What to expect as a candidate
Whether you are a learner, a parent or a teacher, here is how sitting a grade works: where exams take place, how they are assessed, and where the grades can take you.
Centres
Exams are taken through registered centres, often your own school or studio, or a venue arranged by the awarding organisation.
Assessment & awarding
An external examiner assesses you against a published standard, and the awarding organisation issues your result and certificate.
Progression
Each grade opens the next, and the higher grades are recognised on the way to further and higher education.
Open to any learner, at any age
Graded exams suit learners of all ages, from primary through to tertiary and continuing education. There are no restrictions in terms of age, gender, disability, ethnic or social background.
The age range entering is extremely wide, and awarding organisations generally do not tie one grade to a particular age group. You take the grade that matches where you are, whatever age you reach it.
Who takes them
- Children and young people learning in schools, colleges or privately
- Adults building performing experience, for employment or for pleasure
- Primary school teachers who need evidence of their practical performance skills
- Anyone enhancing their experience of the arts for leisure
From first lesson to certificate
The path is the same across every discipline. Your teacher and awarding organisation handle the arrangements; you focus on being ready.
Learn with a teacher
Work towards a grade that matches where you are, guided by the syllabus.
Enter through a centre
Your teacher or centre registers you with the awarding organisation.
Sit with an examiner
Perform to an external examiner applying the same published standard.
Earn your grade
Receive an independent, recognised result, and the next grade to aim for.
Where exams take place
Exams are held at a centre, which is usually the school, college or studio where you already learn. Your teacher or centre arranges the entry with the awarding organisation.
A centre here is not a centre in the GCSE sense
Graded exams are assessed entirely by an examiner appointed and trained by the awarding organisation. So a venue holding graded exams is not a "centre" in the way a school delivering GCSEs and A levels is: the centre is not responsible for assessing any part of the qualification.
Proof of progress you can carry anywhere
A grade is more than a certificate. It is an independent benchmark that teachers, parents and employers all understand the same way.
- A clear next goal that keeps motivation and practice on track.
- Objective feedback from an examiner outside your own studio.
- Recognised standing that supports applications and auditions.
- Transferable skills that research links to other fields of study: physical co-ordination, communication, self-discipline and the habit of working with others.
What a grade counts towards
The pattern of progression varies with the candidate. Some advance through the whole sequence, others take only specific grades. Either way, the higher grades are read and understood well outside the exam room.
Points on the UCAS Tariff
Grades 6 to 8 in music, dance, drama and musical theatre, and Intermediate and Advanced Foundation examinations in dance, are included in the UCAS Tariff.
That gives UK higher education institutions a way of making broad comparisons between applicants holding different types of qualification.
Entry to conservatoires and colleges
In music, conservatoires often specify Grade 8 as a prerequisite for their courses.
In dance and drama, colleges often identify a pass at RQF Level 3 as appropriate additional evidence to support an application.
Higher level diplomas
The grades provide a progression route to the higher level diplomas in performing and teaching that the awarding organisations offer.
These are assessed at standards comparable to those expected in full-time tertiary training.
The principle behind the higher level qualifications is that candidates get to display their skills in whatever role they choose, whether performer, teacher, director or another specialism. Holders have excellent potential employability, and not only in the arts and creative industries. Specific UCAS ratings for the RQF Level 3 grades are published at www.ucas.com.
A framework built around your teaching
The grades give structure without dictating how you teach. Clear components per grade, no mandated coursework, and transitional support when a syllabus is revised.
- Plan your own curriculum around clearly published outcomes.
- Track achievement with a shared, recognised standard.
- Register candidates through the relevant awarding organisation.
Ready to take the next grade?
Choose your discipline, and we will point you to the awarding organisation that sets and marks your syllabus.