Hi,
I have just did today Grade 5 exam. It is my first ABRSM exam so i was a bit anxious about the experience.
The examiner was kindda cute and so relaxing. I played all the pieces, scales fine. I don't know if the aural went ok or not coz i just replied his questions but i don't know whether they are right or not.....
I was told that i played the List C piece a bit slow. The score was written to be played at 132 per quarter note and i played it at about 95 I don't know whether i be penalized a lot on that or what.......

Actually it was a great experience that came to end a long period of preparation and anxiety. I was happy with the overall performance despite the slow tempo piece.

Please i wanna know what is the minimum mark for a distinction and for a merit...

Thanks,
Khaled

You thought the examiner was cute>!!? I choked on my vienetta when i read that!


Pass- 100/150
Merit- 120/150
Distinction- 130/150

LOL.
Do you mean cute as in adorable, or attractive? Just curious.

Congratulations, anyway. You must be relieved to have it out of the way now.

You sound very positive about your exam so it's likely that you will get a good mark. The examiners don't usually comment on the answers you give in the aural part of the exam so don't feel nervous about that. I was surprised that you were told you played your C piece too slow as they don't normally comment on the pieces either. Anyway, well done and I hope you get a good result which I'm sure you will It's such a good feeling when you have finished an exam as it's just nice to relax and not have to worry.

Lisa xxx

P.S. I have never had a cute examiner, they've all been old

I think that's the criteria. The last exam I had, the examiner was quite young for an examiner, all the little old ladies and teachers, and the stewardess were saying things like "ooh it's a young'un in, oh he's ever so nice, what a lovely young man", etc etc."

I have never had a young person, or a lady examiner, otherwise twouldnt be an exam

So are examiners usually old men???

yup. poor ol' darling me

I didn't mean by that the examiner was cute that he was young and handsome He was just very relaxing to work with and always with a smile. I was relieved to see a smile on his face when i entered the examination room.

The examiner didn't tell me that i played the piece slowly. A person outside the room who heard it did so. How many marks do you think i will lose for that?

Well i playd my grade 7 piece too fast, and that caused a couple of hiccups.. i lost 7 or 6 marks for that.. however, playing it slower and NOT making any mistakes is much better, as long as u ddnt play it uber slow, you'll be fine! Maybe the person outside listening was rong?!

How well did you do in the other sections? ie scales, sight reading, etc, etc

Well i played the scales pretty well. In fact i did them at a faster speed than was required and they were crystal clear and musical (crescendo upwards, diminuendo downwards and ritenuto towards the end). Sight reading went nearly ok. I kept a continuous pulse despite a couple of wrong notes and i tried to keep attention to dymanics.

What made me feel a bit afraid that i am gonna lose some marks, is that when i started to play the list A piece, i played the first two notes then i suddenly stopped then played it again. I don't know why on earth did i do that stupid thing. I am sure i will be penalized for that.

LOL. Depends on how old you are! From the perspective of my advancing years, all my examiners have been exceedingly young!!

Congratulations for completing your exam.


It depends on the character or the piece: if it was marked allegro and the character was slightly lost by playing slower then you might lose a few marks (not more than 4 I wouldn't think unless it was really slow to the point of sounding nothing like it). If the piece maintained it's character and could have been a valid interpretation at a lower speed you may not lose any marks (the metrenome marks are usually only suggested, although on list C they are sometimes the composer's own). It sounds like you've done well enough and I don't think that you'll be penalised too heavily for the slow tempo.

Help! Please can someone tell me whether this is the way to play scales - I've always been told to play them as evenly as possible, at an equal dynamic and with no rit....

Mostly they should flow easily. Cresc. and dim. are not essential, it is just one way of shaping them musically.

Thanks sbhoa - I was worried there for a moment...