How to get a distinction in ABRSM exams.

The fact that you are reading this means that you are serious about getting a good mark in your next ABRSM exam.

By putting into practice the advice that I offer you, you can be confident of getting the mark you deserve in your next ABRSM exam. 

Getting a good mark, is not just a question of spending hours and hours of practising your instrument, but knowing how to practice and also knowing what the examiner is looking for. 

Download this ebook TODAY for success in your next exam

As a teacher of the ABRSM syllabus for over 30 years, I can pass on to you, the benefit of my experience, which has enabled my own private students, to obtain results, well above the national average. Since 2009, the ABRSM has stopped publishing their statistics, but the last available ones, show that only 50% of students taking exams, got a merit or distinction. At the time of publishing this advice, I have entered over 200 students for ABRSM exams since 2005 of which, 78% got a merit or distinction in the last year. So you're in good hands.

CLICK TO ENLARGE

The above screenshot is the results of one of my recent students, as you can see, dropping no more than one or two marks in EVERY category.

As well as studying the official ABRSM marking criteria, I have done in depth analysis of the comment sheets that are given to the students with their results, which are very revealing in this regard.

Get a taste of what's on offer in This short series of videos

Within the pages of the book, How to get a distinction in ABRSM exams, (which are packed with useful hints and tips on how to get the best possible mark), I have broken down the four aspects of the exam; Scales, Pieces, Aural and Sight Reading and you need to give adequate attention to each of these aspects in order to get a distinction. So are you ready to start preparing for your next exam and get the mark you deserve? 

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Solitary Confinement - The Downfall of a Musician

According to a recent survey I conducted on my Youtube Channel - The majority of Music Students spend over 80% of their time playing their instrument practising in solitary, that is, not to an audience or with others e.g. in ensembles/lessons. IF THIS IS YOU - read on....

It is true, that to be a good musician you need to spend many hours practicing. However, this very act in itself can be the downfall of a musician. We can spend so much time perfecting our technique or a particular piece, that we can lose sight of the reason we started studying music in the first place. Ask yourself now, "Why did I start learning an instrument? Just to perfect a certain piece and pass exams or to share the talent I have with others?"

Even thinking about that aspect of taking exams, it is interesting to note that the ABRSM criteria for a distinction on your pieces mentions, 

Vivid communication of character and style

Your aim is not to just play the notes correctly, but to convey the composer's intentions, to communicate emotion through musicality and this can be much harder when practicing on your own. I can speak from personal experience, that when I am playing to an audience, the senses are heightened, I feel a connection with the audience and that gift of communicating emotions to them through my instrument is a rare opportunity that many people on this planet will never have.

Added to this, practising on your own for long periods, can have negative psychological effects. You could liken it to working in a dead-end job where no-one seems to notice what you do and this mundane monotony can find it's way into your playing. On the other hand, playing well to an audience gives you the performer a reward. To use our work analogy again, wouldn't you feel more motivated in your job if someone acknowledged your efforts, praised the work that you do. As a musician, I guarantee you, sharing your music with others, will make you a better musician. 

"But I need to practice", I hear you say, "and I don't have the opportunity to play to others everyday." Well, I have an interesting exercise for you. Find a piece that you consider is up to performing standard and make an audio recording of it, trying to communicate the composer's intentions as if playing to a live audience. Then listen to your recording and be your own audience. You will be surprised at what you hear, that you never noticed when you were playing. Then, I have another proposition for you. I have opened a new discussion post on the MusicOnlineUK Forum HERE on this blog, where you can upload and share with the community, your recording and also listen to other people's recordings on which you could give feedback. It will be like having a virtual audience, complete with the "reward of sharing" that I mentioned earlier.

Of course, nothing can beat the experience of a real live audience, but if such opportunities don't come your way that often, I would encourage you make use of this community and not just keep your music confined to the privacy of a practice room.

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ABRSM Grade 1 Piano - Mock Exam

I recently gave one of my students a mock exam just before their real exam and asked permission to video it so as to recreate some of the pressure of the real exam. 

What you will see is exactly as it was, no retakes, no editing out mistakes, for you to get an idea of what kind of mark can be expected from various performances and also so that the student could feel that pressure of doing one's best performance on just one attempt as one would in the exam. Below the video I have also given some comments and marks as would be expected in a real exam.

Scales

Apart from the slip on the initial G major these were well known and were played at a suitable tempo. Therefore I would expect them to get about 17 marks out of 21

First Piece - When The Saints Go Marching In - Trad American

A well chosen tempo with some good dynamic contrast conveyed the character of the piece. Only a few lapses in the articulation would probably result in a distinction of about 27 marks out of 30

Second Piece - Dans La Foret Lointaine - Trad French

For the most part very accurate notes and rhythm with generally good dynamic contrast between the hands immitating the echo of the cuckoo. There was a moment of confusion at the end and the tone wasn’t always 100% in control giving a merit mark of about 25 marks out of 30

Third Piece - La Donna e Mobile - Verdi

A well chosen tempo with some dynamic contrast conveyed the character well. There were a few slips and hesitations which spoiled the continuity a little but overall a merit of about 24 marks for this piece could be expected.

