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exam entries for June 2019
by Janet Prescott - Thursday, 4 April 2019, 9:49 PM
 

We have a new system in place from this week for you to enrol for RHS examinations at BEST centres. We will register you with the RHS once you complete your entry, but the entry itself and payment will now be automated.

Keeping track of entries, cheques, BACS payments and requests for acknowledgements, receipts and invoices takes more administrative time twice a year than we can manage, on top of organising the  exam venues and invigilation. So, we are having to rationalise the exam entry process.

There will be a link on the front page of the main BEST in Horticulture website where you can book and pay for the exams you want to enter at either of our two exam centres, Ryton and North Moreton, in the same way you book and pay for courses.

The closing date  for June exams will be 6 May to allow us to complete exam registrations with the RHS by  13 May.  This is the cut-off  - up to that point you can enter and then change your mind and withdraw with no financial penalty. 

The system will be set up to give a maximum number of spaces for each exam and then tell you if the exam room is full.  

Payments will be via Paypal (you can use this system with a credit card and without setting up a Paypal account); this means you will get an automatic acknowledgement of your payment for the exam. You will be asked to fill in a couple of extra fields beyond the normal Paypal information to help us to complete your RHS registration form.

IMPORTANT POINT: we pass on the exam fees to the RHS (they invoice us as soon as exam entries close) so because PayPal makes a small charge for transactions, and we cannot afford to subsidise everyone's examinations, we will have to add the Paypal charge to the exam fee. It's not substantial  - 50p for a level 2 exam, 75p for Level 3, but until now there have been no charges at all to our students for taking exams with us.  We are sorry to have to make this change but it isn't to make a profit out of you, it's just to allow us to continue to offer the exams.

We will not be able to take cheques or BACS payments directly as an alternative because this would sidestep the booking system and possibly lead to someone paying for an exam space that's  already taken. 

Directions to centres, exam timetables, FAQ and other information will be available to download from the booking site.

A word of warning - the system has gone live on 4th April, so there may be teething problems. If something doesn't work, please tell us and we will go back to the web designer and get it sorted for you.