are the specimen tests the same standard as in the actual exam?i ask this because i really struggled with the specimen tests and was all set to do badly in the exam but it was actually really easy and i scored 19.

don't really know...suppose they are similar to those that are in the exams

i presumed they were the same but i just wondered

it's just like the aural test in the exam....

how!?

just think about grade 8 aural...

QUOTE (liebe_klavier @ Sep 26 2004, 03:20 PM)

just think about grade 8 aural...

no thank-you, would prefer not to, makes me ill!

Know the feeling. I'm still working out the probabilities of me getting a cadence I can indentify, but there are too many variables when you have to pick out 3 or 4 chords.

(whispers) help.

i agree....i just can't hear the bass...

i cant do any of it!

u can imagine the comments A-incorrect,B-incorrect,C-incorrect,D-incorrect!!lol

but i think...except for section A....other sections ar easy enough...

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Sep 26 2004, 02:36 PM)

are the specimen tests the same standard as in the actual exam?i ask this because i really struggled with the specimen tests and was all set to do badly in the exam but it was actually really easy and i scored 19.

I always find the ones in the exam are a lot easier than the ones in the specimen books; I suppose that if the books were too easy they'd under prepare you for the exam so they have to make them a little harder. This is what I found for grades 1-3, I'm hoping that it continues in grade 4!

QUOTE (AnotherPianist @ Sep 29 2004, 01:58 PM)

I'm hoping that it continues in grade 4!

i think it does LOL

That's excellent news! The grade 4 specimen tests are harder than the tests in the grade 6 'Improve Your Sightreading' book, I don't know what's going on there! It's not so much the technical issues (i.e. more sharps/flats in the key signature) that makes the difference, just the unquantifiable things like more notes at once or in quick succession etc.

in my grade4 sight readin, i dont think any of it was hands together LOL

i think it was RH 4 quaver F's then alternate staccato notes with both hands. then long F to finish!!!!haha sooo easy!

I want that one! Maybe I should look for the easiest one on the page (since they're usually in a book and they tell you a number) and then accidentally mis-hear the number that they say . Perhaps a slightly risky strategy...

In my grade 5 sightreading, there were 4 grade 5 pieces in the examiner's book and there was one really easy one in G major and one that I didn't like the look of much, in E major!! And I was sitting there thinking "please don't give me that one please don't give me that one please don't give me that one" about the E major one... and for once she didn't!! She gave me the easy one and I was really pleased!

I find the exam sightreading tests easier than the specimen tests.

--------------------
~tremolololo~
Just done Grade 7 Piano (22nd Sept.) (done well except aurals!)
This post has been edited by tremolololo on Apr 13 1458, 04:48 AM (LOL HAHA )

Interesting thread. I have always found also that the tests in the exam were easier than in the specimen books. Not that I could do them any better!

The thing to do is not to tackle the specimen tests until much nearer the exam. I found that I had always done them all (badly) far too early and then never had anything to practise with in the weeks running up to the exam! And it was no use my doing the grade above because I was so awful!

I'm doing grade 6 in November and I've managed to get hold of some out-of date (1976 and 1982!) sightreading books - it's always worth a good look in Oxfam Does anyone know if the standard has changed?

I find the exam sightreading harder than the practices btw - panicking doesn't help!

My piano teacher was always giving me tests from as much as 20 years ago. She had a massive collection. She always reckoned that there was not much difference in standard and after giving it a quick glance would say have a go at this one...

QUOTE

I've managed to get hold of some out-of date (1976 and 1982!) sightreading books - it's always worth a good look in Oxfam  Does anyone know if the standard has changed?

I have some older specimen sight-reading books too, and no, I don't think the standard has changed. I use mine alongside newer ones, as perhaps the styles have broadened, and it's useful to have as wide a range of styles as possible, but I notice virtually no difference in actual difficulty. There is a small range of difficulty within each grade book after all.

Maggie

QUOTE (maggiemay @ Sep 30 2004, 03:23 PM)

There is a small range of difficulty within each grade book after all.

Does everyone find this? Obviously it is the intention of the books; but I find some of the ones in the book just throw me (no specific technical issue) and some are really quite simple. Some of the ones in the higher grade books are easier than the ones in lower grade books. Maybe it's just natural fluctuation: after all different people will consider different pieces harder or easier.

That's the thing that I don't like about sight reading in an exam context: you can be able to play sight-reading pieces that are more difficult than those required but there is always one that is considered easier that could throw you off: and then you'd be written off as a bad sightreader, when given any other piece you would have been fine: a lot of risk for a whole year's work!