Sight Reading

The first half would have been perfect if it had been an octave higher in the OTHER hand. The second half struggled to represent either pitch or rhythm of what was printed and so unfortunately this would probably score only 8 marks, below the pass mark of 14.

Aural

Almost perfect responses which were both confident and musical giving a distinction mark of about 17 out of 18. The overall mark for this exam would be a pass of 118 marks out of 150

ABRSM Marking Criteria - Aural Tests

How do ABRSM mark Aural Tests?

This post is inspired by a recent comment I received on a video - "Help I Can't Sing", on my YouTube channel 

... which raises some interesting questions that maybe many of you are wondering.

• How do you get zero marks?
• Is the mark an average over all the tests?
• Do you lose marks for every mistake?
• What if you really cannot sing?

First of all, if you got everything completely wrong in the Aural Tests would you get zero marks? Strangely the answer is "No". Zero marks is only awarded if you don't even try, so even a pitchless grunt is worth more than keeping your mouth shut.

Secondly, if you got everything correct, would you get full marks. Again, strangely, the answer is also "No, not necessarily".  According to their officially published criteria, to get a distinction, in the aural tests, that is 17-18 marks you need to be not only correct but also musically perceptive and confident. What does that mean in practice? The term "musically perceptive" particularly applies to the final tests in each grade, which ask about different characteristics of music, such as dynamics, articulation, tonality, tempo, structure, texture, or style and period depending on which grade you are taking.

Being able to listen to music and then talk about what you hear is musical perception.

In contrast to "confident responses", the lower marks are described in the official marking criteria, with phrases such as "cautious", "uncertain" and "vague". So even if you get a question correct, but your tone of voice is uncertain - for example with that rising intonation at the end of a phrase which sounds more like a question than a statement...  if you are hesitant in answering, giving away signs of uncertainty... you will lose marks. Even if in yourself you really don't know the answer, sound as if you do.  You never know it might be right anyway.

Obviously, the best remedy for feeling and sounding confident is good preparation and our series "E Aural Trainer" will adequately prepare you to feel ready for any grade. 

But what about if you really cannot sing. It is actually very rare that students really cannot sing. This is usually a confidence issue. The best preparation, practicing singing back phrases regularly will help boost that confidence. If you want a whole hour of practicing just this - click HERE 

Also bear in mind that you don't get marked separately on the individual tests - it is an overall impression of your aural ability that is used to arrive at your mark. The wording in the marking criteria is very interesting on this topic. For example the official ABRSM criteria for a merit (15-16 marks) is "strengths significantly outweigh weaknesses". This sounds almost like saying, "most of the tests correct" but there is a subtle difference. The examiner is looking for an overall sense of your aural ability, not if you got test A correct, but test B wrong. The description for a pass below merit (12-14 marks) is "strengths just outweigh weaknesses" and that for a fail of just below pass (9-11 marks) the other way around, "weaknesses outweigh strengths". Now there are in many grades, four tests. What if you got exactly half of them correct, which of these two descriptions would fit, just above pass or just below. Can you see, the marking by individual test mentality doesn't fit this model.

Finally I would like to say, far too often, Aural Test Training is left to the last minute, a lesson or two just before the exam. This is too late to develop aural skills. It's just enough time to scare you into thinking you can't do it. Would you start learning your pieces a couple of weeks before an exam. I don't think so. With this in mind, start developing your aural skills now - not at the last moment before the exam.

FAILED - Should I Appeal?

Is it worth appealing an ABRSM result?

So the result arrived and to your disappointment the mark was considerably less than what you expected. Should you appeal and what are the chances of your appeal being upheld?

This situation actually happened to a whole batch of my students back in the Autumn of 2014. I always give my students little mock exams before the big day, and so far I have been pretty close, usually plus or minus 5 marks what they got on the day. However on this one occasion the marks came back with the whole group consistently about 10 marks below what I expected. Fair enough, one student may have had an off day, nerves got the better of them, but all 9 of the students from that batch. To me it seemed more than a coincidence and so I decided to appeal.

Today, I will explain how I went about it, how YOU can appeal an ABRSM result and what the outcome was in my case. 

In those days, that is before 2016, you had to pay a fee for a Practical Exam Appeal, so one needed to be extra sure that the mark was indeed unfair. Now no fee is charged, so you have nothing to lose.

If, however, you are unsatisfied with the outcome of an application for access arrangements or special consideration, then you can appeal this decision. Appeals must be received in writing within 14 days of receipt of the decision stating the grounds for your appeal and providing any supporting evidence. Appeals should be submitted using the Submit a complaint option on the online service. Once completed, any supplementary evidence should be sent to abrsm@abrsm.ac.uk, with reference to the submitted appeal.

