The Student Room Group
That's ridiculous. I mean, you can probably spend two years between the grades, but I'd reckon you could learn 3 new pieces to performance standard within half a year, easily.
Da Bachtopus
That's ridiculous. I mean, you can probably spend two years between the grades, but I'd reckon you could learn 3 new pieces to performance standard within half a year, easily.

That's if you are ready for grade 8 :rolleyes:
If you've finished grade 7, then probably around 6 months to a year, depending on how much practice you put in every day.
Reply 4
oh thats okay then :smile:
Reply 5
I took a gap of 3 years between grades 7 and 8, but I certainly could have passed it reasonably comfortably with only a year gap (less if I practised more :p:). Relentlessly chugging through grades isn't that fun though.

On the actual pieces themselves, I probaby spent around 3-4 months. Any more than that and you get sick of them by the time it comes to the exam.

Looking back, I think I probably would improved quicker if I'd only done grades 1, 5 and 8 (which seems like a sensible amount) and spent more time broadening my repertoire.
Reply 6
Depends on the person. I did grade 6 and then skipped to grade 8. Took 2 years to do it because I skipped Gradre 7, but then due to unforseen circumstances I was forced to pull out before I could sit the exam.
I've now had to start new pieces because they changed and I'm planning to do it in June next year- so 8 months this time.
Reply 7
It took me a couple of terms, maybe a year, I think
Reply 8
I love coursework.info :p:

i think it took me around 2 terms. I think I did my grade 7 in the winter and my Grade 8 int he summer. Something like that.
Da Bachtopus
That's ridiculous. I mean, you can probably spend two years between the grades, but I'd reckon you could learn 3 new pieces to performance standard within half a year, easily.


i agree, i took grade 5 in spring 2005, took a break from piano almost entirely and then took grade 8 in summer 2007, i only really started preparing for it in autumn 2006

so yeah, can be done in anything from a few months to a few years depending how much time you put in and how badly you want it :smile:
Reply 10
i just turned 14 and started learning my grade 8 piano pieces in october 08 and had 1 piece down by 2 weeks (self taught), another by october and the third in progress. Scales you just have to take time over and learn, but if you've done previous grades, you should know most of them already. Sightreading just needs practise. jsut play your pieces at least twice a week like me :smile:
I spent four terms working on Grade 8 and failed the exam last session. Going to spend this term getting the pieces up to scratch and retake this sessions! You really have to put a lot of work in, I just got seriously lazy and expected it to be fine and pass with minimal practice but that didn't happen.
Reply 12
I took my (AB) grade 8 exactly a year to the day after my grade 7 exam.

That said, I barely passed by a whisker for both exams (103 and 105 respectively).
Hi everyone,

When I studied for my Grade 7 11 years ago, it took me 14 months - but then for my grade 8, it was only 10 months. Different people have diff learning speeds but I guess the struggle of the previous exam meant I was able to pass my Grade 8 in a much shorter time as I knew what to expect as the standards rose.
It took me a bit over a year. Would've been less but I was doing my A-levels at the time... I loved my grade 8 pieces!
In theory it's a grade a year. I personally took longer between grade 7 and 8 because i wanted to improve my playing before taking the exam so i could get a distinction.
Reply 16
Completely depends on how much practice you are willing and able to do and possibly your current sight reading ability. Generally, as already mentioned it is a year per grade. For me however, I did grade 7 in March, then didn't really do much due to GCSE exams. Ive been now practicing quite hard since mid July and now I can play three grade 8 pieces, though only one is of performance standard. I will now probably aim for my pieces to be performance ready by the end of August, then go for the exam in Nov/December.
Aye, it's all down to amount of practice put in- I've just passed my Grade 8 Bass guitar after only playing it for three years (four marks off a distinction xD) but the cost of that was having to practice up to 8 hours a day... I also play piano and appreciate that it's a much harder instrument to play well, but it's a case of making the time :smile: