Emily-Lous mum

Hi my daughter is just about to take the Grade 5 theory at Bryantston, she needs this before her practical grade 6 later this year, she has not taken a theory before, has anyone sat this exam before, are the questions quite straight forward, her theory tutor has advised that we get ABRSM 3, 4 and 5 books, just interested to know your thoughts

You might be better off moving this query to the Theory Forum.

You'll find lots of people on here (ABRSM Forums in general) have done or are preparing for grade 5 theory. My daughter took it when she was 11 (I think - it seems a long time ago now). The way we did it was slightly unusual. Her singing teacher recommended when she was quite a bit younger (9 maybe) that she start to look at some theory, so she and I decided to work together for grade 1 (I am a not very musical hobby recorder player). We got a work book each and sat down and studied together on a Sunday morning and largely sorted out each other's problems. We did specimen exam papers and checked each other's.

After grade 1 we took a break from work but, basically, we continued in this way until we took grade 5 together - though we skipped one grade, possibly grade 2. Daughter did get some extra help at school eventually, and I did do some extra reading and passed on what I'd learned. This was a fun and very successful way for us, and we both did very well in the grade 5 exam.

Most people here will, I think, advise what your theory tutor has advised; just take grade 5 but work through the books for the earlier grades. The papers are "straightforward" in the sense that no one is setting out to trick you, and you can be pretty sure what the format and subject matter of the questions is going to be. My daughter is musical and reasonably bright and enjoyed the whole process. I expect Emilylou will be just the same!

Yep, get the books for grades 3, 4 and 5 and past papers for 5. Work a little on each section, starting with book 3 and do a few of the exercises. If no problem then move on. Grade 5 has alot more in it than grade 3 or 4 and has more complicated concepts so you need to keep most of the time for that.

Also be aware that she needs to know ALL the terms for grades 1-5. This you need to start working on now as there are rather alot!! And that the ones for Grades 1&2 are not in the later books. There is a list on the forum somewhere...