I enter students to one of two exam boards:
Both boards have exams from Grade 1 to Grade 8 and Diploma exams after that.
The two exam boards offer a slightly different flavour in their style of exam. These are my opinions on the content of their exam criteria:
ABRSM are the more formal of the two but can sometimes be considered more conventional and 'thorough' in their requirements.
Trinity focus more on musicality and less on scales and arpeggios so can be seen as the easier or more relaxed option, but still offer the opportunity to achieve a grade level equivalent to ABRSM.
Both boards give UCAS points above Grade 5.
The exams are normally held at the end of each academic term in an exam centre in Chesham, High Wycombe or Beaconsfield.
For more information go to https://gb.abrsm.org/en/ or https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/music/grade-exams
PERFORMANCE GRADES / ONLINE EXAMS
Since the first lockdown in 2020 when all exams had to be cancelled, the ABRSM and Trinity have started offering online exams.
ABRSM now offer Remotely-assessed graded Music Exams. This means that instead of a face to face exam with an examiner, students can upload an unedited video of their performance of four pieces (instead of the usual 3) in one recording and submit it for assessment. The emphasis is completely on Performance. This means that scales, sight reading and aural tests are not be part of this type of assessment.
For more information, click here:
https://gb.abrsm.org/en/our-exams/performancegrades/
Trinity have also been offering their own version of online exams and you can find out more about them here:
https://www.trinitycollege.com/qualifications/music/digital-music-grades/classical-jazz-digital-grades
These grades still require a few scales and 2 of the 3 exercises that are usually played in a face to face exam. There's a lovely video to watch on the website that runs through all the requirements.