I am considering leaping forward from grade 6-8. However, someone told me it's hard to get through like that.
Could someone please tell me whether I should take 6-8, instead of 6-7-8. Which one seems more sensible?

Hi binkyhk,

I took the leap from grade 6 to grade 8 theory, and took both exams in the same year. But I was only able to do this because I had already passed GCSE and A Level Music, and had started a degree in music too. So without all this background knowledge, I imagine I would have really struggled.

I feel that taking each grade, one at a time, provides a better foundation for achieving a secure grasp of advanced theory than skipping grades, even if you do not actually sit each exam ...

denmark77

You don't need to take the grade 7 exam but you probably need to work through the grade 7 workbook and might find it useful do work some past papers and have them checked before moving on to grade 8 preparation.

surely thats fairly obviously 6-8
because you need to conqouer the leap of 6-7, aswell as 7-8. You might not take grade 7, but you need to know everything on the grade 7 syllabus to take grade 8.

I'm doing 6-7-8 piano and it seems like the main difference between 7 and 8 is the workload. The G7 pieces are very nearly as tough technically as G8 but shorter. Plus - there aren't as many scales ... there are still a lot, but the overall workload is alot less.

I've been able to prepare in 5 months from taking Grade 6, but there's no way I'd have been able to prepare for G8 in the same time. I expect it will take me a year prepare for G8 ...

So basically if you have the time and can deal with a heavy workload you could go from 6 - 8, but personally, i'm glad to have taken the path I have.

Good luck whatever you do!

Dave.

I recently did G7 theory and found it quite demanding - but only really because I was returning to the study of formal harmony after rather a long absense, and had no-one teaching/ marking me. I'm now preparing for G8 which seems really NOT a big jump at all. Provided you went through the G7 workbooks and maybe Harmony in Practice too you could comfortably skip the actual exam I would say.