I entered my son for his Grade 5 theory last week for the next sitting on Sat 18th June. All I have to do now is to encourage him to complete one past paper a week! He isn't like me, when I was going for mine I was addicted to those papers and ended up giving my teacher at least 4 a week to mark! I would be popping them in her letter box (as her instructions) My teacher is as much a theory addict as I am.

Who else is down for June?

Daughter (12) is doing her grade 5 too....she has gone from 26% to 82% on her past papers so far, she wants improve from there and is doing a paper a week. She wants a distinction, but her composition is not great, I think realistically a merit is on the cards, but we shall see!

My son's doing his Grade 5 too

Hope he does well! At least you'll be able to help him with it - that is, if he'll take mum's advice. My son will only listen to his teachers - I can't tell him anything

This is where I sheepishly admit I missed the entry date for June. November it is then.

I'm doing Grade 6 theory on the 18th

i hope i pass this session. i really don't want to do the exam again.

Double booked in March, missed the bus in June....

You're not having much luck getting to this theory exam are you?

Hopefully the good long run up to it by November will pay off with a nice result.

Oooops.....

I'm giving grade 8 a go. I have no time at the moment though to look through past papers what with the job and all.

Still it will be an experience.

Oh yes, and doing grade 5 sax this session as well - NOT my idea!

I am doing grade 1 theory and I am quite nervous!!!!

Any tips? Please

Read the question carefully!

Check clefs and key signatures on absolutely everything - so easy to make a silly mistake if you don?t

Check, check, check again - you have bags of time in the exam

Learn the list of musical terms and signs - easy marks!

Good luck

Daughter is up for her exam tomorrow morning. She's full of cold, so we are crossing fingers that she will concentrate!

Make sure it's neat and everything is properly drawn.

Good Luck - fingers crossed!

Good luck to everyone doing a theory exam this term - I was planning to enter my sister for Grade 5 this term but it's right in the middle of her GCSEs and she has a flute exam the day before so we're going for November. She's easily ready now, it's just not really feasible to fit it in around the zillions of exams you end up with thanks to modular GCSEs.

Well Kate did her exam yesterday, in her words "I think that went pretty darn well!" so hopefully....
She was delighted not to have a beaming question, but got a short to open score. She transposed the Tenor line into proper Tenor clef rather than singing Tenor so hope she doesn't get penalised too much for that.

Now we just cross our fingers....

No penalty for doing that. However, in 40 years as a tenor, I have never sang anything from the C clef!

Daughter doing Grade 5 theory...and it's her birthday too!! I am apparently a very mean mother for making her do this However, if she had put the work in earlier in the year she wouldn't be having to do it this time!

LOL exactly!!


LOL yes, very mean!!

The very best of luck to everyone doing theory exams tomorrow!

Absolutely...ditto!

Is everyone happy with how their exams went?

"Good. Hard" was the report from my son (G5). I'm taking that to mean that he found it more difficult than expected, but feels it went OK. He answered everything and didn't feel there was anything he couldn't do. But it was hard. I think that means we have to wait and see and be prepared for anything

My theory students emerged from their exams tight-lipped - not sure if that's a good sign or not .....
Anyone else have students who have just sat Grade 7 Theory?

My 2 gr 5 pupils said it was the hardest paper they've seen..... anyone else had that response?

Well my son did his grade 5 today and he said he thought it had gone all rightish. My piano teacher was an i vigilator and she told me that it was the hardest grade 5 paper she had ever seen.

It was really funny, one of my friends turned up to do grade 5 and very upset that her cover had been blown. She hadnt told a soul that she was doing it, lol

Good luck to her

Same response across the country, from the sound of things for G5 Fingers crossed.

Fingers crossed indeed for all of you . I had none in for grade 5 this time, but I had one in last session, who said the paper was comparatively easy. Hope this isn't a case of over compensation...

yes my daughter did the exam last session

My two grade 5ers thought it was OK, no surprises or disasters. We shall see...

My daughter came out saying it was the easiest paper she's done. Having worked through three packs of Grade 5 past papers. 2010, 2009, and 2006. She said that lots of the things she'd done in previous past papers turned up, and she had completely memorised all her german words, so the multiple choice question didn't throw her. Transposition only a minor third. She came out really happy, especially as there was no SATB or open score work, which she doesn't really enjoy. However, until the results come out, it's all perception!!!

I was pleased she resisted the urge to leave early, and used her time to check check and check again. Because when she did past papers at home, she would sometimes rush through them and make silly mistakes, but when she took her time, she'd get 80's and 90's.

I REALLY hope she's passed, as I really don't want to have to go through all this again because she's gone from nothing to grade 5 in six months, and it's been a bit of a slog.

I sat grade 5 today and felt it was ok - positives and negatives to it. I got totally thrown by the first question which I don't think helped - was definitely harder then all the past papers I've done, but that's probably just the way my brain works!!

I also thought in a couple of instances the questions were quite "sneaky", like very easy to trip up on them - if I didnt know better, and I do know it's not the case, I would say it's like that mean teacher at school lots of people get, who throws in a question that is purposefully confusing, just to show the pupils they're not as clever as they think they are!!!

I think it went ok. I would definitely say it was the hardest paper I've seen, but then I was sat in an exam hall doing it, not at home! Much easier at home.

