ABRSM Exams

[Dreamaurora]

You will be able to find out the result online 6 to 7 weeks from the exam date. But the actual cert and mark sheet will be sent by post only 2 or 3 months later.

[chickensoup]

Viv_piano and Dreamaurora,


Thanks for both of you.

[lwzh]

Now the result already come out. I already got it online last week.

[happymom_aa]

Is it easy to get distinction for G5 theory paper?

DS was disappointed that he did not get distinction for the paper, though he did well for all his past years paper.

[Dreamaurora]

happymom_aa:

Is it easy to get distinction for G5 theory paper?

DS was disappointed that he did not get distinction for the paper, though he did well for all his past years paper.

Well, if the past year papers he had been doing he had scored 90+ consistently then there is a good chance he would score distinction. But of course with all exams have to give a margin of error, so even if the result is a merit, it is still a good job. Some students find it even hard to even pass the grade 5, I heard of a student who failed grade 5 theory 3 times and still had not successfully passed it.

[lwzh]

My ds just got 90, this is his first time to take theory exam. I am happy with the result.

[peanut_butter]

Dreamaurora:

happymom_aa:

Is it easy to get distinction for G5 theory paper?

DS was disappointed that he did not get distinction for the paper, though he did well for all his past years paper.

Well, if the past year papers he had been doing he had scored 90+ consistently then there is a good chance he would score distinction. But of course with all exams have to give a margin of error, so even if the result is a merit, it is still a good job. Some students find it even hard to even pass the grade 5, I heard of a student who failed grade 5 theory 3 times and still had not successfully passed it.

I find the Grade 5 papers from certain years, like 2007 and 2010 much more challenging. But I do not know if ABRSM modulate the results.

In 'normal' years, it's easy to get distinction if the student is 1) careful, 2) memorize his musical terms, 3) achieve decent results in his/her school exams. After all, the exam board is not creative at writing questions.

[jce]

I am very "stingy" when giving marks to my students so unless I am thoroughly happy with the answer given I wouldn’t award full marks (the higher the grade the higher my expectations and the more "stingy" I get!). That way, if they can score well with my marking they should be ok with the final result. However, having said that, it’s all down to the performance on the actual day. So far, I have only had two miscalculations - I expected both students to score around 90 but ended up in the mid 80s. Both girls were sitting for the same paper, same grade, and BOTH I miscalculated. Both scored exactly the same mark too, but thankfully, on different questions, otherwise I may question myself on whether I covered that topic well enough…

[Dreamaurora]

jce:

I am very \"stingy\" when giving marks to my students so unless I am thoroughly happy with the answer given I wouldn't award full marks (the higher the grade the higher my expectations and the more \"stingy\" I get!). That way, if they can score well with my marking they should be ok with the final result. However, having said that, it's all down to the performance on the actual day. So far, I have only had two miscalculations - I expected both students to score around 90 but ended up in the mid 80s. Both girls were sitting for the same paper, same grade, and BOTH I miscalculated. Both scored exactly the same mark too, but thankfully, on different questions, otherwise I may question myself on whether I covered that topic well enough...

Agree with you. It's good to be 'stingy' when marking practical or theory work in lessons. I've also made a point to try to follow the marking criteria set by the exam boards, though of course I still mark it more strictly. I notice when I take in transfer students a lot of them are clueless on how the exams are being marked and as such can get very disappointed when they did not get the results they wanted with their previous teachers.

But anyway distinctions are indications of excellence in preparation and execution and this requires more thorough and extra work on the students' parts. Promising distinctions to students I feel is very dangerous and may give the students unrealistic expectations.

[Dreamaurora]

peanut_butter:

Dreamaurora:

[quote=\"happymom_aa\"]Is it easy to get distinction for G5 theory paper?

DS was disappointed that he did not get distinction for the paper, though he did well for all his past years paper.

Well, if the past year papers he had been doing he had scored 90+ consistently then there is a good chance he would score distinction. But of course with all exams have to give a margin of error, so even if the result is a merit, it is still a good job. Some students find it even hard to even pass the grade 5, I heard of a student who failed grade 5 theory 3 times and still had not successfully passed it.

I find the Grade 5 papers from certain years, like 2007 and 2010 much more challenging. But I do not know if ABRSM modulate the results.

In 'normal' years, it's easy to get distinction if the student is 1) careful, 2) memorize his musical terms, 3) achieve decent results in his/her school exams. After all, the exam board is not creative at writing questions.[/quote]For my students, I ask them to do at least 4 years of papers, so at least they can see most of the variations of the questions. The questions more or less repeat in patterns and can apply formula to them.