The appeal will be reviewed by a senior colleague who was not involved in the original decision. As part of the appeal, ABRSM will review all available evidence, including the information submitted by you. You should expect to receive an outcome within three weeks of submitting the appeal.

To stand a reasonable chance of your appeal being upheld you will need to show that there's an obvious discrepancy between comments, marks and official marking criteria. With this in mind you should then study in detail the marksheet you received from ABRSM and compare it with their published marking criteria which can be found on the link below.

ABRSM Marking Criteria

Try to identify any discrepancies you can find between the marks and comments you were awarded and the criteria they publish and note these in as much detail as you can on the appeal form.

This evidence should then be posted back to ABRSM with the original mark form.

Then you cross your fingers. If your appeal is upheld the ABRSM will either give you

• a voucher equivalent to the value of the original exam (this can be used to enter for the same grade exam free of charge within one year of issue or as part payment towards a higher grade within the same timeframe); or
• a full refund of the original entry fee. 

However, they will NOT amend retrospectively any marks as a result of a formal marking appeal. That means your result won't be changed but you can take the exam again for free and more importantly in my opinion, you will personally feel justified in saying that the mark was unfair.

In my case I received a very long letter which initially seemed to be backing up their examiner, but right at the end, the following paragraph was key:

Regarding the mark form comments for the supporting tests we did sympathise with your concerns over the quality of the comments. Some choices of phrase were not wholly supportive of the mark awarded, they were not also as explanatory or clear as they could have been and in the light of the disappointing standard of the mark form comments, we are happy to uphold your appeals on this occasion.

So in answer to the original question  - "Should I appeal?" if you really believe that your marks on the day are not in line with the ABRSM marking criteria or that the supporting comments on the mark sheet don't tally with the marks, then YES. Please leave a comment below if there is anything about this process you want clarifying more.

The Examiner's Marksheet - INVESTIGATED

By looking carefully at the comments of the examiner's mark sheet, we can get a good insight into the ABRSM marking criteria  thus helping you to get a better mark in future exams.

Here is one such mark sheet from an exam recently taken by one of my students

Let's analyze it section by section.

Pieces

For those of you who find it difficult to decipher the examiner's handwriting which can at times be like that of a doctor's prescription let me translate:

First piece - A bright and stylish tempo with a good sense of pulse and played with even tone and contrasted dynamics. Briefly "something" (even I cannot decipher this word so if anyone can help please let me know in the comments below) rhythm only.  

You will notice that there is nothing in this comment about playing the correct notes, but rather, how the tempo, tone and dynamics resulted in a bright and stylish performance.

For the second piece there were similar remarks made;

The character was well conveyed at a confident tempo with well controlled and contrasted tone. 

Notice here however he adds, that there was

Just an occasional small slip and stumble

Even so, this piece still got a very high merit mark. If any of you saw to my post from last week, you will remember that I  mentioned how many students come out of the exam remembering just the wrong note or two they may have played and then think that the whole thing was terrible.

For the third piece, which incidentally gained FULL MARKS, again notice what things apart from just getting the right notes gained this excellent mark. He writes

A flowing and well chosen speed for the style. Hands were consistently well balanced and it was fully accurate in notes, with well contrasted dynamics.

So in summary, with regard to pieces, try to NOT just focus on getting the notes correct, but try to learn the piece as a piece of music

Scales

Here again, it's not just getting the right notes, notice how the examiner mentions the speed, musicality and tone. He writes

One slip in the broken chords but otherwise all fluently played with even tone at a musical speed. 

If you want to check the speed for your grade you can do so here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pNhwGLQYnA

Sight Reading

What many students don't understand is that sight reading is not just a matter of getting all the notes correct, especially at the expense of losing the sense of pulse. Notice in the remark how much the examiner hints at keeping the momentum going

A slightly hesitant ending, but otherwise fully accurate at a musical speed with firm pulse.

May I say that this student used my Sight Reading Trainer to help with this habit of keeping the pulse going  and again, here is a link  for you to practice this yourself 

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLRhVgcglVQ9ldTP-U_jVH1P2yhH3Ilfoa

Aural Tests

For this section, notice again how the examiner doesn't just remark on the fact that the answers were correct, he says

All accurate and musical responses

...and may I add that in their marking criteria for Aural tests the ABRSM official guidelines mention that they are looking for confident rather than hesitant responses. You could lose marks, even with the correct answer if you answer hesitantly.

So I hope that was an interesting journey through an examiner's mark sheet. Maybe you would like to dig out  one of your recent ones and let us know in the comments below some of the things mentioned that might give other readers more of a clue what they are looking for and how to get a better mark in a future exam.

Feel free also to use our new FORUM to start any music education related discussion and you can even share with us your recent exam successes there.