I thought it would sound more "musical" if the last note is played as "normal"(not staccato), but a friend of my child's has been instructed by his teacher that he should play the last note staccato.

Would one get penalised if s/he does not play the last note staccato?

It should really be all staccato.
I don't think it would knock more than a mark off scales if everything else is fine.

sbhoa, thank you for your quick reply!

Personally, I'd ask the examiner ... "Do you want me to play the final notes staccato, or should I hold them?" rather than try to guess at what he/she is expecting.

For the record, IMO it sounds much better to hold the final chord.

But really, it should make no difference to your mark which way you do it, if the rest of the scale has demonstrated your ability to play clean, crisp staccato thirds. It would be mean in the extreme to deduct marks for a technicality if you had already demonstrated the skill that is supposed to be under test, and it was obvious that the way you finished off the scale was a deliberate, controlled choice.

This would be my answer too, and pupils (and self) have got full marks doing it this way. However if the whole thing is inarticulate, this won't apply!

If I remember rightly, I always did the last note as a full-length quaver, and I was never penalised for it. A kind of compromise

Staccato scales (in any interval): Surely the clue is in the name? These are not supposed to be finished musical compositions - they are exercises to demonstrate a particular technique. I suppose it might be thought "mean" to deduct marks for playing the last note full-length, but if the requirement is for staccato and you don't do it staccato why should you not lose a mark or so, no matter how beautifully and technically proficiently you play it your way?

If you take the "it's more artistic that way" line, why not just play a couple of notes staccato to demonstrate that you can and do the whole of the rest of it legato? And actually that left hand would be more interesting if you syncopated a bit, maybe put a walking bass line under it or a chord or two? Hey, why not add some lyrics and sing it?

Of course I exaggerate to extremes, but the point is still sound: The basis of any good exam technique is to answer the question that was asked, not the question you wish had been asked. In this case, play the scale staccato: ALL of it.

That is all very well, however in These Music Exams it states that candidates will:

"be assessed on their abilities to perform the prescribed technical exercises for the grade (e.g. scales and arpeggios) with fluency, accuracy, evenness and musical shape"

And then later, in the Assessment Criteria, one of the factors that leads to a distinction mark reads "fluent and musically presented" - to me a staccato last note is not at all musical...

The way to get the official answer is to email the board and ask.
They are very helpful.

. . . but the alternative is not staccato, and if it is staccato that is asked for that cannot be right. The challenge is to deliver the scale staccato in its entirety (including the last note) and yet to provide fluency, accuracy, evenness and musical shape as well.

I agree entirely with Robodoc - if it is staccato that is asked for, then staccato it should be, whether the gd6 staccato scale or the ones for gd8.
And if they want them musical as well as staccato, well there's your challenge

I definitely held out the last notes of staccato scales and no comment was made on it. My score wasn't great, but it wasn't terrible either (17/21) and I'm sure those 4 points came from the numerous other mistakes I made. My teacher instructed (or at any rate didn't discourage... I don't remember her saying anything explicit) me to do this, and she has put countless students through AB grades and gotten good results. I agree that a staccato last note doesn't sound as good, and that any examiner who marks a candidate down for it is being downright silly.

On the one hand I believe that you should answer the question that was asked, not the question you wish had been asked; in this case that would mean playing staccato right to the end. However, I do appreciate the argument about musicality and the aesthetic of holding the last note. I believe I may have found a solution acceptable to both sides of this argument.

The ABRSM scales and arpeggios for grade 8 piano book is on the shelf, so I looked up what was actually written to see if that gave a clue. In a way it does: The scales & arpeggios are written out uniformly in quavers, all except the last note which in every case is written as a crotchet. Therefore, playing every note staccato as I advocate (not staccatissimo) the last note would naturally be held longer than the others, as others advocate.

So there you are: We were ALL right! However, there are no rallentandos and no fermatas, so take care not to hold too long!

In reality, I suspect that very, very few candidates will be so close to perfection or examiners so mean that the precise articulation of the last note in an otherwise perfectly executed scale will make a difference.

Well, I did my Grade 6 piano exam today. At the end I put this question to the examiner.

His reply; Either way is acceptable. Staccato last note or end on a crotchet/minim.

How did the exam go?

Thanks for asking!

Not too bad, but I could have done better! Scales - silly mistakes! I wasn't asked to play the C major scale in thirds, might be because I played it when I was 'trying out the piano'. Pieces - generally good but trills in Scarlatti were not too well projected. Gliere - ok but hesitation in middle section. Buccaneer - good. Sight-reading - very good. Aural - so-so.

All in all I am a little disappointed but that is the nature of exams!! I feel that I have done enough to get a merit, I will let you know in due course.

I am seriously considering Trinity for Grade 7 as I really hate singing!