I've just got back from taking my grade 7 violin. Hmm...

That went AWFULLY.

Piece A - 20/30 at most. Shaky, I forgot all the trills and miscounted often.

Piece B - 20/30 at most. Too much vibrato, and there was more scraping and scratching than in an old fashioned blackboard.

Piece C - 15/30 at most. A JOKE! I love the piece Dragon Dance, but we didn't get to run through it with the piano, and she had to improvise it completely. But it was mainly my fault - I just didn't count, and this was a piece all about the counting.

Scales - 10/21 at most. A JOKE! I forgot all of them and the melodic minors sounded like harmonic minors and vice versa. I ended up just completely improvising on the spot.

Sight-reading - 12/21 at most. I hate sightreading, and grade 7 sight reading is just a joke.

Aural - 9/18 at most. I know I got all the questions wrong. I know I have.

Total: 86. Fail.

I've even told my mum that I don't want a PS2 for Christmas anymore. I don't deserve anything good. Gifts are good good musicians.

Awww, firstly, well done on taking the exam, it takes some guts and determination to take an exam. Secondly, I am sure you haven't done as badly as you imagine. The mind is very deceptive, it always thinks of the bad points of the exam. I know the feeling though, some of my GCSEs, I came out crying, but they turned out ok. There is nothing you can do now, so try and relax . Also, don't beat yourself up about it, you gave it your all, you couldn't have done any more. All the best

AWW exams nearly always go better than you thought, think postively, ts over and done with now, it's your time to relax, go tell your mum that you DO WANT THAT PS2 DAMMIT! gifts are for musicians that have tried hard. grades aren't everything sweet, good luck and I'm sure you've done better than you thought, enjoy the Christmas Hols without wondering how you've done, wait til you get the results

I hope not or I won't be getting any

You probably did better than you think - people always seem to, so don't dwell on the bad points. And, as has been said, you can't do anything about it so don't worry, enjoy Christmas and try and build on the result, whatever it is, next year.

Constructing such a post-mortem with expected marks doesn't really help. You've done the exam, it's over, and it's too late to change it. You'll just have to wait and see when the results come. The majority of people in your position are usually pleasantly surprised!!!

No use dwelling on the past!

David

^ I think I would have made a list like that if I ws in your position.. it really helps when you can't stop thinking about it!
I bet you did better than expected. And even if you didn't- it doesn't matter! You can move on to the next grade taking all critisism into account and it will make your next grade even better

What a way to ruin my Christmas - by worrying and grieving.

That seems a bit melodramatic. There's nothing you can do now anyway. You may well have passed anyway. If you fail then you can worry about that when you come to it. It's important to keep failure in proportion - you can always retake the exam! It's possible not the end of the world!

David

Don't be too hard on yourself, I have never heard of anyone getting less than 22 for a piece although I'm sure it has been done. Keep us posted though.

It sucks doesn't it. I'm sure I haven't done myself justice either - like you, I was so prepared and on the day certain things just didn't work for me. I don't get my result til after new year, just before my birthday becuase I did it with school. I'm so worried...but at least we can't be the only ones.
I constructed my mark sheet, but my teacher who was outside said I under-estimated on most things! So I bet you have too. I guess it's over now and there's nothing we can do so might as well forget about it until the dreaded day comes

Is that what the examiner wrote or is that your version of it

Don't worry over Xmas, enjoy the holidays. If you have failed, then, it will be disappointing, but you can learn from the bits which dropped you marks, which will benefit you greatly in the long run. Constructive criticism is always a good thing.

My predictions.

awww dont worry, i messedup in everything i played in my clarinet grade 5 recently, and i passed with 128 marks and i thought i failed it BIG TIME!! just keep your fingers crossed, and im sure you've passed!! and grade 7 is a wicked grade to haev even attempted!!

Gee whizz....I've met someone who worries more than me. I am sure you won't have failed. You will have done a lot better than you think.

Don't think about it over Christmas, just enjoy the holidays.

I think I may fit that category!

Not really..I think this Epitomessence person wins the award.

