Trinity or Lamda?

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melholly1980
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Trinity or Lamda?

Post by melholly1980 »

Interested in everyone's thoughts regarding these please.

Looking specifically at the lower grades of both - DD has some in both. She is 9. She would like to try for a scholarship to her next school (a 'normal' school) and has a view to keeping drama/performing as her strength and niche throughout her education and taking her into a career 'somewhere' within the Arts. Well, that's the outline plan. The detail will come from DD herself!!

Anyway, just interested here as I am told Lamda carries UCAS points and is therefore better at 16+ approx . I've been told Trinity - which DD is on track for G6 at 13 is equivalent to GCSE - but I can't get a clear answer as it whether this transfers onto GCSE Drama itself in anyway or if it 'counts' for UCAS etc.

Apologies if we've covered this topic recently on here - I couldn't find a specific thread.

Many thanks - all views are welcomed. Of course, I also know that the exams in reality are a by-part and not essential to getting scholarships etc but I'm just interested to know what people who do choose the exams route think.

Mx
TalyaB
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by TalyaB »

I can't answer your question but I've seen a few posts referring to qualifications that are worth UCAS points. One thing perhaps worth mentioning - my daughter was applying for uni last year and not one of the courses she was interested in (History degrees) gave any credit for any points - her offers were all based on her A level grades only.
lotsolaffs
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by lotsolaffs »

My DD was 13 when she did grade 6 in MT,acting ,prose and verse with Trinity. Her teacher keeps saying she has 3 GCSE ' S but I haven't really taken much notice of her as I don't regard them as that ,she gets ucas points but I haven't really investigated them but I will now ,pretty sure that they will end up not really counting for much!
lollypop
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by lollypop »

If you want to do exams I think they are both well regarded, so I doubt it makes any difference. but hopefully it's for fun not ucas points obviously!
laura123
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by laura123 »

My daughter is 10 and I think i am going to go with the lamda musical theatre grade 1 , would be good to hear off anyone whos children has taken this exam :)
francescasmum
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by francescasmum »

Another one to consider is LCM (London College of Music). My dd did her grade 6 in Musical theatre singing at the age of 11 and hadn't considered the UCAS points that came with it. She enjoyed singing songs from different eras and researching the composers/lyricists e.t.c that comes with the higher grades. She actually found some musicals she hadn't heard of and loved the music hall songs.
lawn
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by lawn »

I think it was me who mentioned Lamda exams carry UCAS points from Level 3, which is why I do have my DD do them, but it's not the only reason. My DD got the results of her latest exam on Friday. She got distinction but she wasn't happy :roll: because her score 82/100 was at the lower end of the distinction marking, which starts at 80.

Her drama teacher as well as telling DD to get over herself :lol: did say that they were a drama school that got a high number of distinctions and other schools often didn't do as well. That did get me thinking that if she wasn't passing at high grades, would I actually continue with them for her. Not all Universities use UCAS points though and I believe it does say this on the Lamda website about the exams.

They only do Lamda at DD's drama, so I don't know anything about Trinity. I would ask for some clarification with the person who told you they were equivalent to a GCSE.

One of the sixth form performing arts courses we've looked into for DD asks for 'GCSE Drama, BTEC Performing Arts or equivalent' as one of their requirements for a place. Not all Secondary schools offer Drama or Performing Arts, so it may be that Trinity exam/s would count in this way as an 'equivalent'
lotsolaffs
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by lotsolaffs »

lawn it was her drama teacher who told me that and that is why I'm not so convinced myself. I get the most remarkable nuggets of information from her,the last one being "a drama school won't touch you if you haven't got an A level in drama".
I don't say anything other than "really?"
My DD quite likes doing them she has grade 7 MT in January but not ideal timing I don't think,just after Christmas.
I must look up UCAS points and find up more. I wouldn't let her do more if she wasn't getting high grades,her last mark was 96 grade 6 MT which was incredible. I don't think she can top that but got 84 for prose and verse and like yours wasn't happy. That's a good thing though!
melholly1980
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by melholly1980 »

Thank you everyone.

It's all a bit of a minefield really isn't it? I seem to read that at the more progressive levels ie A-Level/College and beyond it seems more down to choice through selection of the provider rather than exams taken. Certainly nothing seems to be saying "absolutely don't do X or Y."

I'm going to bury my head for a bit and plod along with DD happy with what she's doing!

Thanks again xx
lawn
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by lawn »

lotsolaffs wrote:lawn it was her drama teacher who told me that and that is why I'm not so convinced myself. I get the most remarkable nuggets of information from her,the last one being "a drama school won't touch you if you haven't got an A level in drama".
I don't say anything other than "really?"
My DD quite likes doing them she has grade 7 MT in January but not ideal timing I don't think,just after Christmas.
I must look up UCAS points and find up more. I wouldn't let her do more if she wasn't getting high grades,her last mark was 96 grade 6 MT which was incredible. I don't think she can top that but got 84 for prose and verse and like yours wasn't happy. That's a good thing though!
Just thought I'd come back to this as my DD is disliking her GCSE drama class, to do with the teacher. When her (out of school) drama group teacher asked her why on earth she'd taken the subject at school and I said one of the sixth form options we'd looked at required 'GCSE Drama, BTEC Performing Arts or Equivalent' she told me DD's Lamda exams would have qualified her (though I'm guessing at a higher level than my DD has currently done). From that, I'd think it likely that your DD's exams work the same way, though I'd always double check with the school/college you're interested in.
islandofsodor
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by islandofsodor »

Considering that many many schools don't even offer GCSE or Btec drama I don't see how any college can specify it as a requirement.
lawn
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by lawn »

islandofsodor wrote:Considering that many many schools don't even offer GCSE or Btec drama I don't see how any college can specify it as a requirement.
I'm guessing that's why it also says 'or equivalent'. Not that I knew what would/wouldn't count as an equivalent.
islandofsodor
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by islandofsodor »

Going back to the original question.

Both Trinity & LAMDA are on the QCF framework& students gain the same number of credits/UCAS points. The exams just have slightly different emphasis so teaches often just choose either thecsyllabus they feel suits the student best or the one they are most comfortable teaching.

Grades 4 & 5 are Level 2 qualifications which is the same standard as GCSE, but it's a smaller sized qualification.

Grades 6-8 are Level 3 the same as A Level. Grade 8 Distinction gets the same UCAS points as roughly half an A Level.
francescasmum
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Re: Trinity or Lamda?

Post by francescasmum »

My DD got her grade 6 in MT singing when she was 11 with LCM (London College of Music) we were told it is equivalent to a grade C AS Level and 12 UCAS points, it says Level three on the certificate, her grade 5 certificate says Level two, which I guess is GSCE level.
This is a link to the page for LCM tariff, but as these exams are all equivalent, I would say that it applies to all disciplines and all exam boards, singing, dancing, acting, LAMDA, Trinity etc

http://www.uwl.ac.uk/academic-schools/m ... iff-points
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