ABRSM Remote Exams – December Update

ABRSM Remote Exams – December Update

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ABRSM Remote Exams are a new series of online graded music exams with a key focus on performance. The exams were launched in August 2020. ABRSM Remote Exams are available for all instruments from Grades 1 to 8, as well as ARSM (Associate of the Royal Schools of Music) and Music Theory from Grades 1 to 5.

Since our last update, another round of ABRSM Remote Exams were held and ABRSM began offering Online Music Theory Exams for Grades 1-4, in addition to Grade 5. ABRSM also released all of the dates for the 2021 Online Theory Exams (Grades 1-5) and the 2021 Performance Grade Exams.

November was spent during another national lock down period due to the Corona Virus pandemic, although the effects on exams were much less compared with the lock down earlier in the year, some dates were still affected.

Please note that lock down measures are changing based on local regions throughout the month of December and may result in some venue disruption. We recommend checking directly with your venue or ABRSM if your region is under more stringent measures. ABRSM will always post important updates on this page.

Overall we feel that the Online Exam process for ABRSM is improving and we look forward to seeing how everything evolves throughout 2021. The addition of workbooks & practice papers will help students and teachers alike. We’d still like to see improvements on the online proctoring side, with better guidance on using the software and the actual exam experience, especially for younger students and their parents.

ABRSM Practical Exams – Public Venues

Although we are emerging from the current lock down measures, which affected some ABRSM exam dates, there are a few additional points to note going forward.

The Department of Education has awarded an exemption for music exams, although there are still some venues that have had to close due to local regulations. If a new venue cannot be found, exams held at the venue will be postponed. Information on these and other information is provided and regularly updated on the ABRSM website.

• If a candidate wishes to cancel their exam due to reasons relating to Covid-19 ABRSM should issue a full refund.
• Following the announcement regarding the Tier 5 protective measures in Ireland, ABRSM has contacted all applicants and rescheduled public venue practical exams between 3rd December & 19th December.

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ABRSM Online Music Theory Exams

Exam Dates & Booking Periods – Online Music Theory

Online Music Theory – Session One (Grades 1-5)

• Booking period 1st-8th February 2021
• Exams will take place at 17:00 on Tuesday 16th March 2021

Online Music Theory – Session Two (Grades 1-5)

• Booking period 6th-13th April 2021
• Exams will take place at 10:00 on Sunday 23rd May 2021

Online Music Theory – Session Three (Grades 1-5)

• Booking period 4th-11th May 2021
• Exams will take place at 10:00 on Saturday 19th June 2021

Online Music Theory – Session Four (Grades 1-5)

• Booking from July
• Exams will take place in August

Online Music Theory – Session Five (Grades 1-5)

• Booking from August/September
• Exams will take place in October

Online Music Theory – Session Six (Grades 1-5)

• Booking from September/October
• Exams will take place in November

View the full list of dates, fees and other information on the ABRSM Website.

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ABRSM Performance Grades

The first set of the new ABRSM Performance Grade exams took place in November 2020 and seem to have been carried out with minimal issues. Since then, ABRSM have announced four more session dates for 2021, with more to come.

Note that the booking period for Session One has already begun and runs until December 8th.

There is now a dedicated YouTube Playlist with all videos related to the Performance Grades.

Exam Dates & Booking Periods – Performance Grades

Performance Grades Session One

• Booking from 06:00 on 1st December 2020 until 23:59 on 8th December 2020
• Exams will take place from 5th-31st January 2021

Performance Grades Session Two

• Booking from 6th-13th January 2021
• Exams will take place from 1st-21st February 2021

Performance Grades Session Three

• Booking from 1st-8th February 2021
• Exams will take place from 1st-21st March 2021

Performance Grades Session Four

• Booking from 1st-8th March 2021
• Exams will take place from 6th-26th April 2021

View the full list of dates, fees and other information on the ABRSM Website.

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Teacher feedback on Performance Grade Exams

Now that the Performance Grade Exams are out in the wild and students have had a chance to sit them, we can get a better understanding of how the exams work and we can start to build a list of best practices. We will be covering this more in-depth in the future, but for now we wanted to share with you the initial feedback & tips we’ve gathered from music teachers who had students sit the recent exams.

• Use of a tripod to stabilise the recording device(s) used is strongly recommended.
• Initial experience suggests it is best to exaggerate any performance directions or articulation, as they can become lost or dulled down on the recording itself.
• Lighting is important. Try to have a bright light pointing at the candidate.
• Make at least one practice recording to test your set-up. Watch it back to see how your playing comes across – how does it sound? did the nuances of your performance come through clearly? is the picture clear?
• When recording for your actual submission, record 2-4 performances and watch them back, accompanied by the marking criteria, use this to help you select the best recording to submit.
• Your emphasis should be on enjoying the playing, this will always give you the best overall performance.

Please note that the above marking criteria link is a printer friendly excerpt taken from a larger ABRSM document on the Performance Grades (pages 17 & 18).

Thank you to the teachers that provided their feedback, we hope you will find the tips useful!

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Further updates

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If you’re a teacher with students who are sitting or who have sat the ABRSM Remote Exams, we’d love to hear how they get on. Contact us here.