Sorry if this has been discussed before, but I had my results on 27th July, but have not received the certificates and mark sheets yet. I thought they were sent out immediately after we were notified that the results were online. Can anyone enlighten me...should I be worried...it's 4 days now.

Nannyjay, I'd ring the Board and check.

They'll probably arrive in the post today. It may just be that the post is particularly slow. When our first set of results appeared online one teacher's reports/certificates arrived 4 days after everyone elses, despite being posted at the same time to the same postcode.

It's likely to be the post - but if they don't arrive today or tomorrow I think I would ring the board to check.

Thanks everyone. I'll wait until tomorrow before ringing the board.

Mine have arrived the next day... they are sent 1st class post.

had no problems with mine neither. Not thats meant to be any consolation. I'd contact the board. It could just be the post, but i'd bet they'd want to know. I'd ring them!

Hi Folks,

If your regular postman/woman is on holiday, things can get delayed for sure.

A big problem that I have found is when there is a spell of very wet weather and the envelope is wet round the edges and also the corners of the certificates!

I have now contacted the Board twice, and been to the local sorting office, but there is no sign of the certificate. The second time I rang the Board, I spoke to a man who was not terribly helpful and asked me to email them (I've already done that once as well) with the details although they are aware of the candidate I am referring to and have noted that the papers have not arrived.

After some insistance from me the man said he would deal with it, but I have to say that he was not particularly helpful. I'd love to know if anyone has ever had a similar experience and if so what happened...did replacement certificate and mark sheet eventually turn up?

I wonder if the board will put up their examination fees in the light of the increased postal charges by the Royal Mail from the 21st of August for 'large letters'....

I was wondering that myself this morning. We received our leaflet about changes in postal charges and I thought either exams will cost more or they'll make the certificates smaller!

The certificates are A4 so I suspect they'll stay that way; and highly doubt they'll take the option of folding them to make them fit in the letter catergory. So it'll cost 12p more for the postage, which probably works out at £1 per candidate more to enter for the exam .

do you think the royal mail knows what havoc they're making by this letter changing?!? xxx

Yes - I wondered about smaller certificates

The certificates used to be A5 size and then changed to A4 about 1990.

Interesting. My first certificate, grade 1 piano, is from 1990; so I never knew that .

I suspect the mail system will grind to a halt on August the 21st....

They weren't as nice as the present certificates though.

I can't find my certificates from the early eighties, but I thought they were A4 size then

I may be mis-remembering, though.

My grade 3 from 1983 is A5. (Ok..so I'm a slow learner... )





I was just thinking how recent that was... then I remembered you are the age of my kids....

That just automatically added on to the bottom of that post......

I recall my brother having different sized certificates, but I don't recall how different. His showed the mark as well as whether it was pass/merit etc. I agree, they weren't as nice!

All my ABRSM certificates are the new versions, as all my exams up till the '89 or '90 were with a different board.

There has been another development. My pupil's certificate finally turned up at the home of his flute teacher (he swapped exams because of having an operation on his face). She has not contacted me yet, but has told my pupil on the telephone. I am extremely unhappy about this....the whole episode has been most unprofessional, and the fact that this other teacher has my pupil's results has really annoyed me .... grumpy old woman that I am.

Yes, I vividly remember them being smaller in the 80's and you got one with red lettering if you had a distinction, green for merit, or just plain blue for pass, all with white backgrounds.

Then came the yellow certs with typed out names and grades with only the words, distinction, merit and pass to differentiate between the categories. I really found the typing to be a bit of a let-down as compared to the previous prints with only the name and Grade (if I recall rightly) typed out in bold black letters. These were in A4 size.

And finally, after year 2000, the Board decided to make them look better with nice fonts and everything appearing in black prints with the Board's light grey logo in the background. Jubilee Year special

I'd much prefer the certificates with different coloured wording for different categories of passes, but with the cream-coloured background, logo and the names and grades in nice bold fonts. Maybe I'm just being fussy.

I found my certificates earlier. Mine are slightly different. For practical exams, the A5 certificate has blue writing and a red ABRSM logo in the top right corner and for theory it has black writing. The candidates name, mark, instrument and category of pass are typed on.

Ah, yes, I think you are right. My old certs are locked in my safe so anyway, I only remember the colours for the different categories of passes. Anyhow, I remember you could tell at a glance because of the colours which category of pass someone got! But the theory ones only give distinctions at either Grade 5 or 6 upwards in the 80's. And the full marks used to be 99. Rather weird, I thought, even at that time.
Then later (I think 1990 onwards) they gave distinctions for theory for all grades.
And only in the early 2000's they decide to award merits for theory as well!

Sorry if it seems like I'm arguing with you violin-ann! I had lots of marks in the 90's for theory and on not one of my certificates does it mention the word distinction!

It just says:
This is to certify that
noodlewoodle
passed in THEORY OF MUSIC
Grade 4
obtaining 90 marks out of a maximum of 99 marks
in the Summer period of 1980

The holder of this certificate was presented for examination by .....

Not fair!!

When I took theory exams in the 70s, you could only get a pass for Grades 1-5, but distinctions were available for Grades 6-8. I know, because I got a distinction (with the accompanying RED certificate) for Grade 6 theory in 1974 (I think).

