Do you get less marks if you have some spelling mistakes?

e.g. deminished instead of diminished....

I think you will get it if the examiner can understand it

Thank you !!

I was really worried...

Im not certain i just assumed it would be like gcses and a levels. It needs to be legible and the mark/s will be awarded

Sorry, but I lose marks for incorrect spelling in theory so it should matter.

I think quite a few of the questions are worth two marks, so maybe you lose one of those marks for incorrect spelling?

Are there any printed guidelines for examiners?

I'm still worried about my transposition question (see Theory exam. How did it go?) Thinking about to the melody that we were given I still can't work out whether it was in a C major or A minor - the notes themselves didn't seem to give any clues. Or was I missing something obvious (like my brain for instance!)



Amber
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I don't think that the spelling is marked, so long as it can be understood.
Remember that at some grades quite young children are taking the exam.

QUOTE (Amber @ Nov 4 2004, 12:24 PM)

I'm still worried about my transposition question (see Theory exam.  How did it go?)  Thinking about to the melody that we were given I still can't work out whether it was in a C major or A minor - the notes themselves didn't seem to give any clues.  Or was I missing something obvious (like my brain for instance!)

Surely it doesn't matter whether it was in C major or A minor as long as you transposed all the notes by the right interval. A minor third up from C major gives you Eb major which has the same key signature as C minor (a minor third up from A minor: so the examiner will never know what you thought... (it works the same downwards and upwards with any interval...).

Regarding spelling, I think that I read somewhere (although I can't recall where it was) that the examiners will mark the answer as correct as long as they understand it; they're not bothered about spelling but the ability to name the intervals. I believe the interval question marks are split in half, half for the correct number (6th, 5th etc.) and half for the correct classification (major, minor, perfect etc.).

That's a good point. I was surprised by how young some of the other candidates were. The final person left in the exam room last night was a young Japanese girl working her way through her Grade 8, and I swear she didn't look much older than eight herself. A humbling sight, I must say!

Even if you thought it was in C major, and you composed that[I] right (ie up a major 3rd to Eb major) and you transposed the rest of it up right I think you still get the marks, or so my teacher said.

Most of the people at my exam were high school age. One of my friends was doing grade 5 as well and another doing grade 3. Most of the people were the ages I would expect them to be.

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Nov 4 2004, 02:01 PM)

QUOTE (Amber @ Nov 4 2004, 12:24 PM) I'm still worried about my transposition question (see Theory exam.  How did it go?)  Thinking about to the melody that we were given I still can't work out whether it was in a C major or A minor - the notes themselves didn't seem to give any clues.  Or was I missing something obvious (like my brain for instance!) Surely it doesn't matter whether it was in C major or A minor as long as you transposed all the notes by the right interval. A minor third up from C major gives you Eb major which has the same key signature as C minor (a minor third up from A minor: so the examiner will never know what you thought... (it works the same downwards and upwards with any interval...).

It's OK, it was just my brain I was missing!!!!! I was just confusing myself with Eb major and E major.

Rhapsodin makes a very good point about the difference between relying on memory and faith vs. true understanding of the theory, but I think there's an inbetween stage too of "understanding but still making some silly mistakes". Or maybe it's just me. I've got some health problems at the moment, which include being very tired because of interrupted sleep. I find it frustrating that I understand the theory but still overlook things, and occasionally get confused (like mixing up Eb and E for instance). I don't think that would happen so much if I was less tired, but who knows!

At least I didn't have a complete "CRAFT moment" in the exam (CRAFT - Can't Remember A Flippin' Thing - geddit!)

Cheers,

Amber
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I had a CRAFT moment in my GVIII theory, it was terrible. It was because I'd somehow spent 2 hours on question 1, and was freaking out that I had an hour to do 4 questions!