Just wondering how the harmony/composition questions are marked. It's fairly easy to see how questions 4&5 on the pieces are marked as they all have marks designated at the side but I'm assuming that the marks for harmony and composition are based on deducting from the totals 15 and 20, respectively. So I'd like to know how I assess a piece of harmony work in terms of ABRSM marks, if anyone has this information please.

Oh dear, no replies yet! Perhaps the AB has some guidelines about what loses marks in these questions and how, exactly the final mark for a question is decided? It would certainly help teachers to know how their students are likely to score, especially those keen ones who are hoping for a distinction.

I read this yesterday and the one thing I can think of is for you to get hold of some past papers and the corresponding model answers - the harmony answer suggested will give you some idea of what's expected, but remember there is more than one correct answer. Similalry for the composition question.

The other suggestion I have is to get hold of the Theory Workbook for Grade 6 (aka Big 6 book). This goes through every question on the papers and guides you through how to work them. This should give you a good idea of the sort of thing they expect.

Other than that I can't think of anything other than to ring AB and ask.

If you do get an answer I'd love to know myself!!

Thanks. Actually the model answers just say that there are many possibilities and here is one that would get full marks. There are a few pointers in 'These Music Exams' though not many regarding what loses marks in harmony questions which is a bit surprising given the large number of marks allocated. One can make a guess but it would be good to have more definitive information.

There are a couple of obvious ones like avoiding consecutive fifths and octaves, putting them in will lose marks, rules for doubling notes in chords, but I expect you know all this already.