A Plan for Grade Exam Success
Routine. Get one, now. If you are serious about your music grade, you need a daily dose of practice. Ideally, this routine should be well established before you enter, but if not, then do it now. And no, it’s not really optional.
Practice time. It’s what your teacher says it is - minimum! We shudder to think that people would enter music exams and then practice for less than 30 minutes per day. For higher grades, 60 minutes would be a better minimum. Many teachers refuse to enter candidates who don’t establish these minimums, and indeed, why should they?
Understand the Grade requirements clearly. Ask your teacher to go through these with you, and possibly to then do so again for your parents’ benefit. It pays to understand exactly what you are preparing for, so that you can use your time wisely.
Understand the marking system. Marking varies according to the Exam Board, but you should know exactly how many marks are available for each aspect of the exam. This kind of strategic planning makes success, and also high marks, much more likely. Is there a mark for sight reading? How many marks is it worth?
Fully investigate support materials. Are there study materials available specific to the different parts of the grade? Performance CD’s, graded sight reading examples, scale books etc may well be available, and you should try where possible to use them - because others will.
Listen to your teacher. Sounds obvious; but as every teacher knows, much of what they say doesn’t register the first time.
This guide has been produced based on decades of experience working with exam students up to and including degree level. We hope you have found it useful. Teachers are encouraged to contribute to this knowledge bank, for the greater good of all concerned.
Further information for music students is available at www.northernmusiconline.co.uk