Doing their best to help candidates do their best
At ABRSM, we employ around 700 highly qualified and skilled generalist music examiners. Many are performers, teachers and conductors, and a lot of them have done exams themselves and are often on stage. In other words, they know exactly what it's like to be in a candidate's shoes.
Manner, method, marking
All our examiners are moderated and trained on three key things:
- Manner: It’s the little things in the exam room that make the difference. Our examiners welcome candidates into the room, help them adjust the height of the stand and give them the opportunity to warm up on their instrument.
- Method: Making the day run smoothly is vital to a great exam experience, so we train our examiners in managing the pace of the exam, the way the aural tests are conducted, and many other aspects of the exam day.
- Marking: Our exams are music exams first, rather than instrumental or singing exams. ABRSM examiners assess all instruments and singing as generalist musicians instead of instrumental or vocal specialists. They use the same universal marking criteria to assess the musical outcome, not the technique used to achieve it, which allows consistent marking across all instruments.
Individual experience is combined with comprehensive training, both before and after acceptance to the examiner team. Continuing professional development, moderation and monitoring means that we have a team of examiners that we trust and know to be impartial, objective and consistent.
