ABRSM vs Trinity vs LCM vs Rockschool

The exam pieces will be launched/announced once per year. There will usually be 3 different sessions (periods) to register for your exams. The registration period is around 3-4 months before the exam dates. For example, if your exam date is in September, you have to register around April to May.

The elements of the exam are as follows:

Exam piece: 1 — 30 marks

Exam piece: 2 — 30 marks

Exam piece: 3 — 30 marks

Scales and arpeggios/broken chords — 21 marks

Sight-reading — 21 marks

Aural tests — 18 marks

Total marks — 150

Out of 150 marks, you require 100 to pass, 120 for merit, and 130 for distinction.

There is no need to pass every section in the exam. Meaning to say, you can flunk your aural test totally (having no ability to improvise or identify notes/chords) and still score a distinction if you scored full marks for every other section.

Since 30 marks is allocated for each of the 3 exam pieces, which makes up about 60% of the total marks, it is clear that their emphasis would be to play the pieces well enough to convince the examiners, rather to work on any sort of ear training or improvisation, since the aural section only takes up about 12% of the total marks (which under the assumption that passing the exams will be the only priority).

To begin, you are required to purchase the latest official publications issued by ABRSM. Unauthorised copies are not allowed. You might even be barred from examinations should the examiners have evidence against you from making illegal copies.

The performance of your exam pieces are generally assessed by 5 of these points:

1) Pitch

Basically how many notes you have played accurately. Pay attention to sharps and flats.

2) Time

Basically how stable is your tempo throughout the song and also if you did all of the ritardandos and accelerandos (and etc.) as intended by the composer of the piece.

3) Tone

Basically means the quality of the piano sound that you deliver. Because a piano is rather all a stringed instrument, how each note is being played, from hitting the key to engaging the hammers to hit onto the strings and bounces back and etc,   produces a unique tone. Simply, 2 pianist can play the exact same piece with the same piano and produce 2 different sound, almost like 2 different piano models.

4) Shape

Basically means the musical phrasing, which involves articulations. Articulation marks include slur, accent, staccato, legato, etc. Simply, a robot playing the piano will probably have zero musical phrasing if every single note is treated equally with no human touch.

5) Performance

Basically refers to your overall performance as a player when you perform. Is there a character and style to your playing? Or do you often make mistakes and have troubles continuing from where you slipped?

Apart from your examination pieces, you also will be tested on scales and arpeggios, sight reading, and aural tests.

The scales and arpeggios section is quite straight forward. You basically play as per according to what the syllabus for your grade requires you to, which is all printed in the publications and you have more than enough time to memorise and practise them. Articulation will be specified by the examiner on the day of the exams, meaning for example, the examiner may decide that you play the scales or arpeggios in staccato and you are obligated to do so on the fly.

Sight reading will be a challenge for those who only choose to memorize notes for life. You will be given about 30 seconds or so to look through a short piece of music before you attempt to play it. For preparation sake, you may buy the Specimen Sight-Reading publications by ABRSM which gives insights to what you should be expecting.

The least ‘worrying’ would be the aural tests, which takes up the least percentage of marks. You will be require to sing or play from memory a short phrase which the examiner will play during the exams, together with identifying notes or chords, key changes, intervals, etc. The easier grades will require you to do some clapping along with rhythmic lines.

The exam pieces will be launched/announced once per year. There will usually be 2 different sessions

for your exams, which they named them as the mid-year and year end. The closing date for each of

these season is usually 2-3 months.

The elements of the exam are as follows:

Exam piece: 1 — 22 marks

Exam piece: 2 — 22 marks

Exam piece: 3 — 22 marks

Scales and arpeggios/broken chords (technical work) — 14 marks

Sight-reading, aural, and improvisation — 20 marks

Total marks — 100

Out of 100 marks, you require 60 to pass, 75 for merit, and 87 for distinction.

There is no need to pass every section in the exam. Meaning to say, you can flunk your aural test totally (having no ability to improvise or identify notes/chords) and still score a distinction if you scored full marks for every other section.

Since 22 marks is allocated for each of the 3 exam pieces, which makes up about 66% of the total marks, it is clear that their emphasis would be to play the pieces well enough to convince the examiners, rather to work on any sort of ear training or improvisation, since the aural section only takes up about 20% of the total marks (which under the assumption that passing the exams will be the only priority).

To begin, you are required to purchase the latest official publications issued by Trinity College London. Unauthorised copies are not allowed. You might even be barred from examinations should the examiners have evidence against you from making illegal copies.

Out of the examination 3 pieces, you can choose to perform an original composition as one of the pieces, which is something none of the other examination boards would allow. The compositions however have to be technically challenging that is suited for the grade you will be tested on.

The performance of your exam pieces are generally assessed by 5 of these points:

1) Pitch

Basically how many notes you have played accurately. Pay attention to sharps and flats.

2) Time

Basically how stable is your tempo throughout the song and also if you did all of the ritardandos and accelerandos (and etc.) as intended by the composer of the piece.

3) Tone

Basically means the quality of the piano sound that you deliver. Because a piano is rather all a stringed instrument, how each note is being played, from hitting the key to engaging the hammers to hit onto the strings and bounces back and etc,   produces a unique tone. Simply, 2 pianist can play the exact same piece with the same piano and produce 2 different sound, almost like 2 different piano models.

4) Shape

Basically means the musical phrasing, which involves articulations. Articulation marks include slur, accent, staccato, legato, etc. Simply, a robot playing the piano will probably have zero musical phrasing if every single note is treated equally with no human touch.

5) Performance

Basically refers to your overall performance as a player when you perform. Is there a character and style to your playing? Or do you often make mistakes and have troubles continuing from where you slipped?

Apart from your examination pieces, you also will be tested on scales and arpeggios, which Trinity call 'technical work'; along with  sight reading, aural tests, and improvisation, which they call 'supporting tests'.

The scales and arpeggios section is quite straight forward. You basically play as per according to what the syllabus for your grade requires you to, which is all printed in the publications and you have more than enough time to memorise and practise them. Apart from that, you will also have ‘exercises’, which is unique only to Trinity College London. You will prepare 3 exercises from their publications, which you will be tested for tonality, co-ordination, finger independence and flexibility.

The supporting test component is typically separated into 3 sections: sight reading, aural and improvisation. Sight reading will be a challenge for those who only choose to memorise notes for life. You will be given about 30 seconds or so to look through a short piece of music that is appropriately 2 grades lower than the exam being taken. For the aural tests, you will be required to identify notes, intervals, modulations and etc. You will not be required to sing unlike the aural examinations for ABRSM. Lastly for improvisation wise, the examiner will play a single note melody (usually) with accompanying basic chord patterns while you will then be given 30 seconds to prepare and do a spontaneous improvisation over what the examiner had played.

The exam pieces will be launched/announced once per year. There will usually be 3 different ‘seasons’ for your

exams, which they named them as: spring, summer and winter. The closing date for each of these season is usually 3

months.

All of the above info are taken from the year 2019. Please only use them as reference.

The elements of the exam are as follows:

Exam piece: 1 — 20 marks

Exam piece: 2 — 20 marks

Exam piece: 3 — 20 marks

Scales and arpeggios/broken chords — 15 marks

Sight-reading — 10 marks

Aural tests — 8 marks

Discussion — 7 marks

Total marks — 100

Out of 100 marks, you require 65 to pass, 78 for merit, and 85 for distinction.

There is no need to pass every section in the exam. Meaning to say, you can both flunk your aural test totally (having no ability to improvise or identify notes/chords) and not say a single word during the discussion, and still score a distinction (assuming you scored full marks for every other section).

Since 20 marks is allocated for each of the 3 exam pieces, which makes up about 60% of the total marks, it is clear that their emphasis would be to play the pieces well enough to convince the examiners, rather to work on any sort of ear training or improvisation, since the aural section only takes up about 8% of the total marks (which under the assumption that passing the exams will be the only priority).

