I just wondered how other people found the jump from piano grade 3 to grade 4? The scales at grade 4 seem fairly straightforward, but although I haven't tried them very much, the pieces seem a lot harder, as does the sightreading. How long did it take you to reach grade 4 standard after sitting grade 3?

I had a 2 year gap from grade 3-4 but I didn't play piano at all in that time but grade 4 to me about 5 months to get up to standard. The sight-reading I was unphased by because that is the part of the exam I actually like! THe aural tests I found the worst part. With regard to pieces I haven't seen the list so I don't know but making the transition through the grades is down to each individual student and will vary.

LOL just see thread on berfaceno1 grade 5 in 4 mths from scratch!! grade 3-4 no problem seriously dont they usually say around 12 mths a grade by then you should be well away

this is not standard as I took grade 5 march last year and working towards grade 8 for march easter next year (impatiently awaiting new syllabus)

I don't think that how long it took the rest of us is going to be a very helpful way to gauge how long it will take you. Everyone's different and it depends on how exam-focussed you want to be.
If you're finding the pieces and sight-reading much harder, you might want to spend a bit of time on non-exam work first. If you play a bunch more repertoire of grade 3-4 standard you'll probably find the grade 4 exam work much easier when you come back to it.

I did grade 4 two terms after grade 3, but I'm a hopeless at piano, so it might take you less if you just concentrate on exam work.
I didn't get to play much apart from exam pieces though and it's not something I'd recommend. I played quite a few pieces besides my three exam ones, but the others were mostly extra grade 4 pieces from the same syllabus. Taking some time out to explore a whole bunch of non-exam pieces would increase the time between exams, but would probably be a lot more fun.

For some reason, piano seems to lend itself particularly poorly to the exam-centric approach. My hunch is that's because, at least in the early/intermediate stages, it's not something that gives you many opportunities for ensemble playing. So if you do nothing but exam-work in lessons, chances are you're not going to be getting to play very much else. I've yet to work on any non-exam work in recorder lessons (my choice!), but it's not a problem at all as I've had plenty of opportunities to play other stuff in ensembles (baroque recorder ensemble at school, church music groups, Taize group, recorder ensemble at music summer school, recorder quartet, SRP, etc.) and I play non-exam pieces at home just for fun. This means I'm not going to come out of my exams able to play nothing apart from 6 pieces and a bunch of scales.

Unless there's some particular reason you need an early deadline for grade 4, you'd probably be better off forgetting about the exam stuff for the time being. Struggling with several pieces you're finding tough isn't much fun. Play a bunch of slightly more accessible pieces to bridge the gap and when you try the exam stuff again it won't seem nearly so difficult.
I didn't have that choice when I was at that stage (I was 8 when I did grade 3, so I didn't even know there was a different way of doing things - I was used to being handed the next exam book pretty much straight after the current exam - my teacher even issued me the grade 3 book before I'd taken grade 2) and I ended up hating piano and gave up soon after grade 4. I've dabbled with it a little bit on and off since, but still don't really like it.

In general, about a year between grades is typical as sjc said, but that's just a rough average. Some people are going to take less (especially if they miss out some of the exams along the way, like Jason's doing), and some will take more. Things like how much practice you have time for and how much other musical experience you have will make a difference, so taking longer between grades doesn't mean you're a worse pianist or a slow learner.
Don't worry if it takes you longer. In between grades 4 and 5 piano, I passed both my entrance exams for senior school and my driving test!
Unless you need grade 4 for university entrance or something like that, it's not a race against time.

T.

(slightly off topic)
Which is probably true, but it ought not to be, because woodwinds and strings and singers all need acompanists, and there is lots of four handed music for the piano, and keyboards are prominent in trios and recitative ...

Perhaps the reason is that the piano tends to attract the natural loners, who do not seek out opportunities to play with others, or even take opportunities when they are right under their noses?

(back on topic)
more pertinent, how long did it take you to go from grade 2 to 3? If you are working in much the same way, putting in perhaps a bit more time, then you should expect to go from 3 to 4 in about the same time. Or did you perhaps start with Grade 3?

