ABRSM examinations: a parent's guide
The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music is the examining board of four British conservatoires: the Royal Academy of Music, the Royal College of Music, the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland and the Royal Northern College of Music. Its graded examinations are taken in more than ninety countries.
Two different examinations
This is the first thing to understand, because the choice matters.
A Practical Grade is a full examination. The student performs three pieces, plus scales and arpeggios, sight reading and aural tests. It is taken in person with an examiner.
A Performance Grade assesses four pieces and the performance as a whole. There are no scales, no sight reading and no aural tests. It is submitted as a video recording rather than played to an examiner in a room.
Both are graded 1 to 8. Both are marked out of 150. They carry the same standing.
How each is marked
A Practical Grade divides its 150 marks as follows: 30 marks for each of the three pieces, 21 for scales and arpeggios, 21 for sight reading, and 18 for aural tests.
A Performance Grade divides its 150 marks across four pieces and an assessment of the performance as a whole.
The result bands are the same for both:
100 to 119 is a Pass.
120 to 129 is a Merit.
130 to 150 is a Distinction.
The Grade 5 theory rule
Before a student may enter a Practical or Performance Grade at 6, 7 or 8, they must already have passed Grade 5 or above in ABRSM Music Theory, or an accepted equivalent.
This catches families out. A capable pianist can be ready to play at Grade 6 and be unable to enter, because the theory has not been done. It is worth planning for years in advance, not months.
What a Performance Grade recording involves
Because the examination is submitted as a video, the recording itself has requirements. The pieces are presented as one continuous performance and must not be edited between them. The candidate must follow the board's identification requirements. Camera position, lighting, sound and the instrument all have to be prepared before recording begins.
Playing from memory is not required. Candidates may perform with the score in front of them.
Which to choose
A Practical Grade tests more. If you want your child assessed on technique, reading and ear as well as repertoire, that is the one.
A Performance Grade tests performance. It suits a student who plays well but finds sight reading or aural tests disproportionately stressful, and it suits families for whom travelling to an examination centre is difficult. It can be recorded at home or at a studio.
Neither is easier. A Distinction in a Performance Grade requires four pieces at a standard that will bear repeated listening by an examiner who can pause and go back.
How this differs from the RCM
The RCM's Certificate Program examines repertoire, technique, ear and sight reading in a single sitting marked out of 100, and requires a theory co-requisite at the higher levels. The ABRSM separates performance from the rest, and its theory prerequisite arrives once, at Grade 5, before Grades 6 to 8.
We have written about the RCM separately, and about the MEA-NJ piano auditions.
If your child is preparing Grade 8 specifically, our detailed guide to the recording covers the requirements, the page turns and the identification rules.
Before you decide
Requirements change. The ABRSM updates its syllabus and its regulations periodically, and the details here describe the examinations as we currently prepare students for them. The ABRSM's own website is the authority on what is required for any given session.
Whether examinations suit your child at all is one of the things we discuss at the Complimentary Music Assessment.