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I have a student who has been preparing this year for her Gr. 8 RCM exam. It is her choice to do this. At the beginning of the year I set out a timeline for when things need to be finished in order to be allowed to register. But, she wasn't practicing at the beginning of the year as much as she needed to (beginning of January she had learned only 30% of the music). I didn't realize she wasn't practicing, and was thinking maybe she wasn't capable yet of Gr. 8. I gave her until the end of February to learn the notes to all her pieces, and have everything laid out for what needs to be learned each week. She also needs to get her scales up. In the last couple weeks she has actually learned quite a bit of music, but in the end, I don't think it's a good idea to go on with the exam this. Just last week I pulled her from the recital too because she was still fumbling through her recital piece.

Since I gave her to the end of February, and since she has been getting more done recently, when should I tell her I don't think she'll be ready? Now, or wait two weeks?

As a student myself, I'd want to be told as soon as you arrived at a final determination.

When is the test?

I have a student who is slightly ahead of yours, but not by much. I've already told her parents that she'll fail, but they're the type that won't give up, so I'm just going to let her crash and burn. Chances are that the girl will get a super easy evaluator and still "pass" her test. And get honors.

Does your student need a "learning experience"? Or is she just too busy?

Everyone should have the opportunity to fail.

This is very, very clear, and I assume a reasonable timeframe given the registration date of the exam.

Stick to what you said. Don't pull her early, but on the last February lesson or first March lesson ask her to play all her scales and exam pieces and see if she learned all her notes and scales. If she did, keep her in, if not, pull her.

It's probably good to express some concern now to her and the parents that she might not be ready, and warn that notes need to be learned by end of February or else she will be pulled from the exam, so that if that does happen they can't say it came out of nowhere.

Ultimately everyone has to learn the relationship between putting in the work and getting to do the cool stuff.
(To whatever extent exams are cool. I still don't see the appeal. But let's not hijack the thread to discuss that topic...)

Isn't it great when you ask a question and get all the possible answers in response


The exam would be in mid-June some time. I'm using the deadlines recommended by another experienced teacher here who has been doing these exams with her students for many years. It's what she has found is necessary to get a decent grade on the exams (above 70%).

Would going through with the exam and failing be more of a lesson than not being allowed to do the exam in the first place?

I would guess that if she did the exam this year she might scrape by with low 60's, and it would be stressful for both her and me (59 is a fail). If we waited until January next year, I would hope for mid 70s to 80. I don't know if she would continue taking lessons if this external motivator wasn't there. Even having this exam coming up and paying for part of her lessons wasn't enough to get her to practice consistently earlier this year.


Parents have been in the loop on this. Having an organized binder with all my weekly practice assignments since September as well as my deadlines for certain things made it very easy to see how my student got behind (yay, it's not my fault!...unless I should have pointed out to her before the beginning of January that she was falling behind). In part, asking my original question was just me wondering if I was just avoiding the uncomfortable aspect of saying "no" to my student. I hate giving bad news.

Around here what level people are at in RCM exams makes a big difference - "Oh, you're taking piano?" is always followed by, "What grade are you in?" Gr. 8 is one of those things that people are impressed by.

Since you gave her a deadline of the end of February, you should stick with that. When that time comes around, however, I would have a conversation with her if things aren't up to snuff. Let her know that you are doubtful, and list the reasons why (being specific, not pointing fingers). Then let her decide if she wants to do it or not.

Sometimes I've had students say they want to do something when I've indicated that it's not good and probably won't go well. In some of those cases, when they've made the decision for themselves, they've pulled through. Perhaps not as well as they could have, but they make the extra effort. I see nothing wrong with this, since the student makes the choice themselves knowing that failure is a possibility.

Other times, if there's a student who is particularly sensitive, having a failure could be devastating. Giving them an "out" like this - but it still being their choice - is a good solution. Then if they decide to try again later, you can review the mistakes that were made the last time and the student will also have a better idea of the work entailed and if they're really ready for it this time.