Sure, there are ensemble opportunities for slightly more experienced pianists, but not so much for the lower grades. By the time I was grade 2 on flute, I could play anything in the hymnbook, which meant I could play it in church music groups. A grade 2 pianist isn't going to be able to do that. I've got grade 5 piano and there's no way I could sight-read my way through an entire service on piano. I'd need several weeks' notice to try to learn the stuff and even then I'd struggle.
At school I was in junior orchestra and junior recorder ensemble, then in orchestra, recorder ensemble and jazz band. The only one of those that had a pianist was jazz band, and it needed to be a very good pianist. Whereas the same band had several of each of clarinets, saxes, flutes, trumpets, etc. including some from about grade 3 standard.
I'm only about grade 1-2 standard on violin, but I play in a friendly string ensemble (it's open to grades 2-8+). I know a local brass brand that welcomes people from almost complete beginners - you just play what you can manage and leave out the rest.

People who play orchestral/band instruments can get into ensemble playing from a very early stage, which is not only fun, but also very good experience. So if they don't do much non-exam work in their lessons it's not such a problem, because they're having fun and playing extra repertoire elsewhere.

Other instrumentalists do need accompanists, but they're not likely to be looking at the grade 1-5 pianists for that. Someone of your standard can get into chamber groups and so on, but it's a lot harder in the early/intermediate stages. Of course there are bound to be a few exceptions, but in general you can get ensemble opportunities much earlier with non-keyboard instruments.
So for pianists it's more important to explore repertoire and play some stuff "just for fun" between exams, as they're less likely to be doing it somewhere else. For someone playing an orchestral instrument in ensembles, the extra playing experience will probably accelerate their progress, so the transition from one grade to the next won't seem so hard.

Doing nothing but exam work or slogging away at a bunch of stuff that's too difficult is un-fun. Of course we all have to do some stuff that we might not find particularly fun if we want to make progress but, broadly speaking, music should be enjoyable. It doesn't /all/ have to be fun, but at least some of it should be.
There's no point trying to speed through the grades as quickly as possible (unless you need particular ones for uni or something like that, and even then it's not ideal). Im guilty of making my recorder lessons entirely exam-oriented, but I do so much other recorder playing that it doesn't have the negative impact that doing the same thing with piano would have. I had a very pushy, very exam-focussed piano teacher when I was little. The race to get from grade 3 to 4 on piano put me off piano for life. It's better for people to take a bit longer, play more non-exam pieces and actually enjoy doing it, rather have it all turn into a chore.

T.

Well I'm working on a lot of non-exam pieces at the moment, which is definitely more fun than slogging through an exam book. When I did grade 3, I practised the pieces so much that by the time the exam came, I was sick of playing them and didn't actually make a very good job of them. I think you've got to have a good balance between exam preparation and playing other pieces, otherwise I think I'd just go crazy!

took me a year on piano when i was 10.
2 terms on the violin

my first ab exam is grade 4 so i don't really know the exact time for me from 3 to 4
but, it won't take a long time i think from 3 to 4, maybe a year
(the biggest gap i think from grade 7 to 8 and 8 to dip)
just a lot of practise and exercise will get you ready to fill the gap between 3 and 4

from the scales i think not hard to master it from grade 3
but lot of pieces 2 or 3 pages

work harder and good luck!

About twenty-four years OK, maybe I could have done it a little faster....

The jump shouldn't be too bad. I went from grade 3 to 5 and trust me when I say I'm not a great pianist. I took 1.5 years to reach grade 5 from 3 so I would say give it about a year. Then again, I did this about 5 years ago so I can't recall all that much. All the best though

I am convinced that if you take a long time between grades doing repertoire, the quicker you will be ready for the following exam - I don't think that Grade 3 - 4 is a particularly larger or shorter jump than 2 - 3 but if you spend time in between 2 and 3 doing lots of varied repertoire, then you are going to be ready for 4 quicker than if you just learn the 3 exam pieces and move on.