Preparing for your Trinity Music Examination
At Trinity, we are continuously enhancing our exam offer and giving you more choice when it comes to entering for our music exams. In this blog, we lay out our different exam options, giving you instructions on how to enter for your chosen exam type.
Digital Grades and Diplomas
Choosing your exam type
Once you have decided on your instrument, syllabus (Classical and Jazz or Rock and Pop) and grade, for Digital Grades, you will need to make an extra decision before starting your preparations (only for Classical and Jazz): do you want to take the Technical work pathway or the Repertoire-only pathway?
The Technical work pathway is the exam structure you may be familiar with, our very popular original pathway. For digital grades, it involves performing three repertoire pieces (or 4 for Singing Grades 6-8), as well as technical work, and you will receive a mark for the overall performance (explained by our Director of Music in this blog post).
The Repertoire-only pathway as the name suggests, is our newer option, launched in 2023, and comprises of performing 4 pieces, each worth 25 marks each (Grades 6-8 singers will be required to perform 5 songs, each with 20 marks each). You can read more about this option in the blog ‘Introducing Trinity's new Repertoire-only pathway for digital exams’.
Diploma candidates will follow a similar structure to our face-to-face diploma exams, with a recital and written programme. Full requirements can be found in the Digital Diplomas: Music Performance Diplomas Syllabus.
Rock and Pop exams follow the Digital Rock and Pop syllabus. Please note that digital Rock and Pop exams do not include Sessions skills and candidates will be assessed on how well the musical skills and knowledge that underpin the session skills tests are demonstrated within the context of their entire performance (i.e. all three songs). Full explanation and criteria for this is available in the syllabus.
Exam Preparation
Once you have decided on your exam pathway, you can start preparing using the resources tailored to the digital exam of your choice. For every examination, there is a syllabus to consult (the digital diploma and Rock and Pop syllabuses have already been linked above). For graded exams, these are available on the dedicated instrument pages on our website. Some instruments have separate syllabuses for digital and face-to-face options, for example Piano. For the digital examination, you would download the digital assessment syllabus. Further digital assessment syllabuses will continue to be uploaded to our site in due course.
After reading through the syllabus and understanding the exam requirements for your chosen grade or diploma level, you can start preparing the material for your examination. Remember to follow any guidelines for choosing pieces or technical requirements. If your chosen instrument does not have a digital assessment syllabus, you will need to follow the digital technical work requirements which you can download on this page, using the instrument’s syllabus for guidance on pieces.
Now you are prepared for the exam and ready to film. Before filming, check out the filming guidance. Remember, examiners need to see your whole face and body and it’s best to find a quiet room with no background noise. Specific guidelines for each instrument are available on the guidance document.
Entering and submitting your exam
Our digital grades and diplomas are flexible and you can enter at any time. Note that once you have received a link to your online submission form, you have 28 days to submit your exam. Please only make the booking when the candidate is ready to take their exam.
Once you have made a booking, if it is your first time entering, you will receive an email with log in details for our digital upload platform, Submittable. If you have booked with us before, you can go to the link and log in using your saved details, and you will see a list of previous bookings. This is the platform which you will need to upload the performance video to, along with any relevant music or paperwork requested in your chosen instrument’s syllabus. You can get help with submitting your exam on this page, which includes a helpful video.
Results
You can expect the marking to take an average of 2 weeks for grades. Marking of diplomas usually takes 4 weeks, and if there are further checks to be made, can take up to 8 weeks (your account will show as In Review if this is the case).
It takes about a week for your provisional result to be verified as final, and your digital certificate will follow within 2 weeks. You can also choose to purchase a hard-copy certificate if you wish.
Face-to-face exams
Exam Preparation
For face-to-face exams, you will firstly need to decide your instrument, syllabus (Classical and Jazz or Rock and Pop) and grade.
Diploma exams will undertake a recital and written programme, following the Music Performance Diplomas Syllabus
Rock and Pop exams follow the relevant Rock and Pop syllabus.
Please note that the repertoire-only option does not apply for face-to-face exams.
Book your face-to-face exam
Once you have consulted the relevant syllabuses, and prepared for the examination, you are ready to book your live exam.
For Classical and Jazz exams, before going to the site, it’s a good idea to search for your local exam centre, using this map. Click on the pin to see details of your local exam centre, including the address, local representative’s contact details and the booking method. Most examinations will be available to book online, but some may still require a paper entry which you will need to post to your local representative.
If your exam centre is listed as being online you can head to the Music Booking page. On the homepage, you will see a list of booking openings and deadlines. There are three notable periods a year when face-to-face exams are held: in Easter, Summer and Autumn/Winter. Make a note of the next booking period if your exam is upcoming, or continue to ‘Book your exam’ if booking is currently open. In London, there are exams most months during the year in contrast to the three booking periods for the rest of the country. If you are wanting to take an exam outside of your local centre’s booking period and are located nearby to London this could be an option for you.
You will be able to select the date on the booking site, but not the time of the examination, which will be generated automatically after your booking. You will receive an appointment slip with the details of your examination, including the date, time and centre address within 24 hours after booking. Print out and fill in this appointment slip with your pieces, technical work and supporting tests in the order you plan to perform them. Bring it with you on the exam day, and hand it to the steward who will pass it to the examiner.
For Rock and Pop exams you can view the UK dates, venues and local representatives on the Rock and Pop site. Once you have decided on your venue and date you can enter on this page.
You will receive your appointment slip, including the date, time and centre address around 3 weeks before the exam date. Print out and fill in this appointment slip with your pieces and session skills in the order you plan to perform them. Bring it with you on the exam day, and hand it to the steward who will pass it to the examiner.
Results
Results for graded exams will be released up to two weeks after the date of the exam. For diplomas, results will be available up to eight weeks after the date of the exam. You will receive a report form which will be sent to you from your local representative. A digital certificate will follow within 2 weeks for graded exams, and will follow shortly after the results for diploma exams which can take 6-8 weeks. You can also choose to purchase a hard-copy certificate if you wish.
We hope these instructions help you in preparing for your Trinity music examination. Remember, there are lots of music resources you can access in addition to the instrument’s syllabus, and if you have any queries with your exam booking you can reach us at dgd.uki@trinitycollege.co.uk (Digital Grades and Diplomas) and ukandireland@trinitycollege.co.uk (Face-to-Face exams).
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