To begin, you are required to purchase the latest official publications issued by LCM. Their online store can be found here: https://lcmmusicshop.uwl.ac.uk/ Unauthorised copies are not allowed. You might even be barred from examinations should the examiners have evidence against you from making illegal copies.

LCM did not reveal to which music aspects are of higher priorities during the performance of your 3 exam pieces. However, it would be similar to other examination boards where factors such as tonality, musicianship, interpretation, phrasing and generally how accurate you are in playing.

Apart from your examination pieces, you also will be tested on scales and arpeggios, sight reading, aural tests, and discussion of music.

The scales and arpeggios section is quite straight forward. You basically play as per according to what the syllabus for your grade requires you to, which is all printed in the publications and you have more than enough time to memorise and practise them. Pay special attention to the articulation stated such as legato or staccato.

Sight reading will be a challenge for those who only choose to memorise notes for life. You will be given about 60 seconds or so to look through a short piece of music that is appropriately 2 grades lower than the exam being taken. During the 60 seconds of preparation, you are allowed to try parts of it which will not be taken in consideration to the sight reading performance.

The least ‘worrying’ would be the aural tests, which takes up the least percentage of marks. The aural component is

typically separated into rhythm and pitch. You will be required to tap or clap along with rhythms, or identify time

signatures or note values and etc. For pitch wise, you are required to identify notes, intervals, keys and etc. You will

not be required to sing unlike the aural examinations for ABRSM.

For the discussion component, it is a rather interesting way of assessing through verbal communication without the use of the

piano at all. It is almost like an interview to understand how much the applicant knows about music. Questions like, music

history and genres or their approaches to how they learn their exam pieces. Some separate aural tests will be done such as to

identify chords, tension and release and so on for the higher grades.

The exam pieces will be launched/announced once per year. There will usually be 3 sessions to register for your exams. The registration period is around 2-3 months before the exam dates. For example, if your exam date is in June, you have to register around April to May.

The elements of the exam are as follows:

Exam piece: 1 — 20 marks

Exam piece: 2 — 20 marks

Exam piece: 3 — 20 marks

Technical test — 15 marks

Ear test — 10 marks

Sight reading and improvisation — 10 marks

General musicianship — 5 marks

Total marks — 100

Out of 100 marks, you require 60 to pass, 75 for merit, and 90 for distinction.

There is no need to pass every section in the exam. Meaning to say, you can flunk musicianship completely and still get a distinction.

Since 20 marks is allocated for each of the 3 exam pieces, which makes up about 60% of the total marks, it is clear that their emphasis would be to play the pieces well enough to convince the examiners, rather to work on any sort of ear training or improvisation, since the aural section only takes up about 15% of the total marks (which under the assumption that passing the exams will be the only priority).

To begin, you are required to purchase the latest official publications issued by Rockschool Ltd. Unauthorised copies are not allowed. You might even be barred from examinations should the examiners have evidence against you from making illegal copies.

The performance of your exam pieces are generally assessed by some of these points which include

• Expression, articulation and dynamics
• Continuity, note accuracy, music interpretation
• Stylistic awareness and tonality
• Tempo, rhythm and phrasing
• Fingerings, hand shape, physical techniques, pedalling

Apart from your examination pieces, you will also be tested on technical exercises which include scales and arpeggios and chord voicings.

The scales and arpeggios section is quite straightforward. You basically play as per according to what the syllabus for your grade requires you to, which are all printed in the publications and you have more than enough time to memorise and practise them. You will also be tested on ‘voice-leading’ using the suitable chord inversions or voicings.

Sight reading will be a challenge for those who only choose to memorise notes for life. You will be given about 60 seconds or so to look through a short piece of music that is appropriately 2 grades lower than the exam being taken. During the 60 seconds of preparation, you are allowed to try parts of it which will not be taken in consideration to the sight reading performance.

For Aural test, the examiner will play a few bars on the piano and you will be asked to either identify either the notes, intervals or chords, or recall the notes on the piano without any form of improvisation.

The last section will be testing your general musicianship, which includes topics such as harmony, melody, scales, modes, rhythm, fingerings, genres, and etc.