With effect from 2018, there will be some changes to the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM) Grade 5 Theory. This will impact on many teachers, given that, currently, Grade 5 Theory is the main prerequisite for candidates wishing to take Practical Grades 6. 7, or 8. For those candidates who use the Trinity College of London (TCL) route, there is, of course, no such requirement to pass any theory exam even up to Grade 8 Practical.

Full details are shown on the attached document, and the ABRSM has uploaded 2 new free Specimen Papers and I intend to upload a fully-worked version of each in due course.

Effectively the main changes are that there will no longer be the Question on Continuing a Melody, or its alternative of Word-Setting, and the occasionally-encountered one of changing from SATB Open to Short score, or the other way around, will no longer appear.

Questions on foreign words and terms will now be part of a multiple-choice question, where the meaning will be shown as one of the four possible answers.

In terms of my existing Pass Grade 5 Theory Worksheets, they will basically still be as relevant in 2018 as they are at present. I will make a note in those affected, that future papers won’t require you to know, for example, what etwas means in German, but will now include ‘somewhat’ as one of four possible answers where, ‘somewhat’ might seem the best answer by default rather than prior knowledge.

Specifically, the worksheets on SATB Score Transfer, Continuation of a Melody, and Word-Setting, are no longer relevant, and I have already amended this here on the website. However, they are still of use for candidates or students who specifically need further practice in these areas, perhaps for some other non-exam-related purpose.

I hope you will continue to find my Pass Grade 5 Theory Worksheets of continuing use as the first examination session approaches next February/March, where the revised 2018 Syllabus first kicks in.