Hi everybody,

my pupil came out of the exam upset that the examiner only played each test in the aural section once when he was expecting each section to be played twice!

We listened to the G3 Aural CD and got the impression the majority of the tests would be played twice. Did we get this wrong? As a result he only got 12 out of eighteen in the aural.

He was 2 marks off a merit.

I'm thinking of raising this with the Board - any thoughts?

(Still pleased he passed of course (118 out of 150) but he would have hoped for a merit. Is it worth raising with the Board?)

Just interested to know what anybody thinks.

I'm assuming you mean the AB syllabus. I'm pretty sure they've played all the bits twice in all my exams, and I'm pretty sure I've read somewhere that they're meant to do it twice, but wait for a second opinion before taking it up with the exam board just in case i'm wrong.

No, the only thing which might be played twice is 3C (the 'spot the difference' one), where it says "The examiner will be prepared to play both versions of the phrase a second time if necessary". Everything else is definitely only meant to be played once. Remember that it's partly supposed to be a test of quick reactions!

really? I'm sure you get it twice for the memorising and singing back bit.

Yes that's right noodle, they definately only play each test once at this grade.

I think you can ask for it again, but I'm pretty sure they would deduct marks for this.

The C test is definitely the only one you can have twice. The examiner may play parts of the others to help if you are struggling with your answers, but marks will probably be deducted. I've never had any part of the test played again in my own exams, but my students have asked for test C, and the examiner did it for them.

I believe this is true of all Grades, from 1-8.

I have taken about 30 exams and entered about 4 times as many pupils. I can confirm that in Grade 3 they will NOT replay the singing back test - a few years back I did grade 3 violin for a bit of fun and wasn't really concentrating on that part. I asked the examiner to play it again and he said "I'm afraid I'm not allowed to". Also, they expect you to join in clapping on the first attempt, and to listen just once for the answers to the questions (Test D). When pupils have really struggled they have played Test C (spot the difference) again - but I encourage them all to have a reasonable stab at it even if unsure - e.g "There was a change towards the end".

Yes, that's true! Sorry..forgot about test A!

This link will tell you http://www.abrsm.org/?page=exams/gradedMus...Syllabuses.html

Having read all your replies, I see now where I went wrong! I clicked on the Piano G3 syllabus and it says "Aural tests for the grade". I then clicked on the complete syllabus and it said the same thing. As this was the complete syllabus, I didn't realise there was anywhere else to check but of course there was.....right above it!! so instead bought the Aural CD thinking this would clarify things.

It gets worse!

For Test A it said "the musical examples you will hear will only be played once so please replay the tape for repeated listenings".

For Test B it said "each example will be played twice" (and I assumed this is what the examiner would do!)

Tests C & D were ok.

So there you go. Maybe a link to the Aural section would be useful in the complete syllabus? And perhaps some clarification on the CD?

Will put it down to experience!! Thanks for all the replies. I know of course it wouldn't necessarily have guaranteed more marks.