Also, my other thought was the exam I sat was in a school. So every turns up, massive grounds, no signage or clues as where to go when we got there, there were people wandering all over the building!!! Saying that, the examiners were great! I did get irritated as well by people coming in late!!! I've got a thing about lateness at the moment. I wouldn't mind so much if it was like a couple of people - traffic, car problems etc. But SO many were late!!!

Yeah I think my 2 got thrown by the difficult first question ...I've spoken to one who said the composition was ok (I was warning them they might get bass clef as it was treble last session- but apparently it was treble). Pupil said the transposition was ok (hope she is correct as she often goes the wrong way!)She said the chromatic scale was hard to find and the Ic to V. She'll be fine.... she likes getting distinctions- maybe she won't get that!

I didn't think it was too bad (G5)... but Q7 got me! I had been working through past papers and I'm not too sure what this section is about.. The pink Eric Taylor book didn't make it much clearer for me either.. hm...

Ah, all speculation till results come, how long does it usually take? This is the first exam I have taken.

Officially, results are due within 6 weeks, however usually they start coming out at about 4 weeks. It does depend on your centre code - they come out in alphabetical order (roughly!) so if you are an X or Y centre then you are lower down the order than if you are an A or B centre.

Daughter is feeling very fortunate to have sat the international paper rather than the UK one!! Fingers crossed for everyone that it was better than thought x

Well as i said earlier my son said it was alrightish but my piano teach who is an exam invigilator said it was the hardest paper she had ever seen. As she is also a music theory teacher up to grade 8, i think she probably knows what she is talking about.

Still not too long to wait, i am sure that my son has passed as he found the ic -v. The chromatics what he said back to me sounded right. His compositions are usually excellent so hopefully ok there. Transposition he had no probs with. A couple of the words caught him out. But on the whole it all seems ok.

Good luck to all for the results, hopefully everyone has done enough to pass.

My son and daughter, entered together to foster a good old bit of sibling competition, said it was harder than any paper they'd done and they think they may have failed. It was such a palava having both of them preparing for it and I so don't want to go through it again! Aaaaaah!

Hopefully they have both passed. Remind them that they only need 66% to pass.

I found it quite tough but the only benchmark I've got was the 2009 / 2010 past papers. I've been keeping a diary of my grade 5 studies on the 'music theory diaries' page of the forum at mymysuctheory.com ( see "Frank's grade 5 diary" here http://www.mymusictheory.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=4 ). The last post I put on there on Saturday includes my own recollection / reflection of some of the questions - it's very long so I won't repeat it here. At the end of that post I ponder on what direction I should go on with my future studies. If anyone has the stamina to get through that post and offer any thoughts on my next steps after grade 5 I'd be interested to hear them.

i'm not sure I follow this! Assuming ic -v is correct, it will get him 2 or maybe 4 marks at the most. It doesn't necessarily follow that finding a ic - v cadential progression will ensure a pass.

My first thought would be wait for the result.
If it's not a distinction try to identify any place you may have lost more marks and fill in the gaps before moving on.

Lol, i didnt mean i thought that he had passed just because he had found the 1c - v, i mean that would be very naive of me, lol. I thought i had actually said in my post that he was confident with the transposition question, composition, he seemed alright on intervals. The only real problem he seemed to encounter was he had got a couple of the German word meanings incorrect. I think i brought up the 1c - v as a previous poster said that their child had difficulty locating it.

Ah thank you. Is it a letter or can we find out online? x

The results go to the person who made the exam entry. So if you entered yourself for the exam (i.e. did the application yourself rather than your teacher doing it) then you will be able to view your results yourself. If someone else (e.g. a teacher) entered you for the exam then that person will receive your results and you won't be able to look these up for yourself.

You will get also get post which will include a sheet with a breakdown of the marks for each question - not every single item within a question - and the certificate if you pass which, all being well, you will have done. Online results will only show the overall mark - but at least with that you know whether you passed.

Ah thank you. Is it a letter or can we find out online? x
[/quote]
The results go to the person who made the exam entry. So if you entered yourself for the exam (i.e. did the application yourself rather than your teacher doing it) then you will be able to view your results yourself. If someone else (e.g. a teacher) entered you for the exam then that person will receive your results and you won't be able to look these up for yourself.
[/quote]
You will get also get post which will include a sheet with a breakdown of the marks for each question - not every single item within a question - and the certificate if you pass which, all being well, you will have done. Online results will only show the overall mark - but at least with that you know whether you passed.
[/quote]


Thank you! x

Ah thank you. Is it a letter or can we find out online? x

I came across the following quote on the ABRSM website "Results are posted first class on the same day email notification is sent confirming that they are ready to be viewed". So it sounds like you get both a real physical old-fashioned letter and a newfangled online record for which you'll get an email alert to tell you it is ready. But the online version will only tell you the overall score whilst the letter will give a bit more detail; I think. At least that's how it seems to me from the information on the website but I'm new to this so can't verify all of that from my own experience!

The "letter" is an A5 sheet with a table listing the main questions and the mark on the right - it's handwritten by the examiner who marked your paper, although they only write in the mark. It's similar to the practical exam sheet but smaller and simpler with no specific comments. At least you know which areas you did well in and where you might have lost marks. Unless it's changed in the last couple of years - I haven't put any pupils in for theory exams for a while.

I think the letter is now an A4 sheet listing the main questions and the mark received for each one is now printed in... so apart from the size and no handwriting it is exactly as you remember!!