Guidance for digital

Performance Grades
Updated March 2023

Contents
1. Introduction 1
2. Assessment requirements 1
3. Recording the exam 2
4. Submitting the video recording and declarations 6
5. Appendices 8
1. Introduction
Our Performance Grades (www.abrsm.org/performancegrades) are assessed remotely, by a
member of our highly-trained examiner panel, using a video recording of the candidate’s
performance. This document provides detailed guidance on the procedures you need to follow
when booking, recording and submitting a remotely-assessed exam.

In addition to this guidance it is important that you also read following:

• Qualification Specification (syllabus) available at: www.abrsm.org/performancegrades

• Exam Regulations available at: www.abrsm.org/examregulations

Definitions
Applicant: Anyone who is 18 or over and submits a booking for an ABRSM exam
(often the school, music teacher, parent of a candidate or the candidate, if
they are 18 or over).

Candidate: The person taking the exam. Where a candidate is 18 or over and books
their own exam, they will also be the applicant.

Contact ID: Everyone using our online booking service is given a unique Contact ID
that allows us to identify individuals in our system. A Candidate’s Contact
ID is also used on submitted materials.

Responsible adult: The person who will oversee the exam for candidates under 18. The
responsible adult must be aged 18 or over and may be the applicant,
teacher or parent/carer.

2. Assessment requirements
For candidates taking a digital Performance Grade exam, we require the following:

1. A video recording, which includes:

• a continuous, unedited, performance of the four pieces/songs
• the opening of the own-choice piece/song shown to the camera before the performance
begins, so that the examiner can see what the music is
• announcements to the camera before the performance begins
• candidate photo identification shown to the camera before the performance begins – for
candidates taking Grades 6, 7 or 8 only (see below)

2. An online programme form and a declaration completed during the upload process by the
candidate or responsible adult (where the candidate is under 18).

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Candidate photo identification
Candidates taking Grade 6, 7 or 8 must show a form of photographic identification to the camera
at the start of the exam. We ask for photo ID because these qualifications can be used as a
prerequisite for higher grades and diplomas and as part of a university application. See our
Candidate Identification Policy (www.abrsm.org/policies).

Exam location
The candidate can choose where the exam performance takes place. This can be the candidate’s
school, home, their teacher’s studio, or any other location where appropriate space and
instruments are available (including a suitable piano for any accompaniments).

Booking and submitting an exam

Visit our website ‘how to book’ page for booking guidance - www.abrsm.org/en/exam-
booking/how-to-book

Once you’ve booked an exam, you have 28 days to submit the exam video. You must do this by
the date and time given in your exam booking.

It is not possible to submit a video after the submission deadline (date/time). If we do not receive
a submission the candidate will be marked as absent.

A candidate who is marked as absent may be eligible for a partial refund under certain
circumstances. See our Withdrawals, Non-attendance and Fee Refund Policy for details:
www.abrsm.org/en/policies/withdrawals-non-attendance-and-fee-refund-policy

3. Recording the exam

Exam date
Candidates can choose when to record their exam performance.

Instructions for the responsible adult (where applicable)

The responsible adult oversees the exam for candidates under 18.

If you take on this role you must:

• read this guidance before the exam recording takes place and make sure all requirements
are followed
• stay in the exam room for the whole exam
• make sure that the exam is recorded in one continuous take – with no pauses or stopping in
the recording
• be present when the applicant or candidate uploads the exam video, as you will need to
complete a declaration form

The responsible adult can also:

• act as page-turner
• provide accompaniment
• help with the video recording device
• carry out any of the pre-performance procedures that must be filmed, except showing the
candidate’s photo ID

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Video recording
Recording overview
Record the exam as one continuous audio-visual file. Once recording has started, the candidate
should:
1. Make their announcements
2. Show their documents to camera
3. Perform all their repertoire in one continuous take

You can find full instructions for recording the exam below.

You don’t need to record tuning up before the exam. However, any re-tuning or break during the
performance must be included as part of the continuous recording. See the syllabus for further
details: www.abrsm.org/performancegrades

Do not edit the recording in any way after the exam.

Video resolution
Most modern smartphones, tablets and laptops will be suitable for the video recording of the
exam.

Before recording, set the camera resolution to 720p. A lower resolution (e.g. 480p) may produce
an unclear, grainy picture and higher resolutions are likely to result in files that are too large to
upload.

You can change the video resolution in the device settings.

• iOS devices
Go to:
 Settings
 Camera
 Record video
 Select 720p HD at 30fps

• Android devices
(Due to the number of different Android devices routes to camera settings may vary.)
 Open the Camera
 Select ‘settings’ and ‘video size’
 Select the three dots
 Select ‘settings’ and ‘video quality/video resolution’
 Set this to 720p

Camera selection
Most smartphones and tablets have one main rear-facing camera and a lower-resolution front-
facing camera for self-portrait and video chat. Before recording, make sure that the mirror image
option is not selected in your camera settings to avoid the video being in reverse.

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Camera position
You can use landscape or portrait view. The camera should be static with candidate, instrument
and music stand (if used) clearly in view.

The candidate’s face (either facing the camera or in profile) should be visible throughout the
performance. Accompanists (if used) should also be in view. However, the candidate should be the
main focus if viewing both is not possible. It is also important for the examiner to be able to hear
the candidate and any accompaniment in appropriate balance.

