my grade 8 piano examination is on 24th August..and my weakest part is aural and sight-reading tests..
I do not know how to differentiate the chords in identifying the chords.. there are many choices and how am i going to determine correctly? regarding cadence, i think i'm quite ok just have a question how to listen to an imperfect cadence, interrupted candence and plagal cadance??

Next is the identify modulations.. i do not have perfect pitch and it seems very difficult to me.. sometimes i juz sing the root note or the tonic chord 1st note and compare with the last chord of the modulated extract. but sometimes i just feel that i'm lost halfway n can't answer the question.

Lastly is the identify features from an extract. Normally what does the examiner expect us to talk about?? My friend says that just mention about the texture, articulation, dynamics(best if described using Italian terms), period, style, likely composer and so on.. he says that the more you comment on it, you will score higher marks and the examiner will be impressed. any notes related to those above? i don't understand about style and the way to describe the style of the piece. And the mood of the piece is very difficult to explain!
Do anyone of you know which websites have notes on some pieces that describe about the piece, mood, the style and others aspects??

Do reply me here or just PM me! Thanks!

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I think with these you just have to get someone to give you lots of practise.
With Chords, try to split it into two intervals, and identify those.

For example when I did ALCM in 1963 I hesitated when I got a Diminished first inversion to identify.
Before I gave an answer, the examiner (legendary Liverpool tecaher Ronald Settle), played the top interval which I correctly said was an Augmented fourth. 'In that case', he said 'what must the triad be.

'Diminished first inversion , Sir '

'Correct, now that wasn't too difficult was it?'

He gave me 8/10 and it just scraped me through with 75/100 (75 is pass mark)

For those who like statistics Scales/Arps 15/20, Bach 'Book 1' No 11 13/20
Beethoven Op10 No 2 (all of it) 17/20 Mendelssohn (Duetto) 14/20 Sight reading 8/10 Aural 8/10

I took Grade 8 back in June, and aural and sight reading happen to be my weaknesses too! I think I got really lucky on aural to manage a 16/18...I admit aural isn't my expertise, but here are a few tips anyway.

For cadences, imperfect is I-V, ii-V, or IV-V, interrupted is V-vi, and plagal is IV-I. When determining the chords, if you've determined the cadence you should know the last two. For the others, first listen to the key chord carefully, and start off by determining the base note. Then, listen to if it's major or minor. I think listening to chords also helps...play a tonic second inversion, and compare how it sounds with the dominant.

Modulations...I tend to use the bass note, and that usually works for me...but if I really don't get it, I just take a guess. You usually have a 50/50 chance of getting it right. Like if the key modulates from major -> major, you know that the major chord is either subdominant or dominant major. And if it modulates from major -> minor, you know it's either relative or supertonic minor. And there's also minor -> major, minor -> minor, etc. Of course, guessing isn't the best plan of action, but it's a good last resort. Another method that works for some people is listening to how the chord progresses throughout the segment...this personally doesn't work too well for me, but it might help you.

Finally, identifying features...I guess the hardest part about grade 8 might be that they don't tell you what they expect...they just tell you to talk about a piece. Start with the ones that seem the most obvious to you - style, form, texture, time, dynamics, etc. For mood, I always say what adjectives the piece brings to mind...anyway, for my examiner, after I said about three things, he started asking me guiding questions. Again, I didn't get a perfect aural score...but just respond intelligently and you should be fine! If you have any questions before your exam, feel free to PM me or post another message. Good luck with your exam!