Sorry I'm dense but can someone explain to me in relation to the jazz scales what straight 8's tongued/slurred and swing means?

Does the examiner ask you to play according to these types or do you choose what you feel most comfortable? what is swing?

I'm not a jazz expert, but I think straight eights means 8 quavers to the bar played evenly - like normal quavers - 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8, or, if you like, 1and2and3and4and in 4/4 time.

Slurred would probably mean they were slurred in twos (ie tongue the first and not the second in each pair)

Swung quavers means they are played unevenly, with a slightly longer first and shorter second of each pair, (something like a crotchet followed by a quaver in 6/8 time, or triplet notation).

Sorry I don't know the answer to your exam related question but hopefully someone else will (and perhaps explain the other points better than I can).

Straight 8's means the quavers are of equal length (as in classical music). Tongued, slurred are, I'd imagine as for normal exam scales i.e. all notes tongued or all slurred together. Swing means the length of the quavers are altered so that the first is longer than the second (rule of thumb is that it is twice as long, so you get a triplety feel, but it does depend on context). When the scales are swung you should tongue and slightly accent the shorter, off-beat quaver but be careful it doesn't become too detached, there should be barely any gap or it starts to sound toytown.

I've not done any jazz exams, but I would think the examiner would ask for something like "D Dorian, straight 8's tongued" or "G major, swing" rather than letting you decide how to play the scale. That's what used to happen many moons ago in classical exams anyway.

From the Jazz Horns regs, with my bolding:
Candidates should be prepared to play all items from memory, in one of three ways, as directed by the examiner: straight-8s tongued, straight-8s slurred (trombone: legatotongued), or swing.

Here's a topic about what 'swung' means in AB Jazz exams context: http://forums.abrsm.org/index.php?showtopic=24224

Thanks thats ben really helpful.

just to make sure though, using the bold as accented and the word ta as tongued and yam as slurred, would I play the scale something like this:

Ta Yam Ta Yam etc?

No. The Yam (shorter, off-beat) would be tongued, slur onto the longer on-beat quaver.

That thread has made me laugh all over again!

[... wishes Sarah was still around ....]

Hope it was helpful muse, and good luck when you come to take the exam!

Hehe thanks for reminding me of that thread

Muse, good luck with the exam, what grade are you taking? If you have the relevant CD, the examples on there will help a lot!