I recently sat my Grade 4 practical exam, and it was all going well, played my pieces as good as i could play them but then made a complete mess of scales and sight reading! Some of the scales went well but made quite a few mistakes as well

Don't panic, I'm sure you've got nothing too worry about. Everyone worries that they haven't passed but more often than not they do better than they think they have & get really good marks. Try to relax & stop worrying, I bet you've done really well.

Good luck with your results.

Lisa xxx

Thanks Lisa

hay
we are equal I had i yesterday ( grade 4 ) and same stuff happened LOL
soooo it is not your mistake nor mine

i took my grade 6 practical yesterday, and when i practised at home it was all fine...
bit i completely went to pieces in the exam i did scales first and they were fine, but i majorly messed up the last arpeggio. and the diminished had slips in it. so by this point im a wreck. and then come the pieces, i messed up, i kept hitting the odd wrong note. but just kept going, and had a good cringe during the break between pieces. the second piece was fine. the third piece was jazz. which i struggle with anyway. and it was ok, just one slip i think. so i was absolutley shaking like i dont know what, then the sight reading was ok, was in g major, and not spectaculary hard, so managed to cope ok, not good, but good for me. aural rest was another disaster, i dont know whether thats me cos i was in a state.

im praying i scrape a pass, i worked really hard, and was soo gutted wen i came out. n the examiners dont give anything away, i think its shocking that they know if youve passed or failed as soon as you leave and you have to wait for the results, its not like they have to mark anything, cos theyve done it there and then. so i am really worried cos my piano teacher said he had really high hopes for me gettin a merit + and i just know ive failed it! i feel really down bout it. and he wants to me to do the LLCM (lycensiate of london college of music next year. n i cant even pass grade 6!! what am i going to do?

very frustrated.

I honestly can't see why you are worried. It sounds to me like you have done excellently. To create a possible report sheet from the examiner:

Scales 18/21 - Mostly fine, a few slips
Piece 1 - 25/30 - Played well, but with a few slips
Piece 2 - 28/30 - Good performance
Piece 3 - 26/30 - Solid performance, occasional wrong note

Sightreading - 15/21 - Battled through, retained overall shape of music
Aurals - 10/18 - Made several mistakes but showed good perception

Total - 120/150 = Merit

Hope this makes you feel a bit better, I know it can be really annoying when you know you can do better but it doesn't look like you have failed to me, nowhere near it in fact.

hi all
I totally screwed my G8 piano exam......scales and aural were bad!!
I am just happy if i can manage a low pass......this is super discouraging....this will be my 2nd try at grade 8, the 1st, I did more than 10 years ago and failed. I beginning to doubt my ability in piano playing....actually i really love music and playing the piano...this is really putting a damper on my interest.
I tried and tried but this is what I get.....depressing man...i hate to see myself as having no aptitude in music as I truely love music.

Don't worry, I also truly love music and had the same experience with Grade 8.( I did later pass). Also since then I have been happily playing with a local amateur Orchestra. When I sit at home and practice, I just think can I play this instrument and whom am I playing for. I am sure that even the majority of people from the AbRSM would agree with that.

Hey everyone,
I took my violin Grade 1 exam 2 weks ago and I messed up Ode to Joy so badly you cannot imagine. I was playing on the wrong string and my scaled of D mjr went down the loo as well. Don't it wa good for a first timer.

I always do this after exams. Normally, once you leave, you feel you've done terribly and can only remember the mistakes, but after you carefully think about the marks you feel you got on each part, you normally end up with a comfortable pass.

Worries can't change anything.

Pun intended?

Come on, buck yourself up, don't give up!!!!
Remember, you love music......that passion musn't be dampened by anything at all.

i was wondering, how many points do they take off if you make a mistake in any of the categories? i'm going to take the piano exam (level 4) and it's my first time. i'm really, really nervous. :unsure:

Have a look at These Music Exams - page 39 onwards describes how exams are marked.

TO ANYONE THAT IS WORRIED ABOUT NOT PASSING EXAMS:

If you played your three pieces well thats about 25points, hence 75. you need just 100 points to pass therefore you only need to get 25 points out of sightreading, scales and aural. I think that's a possible 60 points (each peice has a possible 30 points? full marks 150. 150-90=60).

I played pretty well in my G5 violin pieces then completely screwed up my scales then played loads of wrong notes in my sightreading but did okay in my aural...or so i thought but i ended up with DISTINCTION!

So don't fear the worst just yet!!