This discussion is now closed.

Check out other Related discussions

Failed grade 5 theory...

Rosytposy

8

Hello,

Today I found out that I failed my grade 5 music theory. Has anyone here ever failed a music exam before?

Reply 1

Lovinlife2

17

Original post by Rosytposy

Hello,

Today I found out that I failed my grade 5 music theory. Has anyone here ever failed a music exam before?

Just to put things into perspective, which board did you sit for the ABRSM or Trinity? :smile:

I personally have never failed a music exam before, but I'd say just practice the parts which you find difficult over the areas which you can do very well - which parts have you found to be quite challenging when you did the theory exam? :smile:

Reply 2

Rosytposy

OP

8

Original post by Lovinlife2

Just to put things into perspective, which board did you sit for the ABRSM or Trinity? :smile:

I personally have never failed a music exam before, but I'd say just practice the parts which you find difficult over the areas which you can do very well - which parts have you found to be quite challenging when you did the theory exam? :smile:

I did ABRSM, I think it probably was remembering the German terms and beaming notes together at the beginning

Reply 3

Lovinlife2

17

Original post by Rosytposy

I did ABRSM, I think it probably was remembering the German terms and beaming notes together at the beginning

Ah, okay then, ABRSM's exams are really easy to drop small marks here and there and it can affect your grade quite a bit :redface:

(I speak from experience!)

I think you're okay with the language part, it's okay to not know or to forget a word or two on the day, but make sure you know them inside out if you're retaking the exam again :smile:

Were there a tremendous amount of demi semi quavers in the beaming question(s)?

Reply 4

Rosytposy

OP

8

Original post by Lovinlife2

Ah, okay then, ABRSM's exams are really easy to drop small marks here and there and it can affect your grade quite a bit :redface:

(I speak from experience!)

I think you're okay with the language part, it's okay to not know or to forget a word or two on the day, but make sure you know them inside out if you're retaking the exam again :smile:

Were there a tremendous amount of demi semi quavers in the beaming question(s)?

Yes, there was, It was hard to keep track of them all and I hadn't had much practice on beaming notes together as it was not on any of the past papers, or in the book I was working from

Reply 5

Potato456

19

I'd forget about learning all the terms - it's a lot of work for just a couple of marks. You should use the time to concerntrate on getting the other questions better. Have you been given a breakdown of the marks for each questions from the exam?

Posted from TSR Mobile

Reply 6

Reality Check

22

Original post by Rosytposy

Hello,

Today I found out that I failed my grade 5 music theory. Has anyone here ever failed a music exam before?

I'll be honest with you - I've never heard of anyone failing their grade 5 theory. :shock:

What did your teacher have to say about this?

Reply 7

toothoot

2

I am very sorry to hear that Rosytposy. It is a difficult exam, and as someone else has said it is very easy to loose marks here and there, try not to let it deter you. Had you worked through many past papers?

Reply 8

Pastelx

18

Aww I'm sorry OP
I'd definitely forgot learning the terms–it's only 4/6 marks in the exam really
Make sure you are getting a good mark on the composition as it's worth a lot, and also focus on not messing up the scales/inversions/SATB staves–those are all worth a lot
Also it is definitely useful to do as many past papers as you can–they will keep you familiar with the questions–but also make sure they get marked, as it's so easy to make small mistakes
(I got 89/100 in my theory exam and am now preparing for my Grade 6 theory)
Good luck on your resit! There are honestly worse exams you could fail; don't worry too much!

Reply 9

Muttley79

20

Original post by Rosytposy

Hello,

Today I found out that I failed my grade 5 music theory. Has anyone here ever failed a music exam before?

You don't need grade 5 theory anyway. You can take a jazz grade 5 on your instrument and it has the same effect.

Reply 10

LlamaLikeEllie

17

I took the exam in spring and got a merit after self-teaching myself the content in 2 months, so hopefully I can give you advice :smile:

For Foreign Terms, you can find courses on memrise. I found it useful to just go over them for 5-10 minutes each day, rather than actually revising them properly.
Try and learn the circle of 5ths from memory for scales, as this will make it much easier.
I would make sure you do at least 4 past papers, and mark them yourself or get someone to mark them for you. A lot of it is about practice.
A mistake I made was not spending enough time before the exam working on compositions, so that's the area where I lost a few marks. I would recommend doing a lot of practice compositions, and giving them to a teacher to mark.
Finally, I used a book called take 5 and pass first time, and it was honestly amazing. It explained how to transpose and do short score etc so simply, so I got full marks on that section, which really boosted my mark.
Hopefully this helped you a bit, and I know lots of people who failed the first time, so don't worry!

Reply 11

camfanclash

15

Try using this website: https://www.mymusictheory.com/learn-music-theory/for-students/grade-5
I made notes from the lessons according to the syllabus and it was helpful.

Posted from TSR Mobile

I failed as well 😭😭😭

Original post by Rosytposy

Hello,

Today I found out that I failed my grade 5 music theory. Has anyone here ever failed a music exam before?

I failed my theory at the same time as you and re-sat the exam today. I was really disappointed when I failed as it was the first music exam I had ever failed, however after my exam today, I feel like I may even pass with a merit. When I got my mark sheet back, I circled my lowest scores and really focused on those ares.
Plus, for the german terms - something I also struggled with - i would recommend using a website called Memrise as it really helped me to log the German Terms into my long term memory.
Hope this helps xx

Reply 14

Olivia_.l_

1

Failed mine too :frown:

redoing it in spring time