Do any of the tutors know how the profession are managing to justify keeping the CA3 price the same whether you do the online version or the face-to-face version? I sat the face-to-face variety and it's over 2 days on site at a booked room, with an external presenter, food, drinks, computers, invigilators, etc. The online one is sitting at home in your pyjamas doing it all with none of the above costs. Okay, the marking costs are possibly the same, but surely a few hours of markers time were not the bulk of the expenses involved in running CA3.
I do hope you are not recording your presentation in your PJs (at least from the waist up!) Just because it is online does not mean "no cost". In addition to the costs of the exam setting process, marking, administration, contribution to overheads etc, the online system will have development costs to recoup, software license and data storage fees to pay, etc. That said, the online version is cheaper, presumably reflecting the lower costs. According to the current price list, the two days exam at the venue fee was £740, online £500. From 1 July, if you choose to take your exam at the venue (1 day) then the fee will be £435.00 (increasing to £450 from October 2013). If you choose to take your exam online then it will be £400.
Fair enough, thanks for clearing that up, I didn't realise that there is actually a difference in price. I realise that online doesn't mean "no cost", all I meant was that there are costs which are the same for both (designing the paper, admin, marking, etc), but then the face-to-face has extra costs on top, such as room booking for two days, invigilators time for being present at the exams, paying for the PIB person to come along, etc. The online development costs are an additional cost for the online version, but I didn't realise that they were large enough to keep the cost of the exams roughly the same.
