My question is about the melodic memory part of grade 8 aurals. Are you allowed to ask the examiner to play it twice? I've always been told that you can and should, and in the tests I've taken before, the examiner has played it twice even without my asking for it. My teacher said that one of her students took the exam recently and when he asked the examiner to play it twice the examiner "went to pieces" and said that it wasn't allowed. This really confuses me because in Aural Training in Practice book 3 under test 8A it gives an example of how the examiner will introduce the exam. "Sing the lower part of this three part phrase after I have played it twice." On the aurals CD each test is played twice. My teacher told the examiner this and he said she had misinterpreted what that meant. He said its up to the examiner to decide if you need to hear it again. Is that really the way it works? If it is, I think ABRSM needs to rephrase that part of the book. I'm taking my grade 8 piano exam in December and I really need to know. Please help!

When I took my grade 8 piano exam, the examiner played it twice, without any break in between. I didn't even have to ask him to. Since the instructions in the book clearly states "after I have played it twice", I think that that examiner might have misunderstood and that it was all a result of miscommunication. Hope this helps.

Yes, they should play it twice!!

I reckon that the examiner was probably a 'newbie' who hadn't examined any Grade 8s before, although that's no excuse for not reading the instructions properly - and very off-putting for the candidate involved.
Perhaps he was mixing it up with the bit that comes a sentence or two later, which says that a 2nd attempt may be allowed if necessary - for the actual singing back, not referring to the examiner's playing in the first place.