ABRSM Piano Exams: Practical or Performance Grades?

ABRSM offers two graded piano exam routes. Practical Grades combine three prepared pieces with scales and arpeggios, sight-reading and aural tests in a face-to-face exam. Performance Grades assess a video of four pieces, together with the performance as a whole. Both run from Initial Grade to Grade 8.

The useful question is what you want the preparation to do for your playing. A Practical Grade gives separate attention to several kinds of musicianship. A Performance Grade gives you a sustained programme to shape and communicate. Those are different projects, even when three of the pieces come from the same repertoire lists.

I have taught ABRSM candidates through Grade 8, and my students have achieved results including Merit. When considering an exam route, I want to hear more than the most polished piece. How does the pianist begin something unfamiliar, respond to a musical instruction, and carry a phrase through to its ending? That wider picture helps explain which kind of preparation would be useful next.

The two routes at a glance

Both routes involve performing repertoire. A Practical Grade is not just a collection of technical tests; its pieces account for most of the available marks. Equally, a Performance Grade involves more than recording four successful attempts separately. The programme is recorded as one continuous performance.

The comparison below concerns the piano exams. Requirements for other instruments, singing and diplomas have their own specifications.

What Practical preparation develops

A Practical Grade brings together work that often progresses at different speeds. You might have a lyrical piece with a convincing singing line, yet hesitate when a scale is requested by name. Another pianist may read quickly but make every phrase sound equally weighted. Preparing the complete exam draws attention to both kinds of imbalance.

The supporting tests ask you to do something beyond reproducing a familiar piece. In technical work, you prepare the grade's requirements so that you can respond to the examiner's selection. In sight-reading, you meet new notation. In aural work, you listen and respond to musical material played by the examiner. The precise tasks depend on the grade.

This route can be particularly useful if pieces have occupied nearly all your practice time. Regular reading and listening work then becomes part of the same goal. I would begin that work alongside the pieces: reading fluency develops through repeated encounters with unfamiliar music, rather than through polishing one exercise until it becomes familiar.

Try a simple comparison in ordinary practice. Play a short passage you know well, then read an easier, unfamiliar passage at a steady pace. Notice where your attention goes. In the first, you may be listening to tone and phrase direction; in the second, you may be absorbed in finding every note. That difference tells you something about your reading habits. Our ten-minute sight-reading routine gives this part of practice a manageable shape.

The live setting matters too. You respond to another person and perform on the instrument provided for the exam. Rehearsing on a different piano can reveal how strongly your balance or pedalling depends on the familiar response of your own instrument.

What Performance preparation develops

A Performance Grade gives the programme itself more responsibility. Alongside the three required list selections, you choose a fourth piece of a suitable standard. That extra choice can introduce another musical character, extend a strength, or expose an area you want to develop.

The own-choice piece has specific requirements, including a minimum duration, and the complete programme has a maximum duration. Check the piano syllabus for your grade before settling on it. A piece that happens to be a favourite may need a different companion, or may belong in a later programme.

The musical work extends across the four pieces. Imagine moving from a crisp, rhythmically alert opening piece into something quiet and sustained. The next opening needs a fresh tempo, a different quality of touch and a clear sense of breath. If you carry the first piece's energy into every opening, the programme begins to sound uniform.

I would rehearse those changes while the pieces are still developing. Play the ending of one piece, allow its sound to finish, then hear the opening tempo of the next before beginning. The point is to establish its character, not to invent theatrical gestures between pieces.

The last piece also deserves attention after the first three. It may feel secure when practised alone but lose detail late in a run: a softer melody disappears, a quick passage accelerates, or the ending becomes hurried. Rehearsing the complete sequence lets you hear that difference. You can then return to the relevant passage with a clearer musical reason for practising it.

How the marks differ

Both exams have 150 available marks. The overall result bands are the same: Pass begins at 100, Merit at 120 and Distinction at 130. The distribution of those marks shows where the assessment places its attention.

In a Practical Grade, the three supporting sections together account for 60 marks. In a Performance Grade, the fourth piece and the assessment of the whole programme account for 60. The latter includes how convincingly the performance communicates across the programme; it is not a bonus simply for reaching the last page.

ABRSM describes the routes as equivalent in demand and value. That does not mean they will feel equally difficult to every pianist. Someone who enjoys responding to unfamiliar material may feel at home with the Practical format. Someone who enjoys refining a programme may prefer the Performance format. Each still needs musical control at the chosen grade.

