I've been thinking about this for some time, but a conversation with a pupil yesterday has inclined me to post and to find out others' views on the matter.

Is anyone else becoming increasingly concerned with the amount of paper that is being wasted in the current AB booklets of theory practice papers? Sometimes there is now only one question to a page, with a large empty space underneath, and there can also be several blank pages along the way.....

Yesterday I gave the aforementioned pupil a set of Grade 4 practice papers, and looking at Paper A, it was spread over 7 pages . I happened to have some old 1992 papers tucked away, and when we looked at them for comparison the questions for each paper were contained on only 3 pages!
I asked my pupil whether he found the old layout cramped or confusing in any way, and he replied that it wasn't at all, and that he would actually prefer it to be like that, so as not to waste paper (my thoughts exactly!)

With all the global concern about conserving resources etc, I wonder why these theory booklets are so wasteful of paper? The AB must sell millions of them each year around the world, so the saving with a more compact layout would be considerable. A booklet with fewer pages would also be cheaper to buy (one would hope!) - they're becoming quite expensive nowadays!

Agree Jo.

I've had a look at the '05 papers for grade 5, and there's a lot of blank space, and that's before you get to no less than 3 pages with 'blank page' written at the top - I really don't think there's any need for all the papers to start on a left hand page in the booklet.

Funnily enough I had a similar conversation with a student yesterday, jo. We were working on the 2005 papers and I happened to say to her about there being too much space on some of the pages. She agreed that there was too much space, but my suggestion that it be filled with extra questions for practice didn't quite appeal to her. I'm sure practice papers could be reduced in some way to avoid excees usage of paper. Apart from anything else, younger theory candidates would be less intimidated by 3 page exam papers then a 7 page one.

I've just given a theory lesson to someone's who's working through the past papers, and having read this thread I paid particular attention to the amount of blank space. Yes, there's a lot, but this pupil had used it all - drawing things to help her with the questions. She had drawn a keyboard in one of the spaces, the cycle of fifths in another (this took up quite a bit of a blank space), the names of the notes in chords, and other little aide memoirs - just as I encourage my pupils to do in the exam. Don't know if this is what ABRSM intend the blank spaces to be used for, but I think it's useful.

There was I just now, looking for a blank page to draw a circle of fifths (yet again - exam in 10 days and she still can't draw one for herself ), thinking 'Jo was complaining about the blank pages - there must be one here somewhere'. I eventually found one, but there weren't as many as I thought there would be.

I hope the following will address some of the issues that have been raised on the subject of published theory papers.

In 1999 the Grades 4 and 5 theory papers were changed from four to eight pages. Philip Mundey, Director of Examinations, says that this change was brought about for very practical, educational reasons. Candidates were faced with quite daunting amounts of text and musical examples on some pages, with cramped spaces for writing their answers, and sometimes having to answer questions about musical extracts printed overleaf. The BDA (British Dyslexic Association) was also keen for more white space around the questions. The spin-off of providing space for candidates' working, and, incidentally for markers' and moderators' marking, was a bonus.

The published past papers have always matched as closely as possible the actual exam papers. If we were to reorganize the material when the papers were published for sale, the past papers would not serve as efficiently in their function as real 'specimen' exemplar material – what the candidate sees in the exam room would be different from the past papers. However, we do always consider the inclusion of blank pages in our publications and avoid them where it does not affect the use of the material.

The paper used by ABRSM Publishing for all its publications for sale, including the theory papers, is made from 75% pre-consumer recycled pulp with the remainder from sustainable forestry.

Rachael Bond
Music Editor
ABRSM Publishing

Thank you Rachael, for this.

I'll second that, thank you Rachael for taking the time to reply to this thread. Your reply appears to have answered many of the points posted in this thread.

Thanks for taking the trouble to reply, Rachael. I still think far too much paper is wasted, though, and that the questions could be spaciously set out without having all those blank half-pages and so on - in the exams the candidates get scrap paper for any workings-out anyway!!

As someone who cares about the environment I would echo what you say Jo. However, as someone who has recently entered a seriously dyslexic pupil for grade 5 and heard her whoops of delight when she saw the specimen papers because there was loads of space and she could understand what was being written where and not feel crammed in, I do endorse what ABRSM have said.

Mixed blessings I guess - perhaps the happy compromise would be papers for candidates with or without special needs but I guess that calculating the right numbers to print of each would be a complete, and probably unworkable, nightmare.

The clear uncluttered layout of the theory papers has definitely helped my dyslexic son.
After a helpful array of suggestions from the ABRSM special needs coordinator about enlarged print and various modified print options, he has enlarged print for the real theory exam.
That in itself has made such a difference, he now has enlarged print for exam papers at school.

I've had a further think about this overnight. The pupil I referred to in my first post is dyslexic, and I was asked to give her one or two lessons before she takes the Grade 5 theory on Saturday. She's only worked through past papers and had never seen the workbook, so I gave her one just to do a few exercises. Having read the last couple of postings I think this may have been a mistake as there is not very much white space around the exercises. I'm seeing her in school this morning and will be interested to see what she has made of it. I found Rachael's post very interesting regarding the white space being necessary for dyslexic pupils - I've not had a dyslexic pupil for theory before, so was unaware of their needs. So, double thanks, Rachael

edit: when I did the Grade 6 exam we were only given a small piece of manuscript paper (A5 size), not really enough room to do keyboards, circles of 5ths etc. Don't know if this is across the board or if the centre I sat the exam in was mean with its paper. I do think some blank paper is necessary.

REVISION IS NOT A WASTE.

When I did grades 6 - 8 there was an A4 piece of manuscript paper for those grades and half of that for grades 1 - 5.
As far as I'm aware you can ask for more if you need it but I have heard that some invigilators will give out extra and some won't.