RE: being impressed by being in Grade 8. I think rightly so. How many piano students get to this level? Obviously this girl has done some work to get there, it doesn't just happen from showing up each week. With all the work that gets piled onto high school students (I assume she's a teenager), the emotional stresses of social media, and just from being a kid....I think that the fact that they're even playing at all, let alone trying for exams shouldn't be ignored. The pressure for kids to be overachievers is huge, and perhaps this is behind the desire to do exams. This is a great time for you to be a mentor and letting her know that it's OK not to do exams if she doesn't want to, that there are always other opportunities, or if she really wants to, you will help her get there if she can stick to your assignments.

That's true. But if my teacher _knew_ I would probably fail an exam, I'd want her to say:

. . . "Charles, this is a learning experience. You'll probably
. . . flunk, but the preparation and playing for an examiner
. . . will be good for you."

[As an adult, I'd understand that. I'm not sure I would have been OK with it as a kid -- "passing" was too important to me.]

That, or:

. . . "Charles, I'd rather you wait till the next exam. We'll start
. . . earlier, and you'll have to commit to more practice time. I'd
. . . like you to have a good chance at an "honors" pass."

Failing, when you _expect_ to pass -- that can be a real bummer.

PS -- I wrote this before reading Morodiene's reply. She says it better than I do.

June is still far, far away in the piano universe. Your student might still make it. My student's exam is in March, and I'm just going to let her crash and burn.


I think so!

Nah, they were both great replies

March! Is that for the CM exams? We either have April or June exams here.

Yes, the student is going for CM. Our CM window is February through April of each year. It's nervous time!

Is it possible to deconstruct this label of "failing" or "crash and burn"? There's no need to buy into the exam board's labels. There's simply the student's playing and the feedback from the examiner about how close or far s/he is from some ideal performance. The student can then choose to adapt, or not, in response to that feedback (with the help of the teacher).

Could you give the student your estimation in advance of how she's likely to do, and let her decide whether or not take the exam?

You make a very good point. A well-written report should not be full of the language of humiliating failure. It should explain what the student can do to achieve a better result next time (whether in this same grade or some other exam or form of evaluation). Even a "fail" report should identify some areas which are on track, or close to it, and suggest ways of progressing. At least, that is what the best examiners in my experience (primarily with AMEB) do.

What if the student comes into the exam room not knowing anything? Seriously, the student knows nothing.

In my opinion, a fail report should be accurate and should reflect what the student did or did not do. The report should be straightforward, objective, and very detailed.

Well that doesn't sound like it's the case with Arghhh's student. If a student knows "seriously" nothing the exam won't last too long as he/she won't be able to find the first note.

I agree with you that the fail report should be accurate and detailed. As for "objective", there are many ways of saying the same thing, and I think it's important not to use language which belittles a student, no matter how incompetent their performance.

Absolutely.
As teacher you should suggest a schedule to get the material done at certain stage by certain dates allowing a little leeway for "[censored] happens" but besides that... it's the student responsibility to study, prepare and polish for it.
The parents are in the loop, so if she wants to crash and burn, she should be allowed to do so.

Life isn't fair and then you die.

If they have paid for the test and can't get a refund, then let them test.

If they need to pay by a certain date, let them know the week before that they are not ready and can test another time or they can test knowing they will not pass.

Not passing isn't the end of the world, you learn more from not passing than passing if you have a history of only passing.

My daughter did a competition in her sport and did okay, top third. She was surprised when her coach was for the first time angry with her at her next lesson. It was an effective teaching tool. He said it is not enough to have a great presentation and to show skills you had for the past 2 years. She was supposed to take risks, follow his directions and not play it safe. Winning was not the goal, the goal was to show growth and push herself. So she learned something and has been in more of an attack mode since that tough conversation.

So even if your student passes, it is okay not to celebrate if they were not as strong as you would have liked.

Bravo to the coach!! And brava to you for noticing the purpose of exams.

I'm starting to use our state test CM to my advantage. Instead of putting everybody in it, I'm more and more selective. Those students who are obviously too advanced will be bored to death, and those students who are struggling mightily have no place in exams, anyway. I'm starting to weed out the exam candidates now.

Your daughter has a hidden treasure in this coach. I hope she realizes how lucky she is to have someone who will hold her to a higher standard.