Hi everyone,

Feeling really low today. Yesterday was my Grade 8 piano exam and my nerves completely got to me!!
Scales were OK, pieces were a bit les dawson-like, sight reading - oh my god, should be renamed wrong reading - it was utter rubbish and I worked SO hard at sight reading for months and months and I really messed it up. And aural, well I've never been any good at aural and I completely outdid myself. Don't think I even got one thing right. I feel really miserable after all the hard work I put in and I might just fail it ;-((

Really hope I get enough marks to scrape a pass - I have a conditional offer at uni for next year and I need to pass the grade 8....really hope I don't have to retake. Don't think I could keep practicing all those scales again and again...(actually that made me laugh - have NO idea why!! but if I'm laughing it can't be a bad thing...

Sorry for the moan, I had to get it off my chest...has anyone else completely stuffed their exam and still passed??

For others taking exams this time, best of luck!!

It may not be as bad as you think - I reckon a lot of candidates come out of their exam feeling a bit like this!

Keep in mind that you tend to remember the things that went wrong and not all the ones that went right.

One of my teenage students (admittedly not grade 8 in her case) felt just like you do - I phoned her later in the evening and she was quite adamant that it had gone badly - in her words "I ###### it up" (my ##s not the censor's). I really enjoyed calling her a couple of weeks later to tell her she'd passed - she got something like 112. Fingers crossed and try not to worry!

I am sure that you will be fine.

Examiners know all about nerves on the day and are experienced enough to see through them and know whether someone is really not up to scratch. Overall impression counts for a lot.

I am also sure that you will be pleasantly surprised.

yeh i just had my grade 5 violin last week and i felt terrible after it!

i still feel bad about it.


im sure you will do much better than you thought!

My grade 6 was a bit of a disaster.. didn't get through one of the pieces without stopping but got 120.

In exams you always remember what was bad and dwell on that rather than what was good. Almost everyone on this forum who has done an exam says they've done badly on the day because they've not played as well as usual. When the results come they've always done far better than they expected. The same happened to me: two days ago (before my results came) I was listing in my head all of the bad things that happened in my exam and how it went terribly; but the results were fine, I'm sure yours will be too .

hiya,
I'm sure it's not as bad as you think, for months and months both my teacher and parents said i was going to fail my G5 theory exam, and i went in and did my exam i spent the maximum time doing it, and i came out in floods of tears! i few months later i had passed by 91%! i think the examiners do take into account that you're very nervous in practical exams and i'm sure you've done really well!
love thomxxx

hey, im sure u will have done fine. i completely stuffed up my grade 5 flute - scales were terrible, aural was rubbish, pieces were not the best, but i came out with a merit. (not sure how i managed it heh). but yeah, examiners know how to see through nerves. i bet u will have done heaps better than you thought

Thanks everyone for your kind words, a few days have passed since the exam now and I seem to be able to think about it in more perspective.

Thanks again!

Dear Pianolady,
I thought I'd stuffed up bigtime in my grade 4 last July. Made 130!! Was convinced I'd failed, and not being falsely modest either.
The Old Lady.

My grade 8 was horrible. The examiner practically had to guide met through on the aurals because my teacher hadn't helped me with them. And I still managed a pass. I'm sure you'll be just fine.

hi all
I am new here and i am just like u guys. Just did my Trinity grade 8 exam today. I think I am going to fail........feeling damn upset now.
The piano that I played on was my downfall, they keys were stiff and the sound just does not come out.
I totally screwed up my scales as i was totally not use to the piano as the keyboard is very stiff, the worst one was my min3 & major 6 apart chromatic scales and i could not control the f and p of the rest of the scales....i got really nervous after the scales and think that affected my whole performance...

All my pieces (beethoven, chopin and rachmaninoff) are very dramatic and required a lot of dynamic and contrast ....i juz could not express them on that damn piano....

Due to nerves, i forgot the notes in the 2nd last bar of my Rachmaninoff prelude piece which i have to play from memory....my mind just suddenly went blank.....sighzzz...i practice so hard for this piece

Sight reading was ok but i screwed my aural.....i could only recall half of the melody and gave a wrong answer for the modulation part. The examiner was kind enough to advise me that it was wrong and gave me another chance......he actually played twice for me.

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.

HOW????ARRRGRHHHH!!! 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 - you did fine.

For my grade 6 violin, I actually lost my place in the third piece, and had to ad lib a bit, and for sightreading, played major when it should have been minor. And scales! I basically just scratched around a bit on the violin.

And I still got 113/150, so I reckon you'll be fine.

lol

yeah i COMPLETELY stuffed up my gr 7 clarinet. Had 2 restart a piece and EVERYYHING. nearly was in tears as well.

and i passed

with merit

YAY!!!

so it might not be as bad as you thought

Dont worry! Lot's of people (includin myself) thing they've mucked up exams so it's likely you're just being harder on yourself than you think! Good Luck! We're right here for you!

hello...
Its been a while since my last logged in. Well, to anyone who is worrying about his/her 's grade, please dont be. You sure will do well in it. =)

My grade 5 piano examination was horrible. I sweat after the exam. I couldnt do my sight reading well nor my pieces. However i passed! I was terribly shocked. In short, examiners will tend to understand us. They dont usually mark a suppose-to-be 'wrong' statement as 'wrong'. They basically know we are nervous hence we made those mistakes.

No worries mates. =)

Cheers!!

NiCoLeHa

Hi Everyone

Thanks for the comfort......i feel better already!!
Hopefully all things go well for everyone too....i am crossing my fingers.....hopefully I'll pass!!

Hello Everyone,

I just wanted to thank everyone for their comments, and also to let you know that I PASSED!!!!

YEAHHHHHHHHHHH

What a shock, I got 117 and am really really pleased.

I read in an earlier post about people performing in concerts and then not remembering much about the performance afterwards, I really think that happened to me during the sight reading and I got 17/21!! all that hard work was worth it. I have just accepted my conditional offer at Uni to do music since I have now satisfied the condition (passing grade 8!)

Thanks again everyone and merry christmas!

Congratulations - you deserve it!
Make sure you go and celebrate now

Oh, well done - what a relief!!

Fantastic!

That's a really good mark for grade 8!