Much good it did me, because I had to take the bally exam again two years ago to qualify me for the DipABRSM Teaching (which I still haven't taken).

Hmmm... that's weird! Anyway, I did Grade 4 in 1989 and got 94, but the Board didn't give distinctions to Grade 4's at that time, so... I only managed to get it for Grade 5 in 1990 (the last chance of getting one for anything below Grade 6!) and that's when they changed the certs too to the cream coloured ones.

Perhaps you'd better consider taking it soon, andante, before it becomes invalid again! I smell it coming!

My old A5 certificates and my new certificates are all the same cream colour!

What? That's funny, mine were white with different colours for different categories of passes for practical. And white for theory too! The old A5 ones, that is. Maybe it's different for different countries as well??
The only cream coloured ones I have are from 1990 onwards.

Maybe so! I still feel I'm entitled to distinction for 5 theory exams!

Well, then I'm entitled to a merit for Grade 3 and a distinction for Grade 4 since I skipped grades 1 and 2. It was unfair that the syllabus suddenly changed too for Grade 8 and then all I could manage was a pass.

Hmmm! Wonder if I asked the board for a replacement certificate would it say distinction for exams I got 90 or above in???

Afraid not. My Grade 5 from 1980 (for which I got 95/99) just says ".....took Grade 5 Theory....and passed".

When we were on holiday a couple of weeks ago, we went for a drink in one of the pubs in our village. It was the sort of place with lots of old prints and pictures on the walls. Right by where we sat, I was thrilled to find two AB certificates from the 1920s!

One, dated 1921, was presumably the standard certificate of the time - it mentioned 'Lower School Division' as the level attained - I think I've seen that on a couple of the very old exam books I have. The other, from 1927, was much grander and bigger, and certified that the candidate had been awarded this 'Special Certificate' for completing all the Grades. I can't remember the exact wording, but that was the gist of it!

Goodness, they were old certificates, jo ! I have a 'Special Certificate' for theory -for passing certain grades within a certain time. It might have been grades 5 -8, I can't remember now. My mum has some old ABRSM sight-reading books which have 'names' for each grade. Grade 1 -Primary, 2 - elementary, 3 - transitional, 4 -lower, 5 - higher, 6 - transitional, and 8 - final. Anyone know what grade 7 was called? I have a feeling it might have been Advanced, but I'm not sure!

According to my old red 'Rudiments and Theory of Music' book, grade 7 was indeed called 'Advanced' noodle.

Just to clarify: the background colour of the certificates was cream, but the print was in red for a distinction and green for a merit (with boring black print for a pass).

Wow... yes, now I remember reading about special certs, but I never got one having not taken every grade.
Anyway, too bad noodle, I guess they can't give you a distinction when their full marks are only 99!

Thanks Barry. The red Rudiments book brings back memories!

Correction:- I think grade 6 was intermediate, not transitional!
All my practical certificates had blue writing regardless of whether it was pass/merit/distinction and the theory ones had black writing.
Aww well!

I've got certificates from the last three incarnations. The last one I have matching noodle's description is from summer 1988; the next exam I took was spring 1989, and is one of the A4 certificates. The current incarnation was introduced at some point between autumn 1993 and spring 2006 - spot who didn't take any exams for 13 years!


I've got one . You had to pass the four highest grades within a specific period of time, then send in copies of your mark sheets, and they sent a grey A4 certificate saying This Special Certificate is awarded to <candidate> for having passed in ascending order the four highest Grades of the Board's examinations for <instrument>.

I think the time period was four years - I took Grade 5 clarinet in autumn 1986, and finished the set in summer 1990.

All of these dates make me feel really old


I've got an old Grade 6 piano book which describes Grade 6 as intermediate. An aunt who took Grade 5 clarinet before I was born still refers to it as "Grade 5 Higher".

Well I couldn't have gotten a special cert in any case because they didn't give out anymore by the time I finished Grade 8, even if I DID take Grades 5 to 8 within 3 years!
Aww.. well!

Ah but yes, I did have the old rudiments book. It was quite good really for quick references. What a shame I misplaced it by the time I began teaching!

My little red book has disappeared too! I preferred it to AB guide To Music.

Mine's on the kitchen table. Not 100% sure why

And mine's on my desk. It turned up unexpectedly a while ago. I've just bought the First Steps in Music Theory book. Much better than the pink book for Grades 1-5, I think.

I've searched high and low to find my little red rudiments book out again to help with teaching my 9 year old her Grade 5 theory. Some things are so neatly handled in it! However, at her age I don't think she'd be able to understand the oxford english required to read it.

Grr! I got 86% for my grade 8 theory in 1998, and it says I passed. My friend got the same mark for grade 5 last year, so hers says merit!

If I'd known I was going to do as well as that, I'd have put in a bit more work and it might have said Distinction!

Oh well.

BTW I have a typed A5 certificate for grade 3 clarinet from 1986, but my grade 5 one from 1989 is very similar to the current ones.

A bit off-topic, but kind of also on-topic: I have just received my Trinity grade 8 recorder certificate (finally). Talk about a dull layout! It's almost as boring as my degree certificate (which is awful...)

I've always thought Trinity certificates were dull and boring too. A 5 year old with an etch-a-sketch could create something more imaginitive! Hopefully the Trinity Guildhall certificates will be better.