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Top tips for exam preparation

Always have a practice plan and decide what you want to achieve in each practice time
Sometimes, begin with the 'difficult bits' rather than starting at the beginning of a piece
Check your posture – the way you stand or sit and the way you hold your instrument – using a mirror
Practise small sections of music slowly and thoroughly before you speed them up. Remember – what you can’t play slowly, you can’t play fast!
If you make a mistake, correct it immediately. Don’t simply go back to the beginning for another ‘run up’
Be aware of the pulse of the music - it's dangerously easy to slow up for tricky bits!
Practise the whole ‘performance’ experience – play your exam pieces to friends and family so you experience a few nerves and learn how to cope with them
Listen to your tuning and always aim for a beautiful tone quality
Try practising your scales to a different rhythm or, for a change, start at the top note, descend and finish at the top again
Enjoy what you play – vary the styles of pieces that you practise to avoid getting bored

Arrive in the waiting room at least 10 minutes before your exam is due to start. Last-minute panics do not help the playing or singing
Use the time before your exam to get your music and instrument ready – you can warm up silently by moving your fingers or blowing though your instrument
Feeling nervous before an exam is natural. Try smiling as you go into the exam room – it will help you relax
Make sure you are comfortable before you begin. If the stool or music stand is the wrong height, don’t be afraid to adjust it or ask for help
It’s fine to ask the examiner if you can warm up by playing a scale or a few bars of a piece
You can choose to do your exam in any order. Just let the examiner know
Try to keep going in the exam even if you make a mistake – it probably won’t be as disastrous as you think
Don't worry about pauses between your pieces – the examiner will be writing and will tell you when to start your next piece
Your examiner may stop you during a piece if he or she has heard enough to make a judgement
Remember – the examiner is on your side and is looking forward to hearing you perform

Arrive about 10 minutes before the exam is due to start so that you have a chance to get settled
Make sure you have pens, pencils, a ruler, a rubber and a pencil sharpener
Feel free to highlight any of the exam paper which you feel is important
You will be given a blank piece of manuscript paper (for rough working). If you can draw a keyboard onto it, this may help with any interval questions
Don’t feel that you have to work the paper question by question. Do the parts you know first and then go back to the more difficult bits – this may help with any exam nerves
Keep an eye on the time so that you know how long you have left. If you have done some past papers you will have a good idea how long to allow yourself on each question
Don’t worry if you make a mistake - you can rub or cross it out and write the correct answer next to it
Try to be as neat as you can - if your work is untidy you might make a mistake that could lose you marks
Don’t look around and worry about what everyone else is doing - concentrate on your own paper
Check your work once you have completed the paper. You may leave the exam room any time after 40 minutes if you have finished, but make sure you have done everything as well as you can

Good luck!