When listening to a rehearsal, I would resist turning every slip into a predicted mark. A missed note, a pulse that repeatedly stops, and a melody that cannot be heard are different musical problems. The next practice session should address what happened in the sound. The examiner's eventual mark is an assessment of the performance given, rather than a promise attached to a particular amount of practice.

Recording and playing live

Performance Grades are assessed from a submitted video, rather than through a live video call. The music must be recorded in one continuous take. Editing together a good opening, a better middle and a separate ending does not produce a valid exam performance.

This changes the preparation. A camera can make an otherwise familiar room feel surprisingly formal. Practise occasional complete runs with recording already underway, and listen afterwards. If you stop and restart whenever a small detail displeases you, you are rehearsing a habit that works against continuity.

A smartphone can be used; specialist filming equipment is not the musical requirement. What matters is that the recording meets ABRSM's current guidance and allows the examiner to see and hear the performance clearly. Test the sound before committing to a full run. A recording that overloads at the loudest moment can obscure the balance you have worked to achieve.

Listen to a rehearsal once for the musical line, then again for a specific question: does the left hand cover the melody, or does the tempo change at every difficult join? Our guide to listening to your own piano recording explains how to turn those observations into useful practice.

For a Practical Grade, a rehearsal with another person giving the requests helps you experience the change from playing a piece to responding to a test. The goal is familiarity with the situation. A complete mock exam every day would take time away from the work that actually needs improving.

Which route suits your next goal?

For a returning adult, the main question is often the difference between remembered repertoire and current independence. You may still play a substantial piece while reading new music slowly. A Performance Grade can provide a satisfying repertoire project, while a Practical Grade can give the reading and technical work a more explicit place in preparation. Either choice should be accompanied by an honest view of those skills.

For a younger pianist, consider how the project fits the rest of their musical life. Someone who already performs regularly might benefit from the variety of a Practical Grade. Someone with fewer opportunities to present a complete programme may enjoy preparing a Performance Grade. These are possible reasons to choose, rather than rules based on age.

For a pianist who dislikes sight-reading, simply removing its exam mark leaves the reading difficulty untouched. Reading still affects how easily you can learn the next piece, explore music with someone else, or notice an error in a familiar score. Conversely, someone who is comfortable with all the supporting tests may still need practice sustaining musical interest across a whole programme.

Choose the route whose work you can take seriously for the coming period. The most useful outcome is a stronger musician after the exam, with habits that continue when the certificate arrives.

Grade 6–8 entry requirements

The higher-grade prerequisite applies to both routes. Before booking Grade 6, 7 or 8, candidates need a qualifying pass at Grade 5 or above in ABRSM Music Theory, Practical Musicianship or an eligible Jazz Practical subject, or an accepted alternative qualification.

A previous piano Grade 5 pass on its own is not that prerequisite. Check the current accepted-alternatives list if you hold a qualification from another board. This is worth resolving early, particularly for an adult returning with older certificates.

There are no equivalent entry prerequisites for Initial Grade through Grade 5, and candidates do not have to sit every earlier piano grade. Choosing an appropriate starting grade is a separate decision from choosing the exam route.

The 2027 piano syllabus transition

For exams from 1 January 2027, ABRSM's 2027 & 2028 piano repertoire becomes available. The 2025 & 2026 piano syllabus remains usable until 31 December 2027 under the overlap arrangements. The three set selections must come from the same syllabus; a mixture of years is not a substitute for a valid programme.

For Practical Grades, the supporting-test requirements remain unchanged in the new syllabus. If you are already preparing a programme, identify its syllabus year before replacing books or abandoning pieces. For Performance Grades, read the own-choice rules separately from the rules governing the three set selections.

The qualification specification contains more than the pieces printed in an exam book. It is the place to check the full repertoire lists and the requirements for your particular grade and route.

Taking the exam from Japan

Japan's ABRSM representative, the Kakehashi Foundation, provides information about both face-to-face exams and recorded Performance Grades. Its Practical exam information also explains the option of a Japanese interpreter. Check the current local arrangements and dates with the representative rather than assuming a booking schedule from another country applies in Japan.

For candidates elsewhere, use ABRSM's country-specific information. Access to a local face-to-face session, a suitable instrument and a quiet recording space can influence the practical choice. They belong in the decision alongside your musical goal.

Before choosing, play something you know, read something easier that you have not practised, and make a short uninterrupted recording. Listen for the kind of work that deserves more attention. Then look at the two routes again: the comparison will mean more when it is connected to your actual playing.