, as i have said before, only been dancing a short while, but my dance teacher placed my friend and i in grade 5. We are doing ISTD chechetti ballet. At the end of july there will be an exam for us to go up a grade. My friend and i started dancing in November last year and i have missed quite a bit of time due to things going on at home. I am worried about this exam but excited too!!! i have some questions though..

What will we be expected to do?

Will the examiner take it in to account that i have not been dancing for very long?

What do the examiners mark you on??

I know these may sound very stupid but i have never done an exam before and i do not know if i will be able to do it, because we havent covered much work from other grades...will we only be tested on grade 5 work? please help. x x x x candice x x x x

Hey Candice,

I remember Cechetti Grade 5. I did it a wee while ago though. We completed the class as normal except with the examiner watching and I believe at that age some dances are done as solos, or at least I think by Grade 5 we were doing that in our studio. Most of the class (the entire bar and a proportion of the centrework) was done with your exam partner. Then we answered questions on theory (this was stuff from the lower grades when I took the exam I think) but I assume your teacher will have gone over that stuff with you... Following a couple of questions each we then showed the exam piece as a solo by Grade 5, is it not? Have you been well prepared by your teacher for the exam? I am sure you know the class material well.
I believe that the examiner will not take into account the length of time that you have been studying ballet, but that you should not let this bother you, because your teacher would not have put you up for this exam had he/she any doubt of your passing it. She obviously believes you are capable.
Marking is on a range of qualities, but it has changed a lot since the last exam I took. If I remember right (perhaps someone can correct me where I go wrong?), there are a number of different sections each marked out of 10- bar, port de bras throughout the examination, centrework, pirouettes, dance, musicality... I can't remember them all, but these are definately listed I think. Your scores in each section will be totalled up to reach your overall mark and kind of pass- ie. pass, pass plus, distinction etc. I think there is also a space for a short comment by the examiner, but nothing like the old exams where there was lots of space for writing throughout.

Hopefully someone else will be able to give you some more accurate and less vague information...

Good luck!

Love Rachel

All that Rachel says is correct. Your teacher wouldn't be putting you in if she didn't think you were ready as it is her reputation being examined as well as your ability.

However the best thing you can do is get along to all your classes. No more missing classes. The teacher will go through all the work that is required for the exam and will probably run some classes like a mock exam. The examiner will have no knowledge as to how long you have been dancing and so no this won't be taken into account. You will probably need to have knowledge of steps from previous grades for unseen enchaninements but your teacher should go through this with you.

Have a chat with your teacher and get her to go through all the requirements. But I can't stress enough the importance of you getting to all your classes in the run up to your exam.

Good luck

Thankyou all very much for your help!! I appreciate it!! More replies are welcome though!!