OK, I finally (after nearly 7 weeks) have my result and I passed.



Those who know me will know that I was originally hoping for a distinction but knew that I had made a hash of too many things for that to be a realistic hope. I still thought a merit was still possible but I must have played even worse than I thought - I missed the merit by 2 marks with 118.

Still, once I got over the disappointment (it took a couple of hours) the pride remains: All my life in my more idle fancies I have dreamed of being a post grade 8 pianist and now I am one. Furthermore it is the highest mark I've ever had for a practical music exam and was achieved in a little over 18 months from restarting at the level of grade 5 plus 34 years of rust, whilst doing a lot of other things at the same time. 118 is not distinction or a merit but it's not a bare pass either; On reflection, I'm happy with that.

Well done

Well done, Rob. It's actually a terrific achievement to get such a good pass in that space of time & you got as near as possible to a merit - they don't actually give 119. The fact that you know you made a hash of some things means that you know you've still got a lot of potential to do even better. Carry on enjoying your learning & look forward to Chetham's next year - I've started planning my programme already.

Congratulations!

Well done.

Well done.

Well done! I sort of felt the same about my violin grade, but the point is is that you're now able to choose any piece (well, to an extent) and have a bash at it without worrying about the standard!

A huge 'well done'

How brilliant is that.

I'm doing and feeling roughly the same, all my life I've dreamt of being grade 8 and after years of just drifting along I'm taking grade 5 later this year.

I hope I can do as well in the same 18 months it would be a dream come true.

Well done again

Congratulations

Good for you!

nick

congratulations!
i did my piano exam this term too, and just got the mark breakdown today. although i was disappointed with some sections (scales/sr i got 16 and 15 for aural) and i was only 3 marks off a distinction, I am absolutely delighted with the overall mark.
You should be so proud of passing grade 8 its a huge achievenment! definately not a brae pass either.
Congratulations robodoc!
x

Splendid!!

Congratulations - what a long wait you had!

Well done!

Car Expert

Congratulations, Robodoc!

You can be very proud of your efforts; if you get 118 when you know things didn't go well, you also know that you're capable of much more. Exams measure your performance on one day only, and the most important thing is to keep playing and keep enjoying playing - then you're sure to keep improving.

Well done!

Congratulations Rb, that is a very fine result. Up there with primary FRCS?!

congrats well done!

Congratulations! That's the bit that matters, that you have achieved a dream, not the number that merely expresses one person's opinion of how you were for 30 minutes of your life...

And the last time they told us the average score for AB exams, it was 117. So you were above 'general average' for those 30 minutes, even if you were below 'Robodoc average'

It's funny how we humans will almost always tell ourselves we could have done it better, rather than immediately celebrating what a marvellous achievement something is


PS There was a comment article in the New Scientist (20th Aug) called "Beware the rise of Robodoc" which made me think of you Shame that for the online version, they've called it "Beware the rise of high-tech medicine"

Robodoc,

Passing grade 8 is a huge achievement. Not an easy task you know?
Congrats!!

Many congratulations Robodoc!

Many congratulations - I appreciate what a terrific achievement this is after such a long break. I have 30 years of exam "rust" and I haven't yet had the courage that you had to enter an exam - although the super new Grade 8 syllabus is very tempting. Just maybe your post will inspire me to take the plunge - watch this space !!

Well done - your performance of Lisa sounded well above 118 to me, but then what do I know! Anyway, fabulous achievement.

Well done Robodoc!!!

Very many congratulations! Not too much 'rust' there after all!

Hey, well done

VERY well done!

Huge congrats!

Nice one!

Depends on your definition I suppose. I would call you a grade 8 pianist, since you now have grade 8. But I digress - I just wanted to say congratulations!

I think 117 or 118 is the average pass mark over the whole spectrum of exams.

Well done!