Hi all,
I did grade 4 in June; it was my first exam ever on the cello and I did okay - I was 3 marks away from distinction, but my scales and arpeggios let me down. I passed this section, but just about.

I could easily spend an hour per day on scales/arpeggios (but I don't always have time) and in practise I only play them a few times a week. I have started a new system in preparation for my exam. I wrote out the names of each scale, put them all in a jar and I pull out 3-4 a day and play them.
I find that I am not retaining the finger patterns easily, and if I haven't played a scale in more than a week, than i'm almost back to square one in learning it.

so the ultimate thing for exam preparation would be to play every scale and arpeggio every day, but with two children and a full-time job, it isn't always possible.

My question is, how many scales should I play every day in preparation for my exam (which is in about 12 weeks time).
I'm aiming for distinction in this exam.
thanks for your time and any tips.

For grade 5, you ought to be able to do all of them every day once they're reasonably well learned. Go through them all and work out which ones you can pretty much do already and which need learning, then try and sort out 3 or 4 per day. Once you know all the notes (not necessarily can play them all perfectly at speed), just play through them all before starting playing. From what I remember, it takes less than 10 mins to play the grade 5 scales through once they're at the right speed.

EDIT: sorry, I was thinking more specifically about piano, but the general idea will be much the same for cello.

It's also worth identifying scales which the use same fingering patterns (at least for the lower octaves) but start on different strings. This kind of gives you less to learn.

Scales are pretty logical on string instruments, and as long as you know the basic pattern of tones and semitones for each type of scale (i.e. major, whichever type of minor you are chosing) you shouldn't have too many problems learning the scales for the exam. I've found on string instruments that the main thing is to understand how the scale/arpeggio is constructed in terms of intervals (tones, semitones, thirds etc) and then the fingerings slot in much more easily.

This is a bit like the old 'how long is a piece of string' question, but the father of one of my pupils recently came up with an excellent 'traffic-light' system which you could try:

Make a chart listing all your scales. The ones you can play well (reliably, fluently and correctly) can be marked green, the ones which need work marked red, the ones which are 'nearly there' marked orange (amber).

Target the 'red' scales first, then the 'amber' ones, making sure the 'green' ones aren't slipping. This should enable you to maximise the time you spend on scales. Eventually, of course, you should able to have them all showing 'green'.

Good luck!

Wow! This is almost exactly what I've been doing with scales, although I have categories called 'OK' , 'Needs work' and 'help!' . I used it to learn my grade 4 oboe and grade 5 piano scales and it's worked well for me so far.

My system is to have a rota (once you've learned them) that covers them all over 3 or 4 days. This way it's possible to keep it down to 20-30 minutes a day.

This works! I suggest to my students that they need to cover them all twice or three times each week. I also tell them in advance whic Nasty scale I will ask for first next lesson!

I did rota as well. (once you learned) First of all I divided Mojor and Minor. Once I become confident, I omitted "OK" one and concentrate "need to work". Sometimes, back from arpeggio. So you can pick up important key and we will have an idea what key will be between.

Scale is fun but so painful!

My teacher told me to practice the major and then the minor of the scale and appreggio, I should aim to practice at least 2 per day. But being an adult and having a lack of time to practice, I don't follow that advice. I rarely practice my scales unless I am forced to i.e. when I have an exam! I crammed in my grade 5 scales at the last minute. I memorised them all over the weekend before my exam. That wasn't a good way to learn! I'm good at memorising finger patterns, I still remember my grade 5 scales - but I haven't a clue what note I'm playing. So now I'm re-learning it properly. For example, if my teacher told me to play Eb major, I can easily play it but without thinking about the finger pattern, I don't know what notes are flat in that scale. You've got plenty of time to prepare

Try this, it works for me:
make strips of card about 6" log and 1" wide. (Well 15cm by 2cm in new money)
On one side write the name of the scale (or arpeggio).
On the reverse write out the scale.
Make one strip for each scale or arpeggio you need to know.
Shuffle them and put them all in a container.
Each day take out one seventh of the total number in the container and practice/learn. If you are unsure just turn the card over and check.
When finished place in second container. At the end of the week all scales will have been done at least once.
When you are working for the next grade just add more strips.

As far as division between major and minor goes I generally advise playing related pairs until students know them well.
I played major and minor on the same starting note when I practiced piano scales as I know the related pairs very well. On clarinet I'm learning related pairs as I work on getting my scales up to where they need to be.

Thanks for all the tips. They have been really helpful. I set up the 'traffic light' system, and discovered that the majority of the scales were in red, while the remainder were amber. None were green. The truth hurts sometimes

I have resigned myself to playing all the scales and arpeggios every day (36 in total including melodic and harmonic versions). It still takes an hour to get through them, but at least they are improving.

Since then some seem to have moved into amber, and others are almost ready to go to green.

I have been practising them all simply for the intonation and fingering - I haven't started to introduce slurred scales yet. Maybe once all the scales are in green in terms of knowledge of them I will then start practising with slurs.

Learning what the intervals are has been a great help - like you moon, I simply learnt the finger patterns for the last exam without being able to place my second finger on D if asked. Now I'm slowing understanding what note each finger is on.

If I continue with this i'm very confident I'll be ready in this section for the exam.
thanks again.