Epitomessence: don't do the mark sheet guessing thing, we have a habit of remembering the things that went badly and not the things that went well.

I dunno - I think you three all qualify for pessimists anonymous....

Definitely!

OK, so all pessimists here, repeat after me:

MUSIC IS FOR LIFE NOT JUST FOR EXAMS!

I know that bit ! But, you know how stressed I get about things! I was even getting stressed at the shops today because they didn't have this present I wanted to get and no boots would fit me.

However

*choruses* Music is for life, not just for exams

I agree that music is not just for exams but if people know that you're doing exams and then they ask you and you have done really badly and they've done really well. It always makes me feel really bad.

I am sure you've done okay. Most people think they've done worse than they have. I thought I'd only just scrape a pass in my piano exam, but I was delighted that I got a merit. Good luck and don't put yourself down!

Come on, calm down
I know exactly what is it like. I have finished Grade 8 Guitar this year, but before that I kept stressing myself everytime I was examined. Right after the exam I KNEW that I was going to fail and I felt horribly. But I never failed, I always did it
When I read your post, it was as I read my own thoughts It's not so bad, I know it isn't.

The main thing is to enjoy the Christmas. It's the only time when you can fully enjoy your family. Exams can wait And after all, you have to realize that every experience - even the bad one - is valuable for your future life and performing as a musician.

Good luck and merry Christmas!


PS: Excuse my English, please. I'm still not fully comfortable in using it (I am Czech).

I thought I'd completely failed my grade 6, but I managed to pass with 10 or so marks. But in my opinion, this went even worse than that.

I'm English and I thought your English was very good

Grade 6 or grade 7?

Well done for passing!

Car Expert

Yeah I was the same when I came out of my grade 8 and I got a distinction - that was one of the happiest days of my life (along with passing my bike test ). Anyway I'd convinced myself of a fail, even now I'm sure he must have had earplugs in for my performance! Still don't know how I got it!

Sorry to hear that your're so disappointed about how it went. Hope your predictions are wrong, and you've done better than you think (this is usually the case). Be sure to let us know how you've got on.



Amber
x

Epitomessence has already posted her result (see a few posts up).

Car Expert

huh? Those were only her predicted results

Car Expert

That was in the last exam for Grade 6. Epitomessence is waiting for Grade 7 results.

Whoops, mis-read the post. Sorry!

Car Expert

haha no probs

I was getting confused then

Have you had your results yet??

There is seriously nothing to worry about; when I did a my-marksheet for grade 7, I got 96, and I found out today that I got 120!! although only 11 on the aural, which I kinda screwed up. A lot.

Epitomessence, please tell us how you got on! I'm sure you will not have done as bad as you think, we exam-takers often have a habit of focusing on the negative sides which ultimately mentally brings everything else down too. I was in exactly the same position as you late last year, but it turned out I had completely under-estimated myself. I think it was also a mixture of low exam self-esteem.

Like others have said, there's always resitting that can be done; it just means that if you have to take the exam again you will have an advantage of having already learned for that Grade. Plus, its a chance to work on and correct any constructive critisism the examiner may have had.

Do let us know when the results come!

In my grade 6 piano, i forgot how to do melodic minors (mind went blank!) and i still passed my scales.
I wouldnt worry, everyone thinks they've done badly, and if you've failed, big deal! You can always re-take it, and learn from your mistakes

So, did you pass in the end?
bye

ShArOn

Dont beat yourself up worrying about it, its best just to forget about it and think like this ''well, ive done it and even if i want to change what happened, i cant, so there's no point sweating about it, what i get is what i get.'' Also, often, it's never as bad as you think, i remember over-estimating grade 5, i came out of the exam feeling awful and depressed, but turns out i got 133, so it was really unexpected. You've probably done just fine and its just your conscience. Anyhow, good luck on your results anyways.

PS... we get our exam results two weeks after the exam in NZ, how come you guys have to wait until after christmas?

exactly the same thing that happens to me last year... same grade, same marks, same situation

ShArOn