Keyboard instruments – the whole of the keyboard(s) should be visible and, where applicable and
possible, the pedals should also be in view.

Percussion - each instrument being played in the exam should be visible throughout (as the camera
will be static).

In certain circumstances, for example in Organ exams, the recording device may need to be set at a
distance from the candidate in order to secure a balanced sound. In these instances, we
understand that a clear picture of, for example, manuals and/or pedal board may not be possible;
the candidate must, however, be clearly visible.

People present
If a responsible adult, or any other person not involved in the performance, is in the room they
should remain still and silent during the recording and be out of the camera view. They should not
disrupt or direct the candidate’s performance, or interfere with the recording in any way.

Testing and trialling

Test the recording device and do a trial recording before the exam – to make sure the recording will
be of good quality, with clear, undistorted sound and vision. Other things to check include, suitable
lighting levels, camera position and the clarity of the information shown to the camera (see below).

Before recording, check that audible or distracting notifications are disabled on the device, that it is
charged and has enough storage space.

The recording must be of a good enough quality to allow assessment of all aspects of the
performance, including tone quality and dynamic range. Examiners mark based on what they hear
and see and cannot take poor quality recording into account.

File format and size

Recordings must be in one of the following formats: MP4, WMV, MOV or MPG. The file size must
not be more than 2GB.

If the resolution of the video is too high, the file may be too large or slow to upload. In these
circumstances, you can compress the file so that it uploads successfully. (See ‘After recording’
below.)

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At the start of the recording
Show the opening of the own-choice music to the camera
The candidate or responsible adult must show the opening of the own-choice piece/song to the
camera with the following visible:
• Title
• Opening clef(s), key and time signature, tempo marking and other performance indications
• A few lines of music from the beginning of the piece/song

Make the announcement

The candidate or responsible adult should also announce the following information before the
performance:
• The candidate’s name
• Exam subject (instrument)
• Grade
• Title, composer and list information (where applicable) for each piece/song, in the order
they will be performed

Show the candidate photo identification – Grades 6, 7 and 8

Candidates taking Grade 6, 7 or 8 must show their photo ID to the camera at the beginning of the
exam. They must do this themselves with their face in full view of the camera.

After recording
File names
Your file name must only include letters, numbers, underscores (_) or dashes (-). If it includes
spaces or any other characters it will not be accepted.

It must not be blank as we cannot process and assess files without a name

Compressing videos
If you have a large video file and/or slow broadband speed, you may want to compress the file to
reduce the video upload time. This reduces the file size while maintaining the quality and ratio of
the audio and video.

For high grade exams videos are likely to be 20-30 minutes long. Even set on 720p HD video at 30
fps, a 30-minute video may be up to 1 GB. In such instances we recommend you compress your
video so that it uploads more quickly.

Before you upload a compressed video, always watch the whole recording to make sure you are
happy with how it looks and sounds.

There are various free (third-party) internet sites that can help with video compression. Here are
some examples:

Free compression software: https://www.freeconvert.com/video-compressor

• Upload your video and click compress (using the site default settings)
• Let the site run its processes
• Download the compressed file back to your computer.

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Downloadable software (rather than an online convertor): https://handbrake.fr
• A free program that can compress any video files and works on all platforms

We do not endorse particular products and recommend that you make your own choices when
using third-party software. There are many other options available.

4. Submitting the video recording and declarations

The candidate or applicant can upload the video recording via their ABRSM account as soon as the
exam has been booked. They have 28 days to do this from the date the booking was made. The
upload function will only be available during this time. Please leave plenty of time to upload the
video in case there are any problems.

When you are ready:

• Log in to your account
• Select ‘submit recordings’
• Select the candidate and start the upload process

You will only be able to submit your recording once, so make sure the file you are selecting is the
correct one.

Before you upload the video, you will be asked to complete the following:

Online programme form

• If there is a syllabus overlap option, indicate if the pieces/songs are from the current or
previous syllabus.
• Enter each piece/song in performance order, giving the list number (if relevant), composer
and title.
• Indicate which piece/song is own choice

Declaration
• To confirm that the recording was made in accordance with our Exam Regulations (see
Appendix 1).
• If the candidate is under 18, this declaration must be made by the responsible adult who
was present during the recording, so the responsible adult must also be present when the
video is uploaded.

Loss of internet connection

If you lose your internet connection while the video is uploading, the upload will automatically
pause and then resume when the connection returns. If the internet connection is lost for 30
minutes or more, then the upload will stop completely and you will see the following error
message: 'There has been an error with your video upload. Please try again.'

Use of the video recording

We keep Performance Grade exam videos for 120 days after upload. We then destroy them.

The recording of the exam is made for the sole purpose of ABRSM’s assessment and must not be
shared or used for any other purpose. During recording and submission only, you are allowed to
the share the recording with anyone directly involved with the exam, such as the applicant or
teacher.

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You must not share the recording with any other person or upload it to file sharing or social media
websites such as Facebook or YouTube. Sharing the recording may also risk infringing the rights of
composers and/or their publishers, for which the candidate could be liable.

If the exam recording is shared with anyone other than ABRSM (for assessment purposes) or the
people directly involved with the exam (as outlined above), the candidate may be disqualified.

You can only submit a recording as evidence for a qualification once. If you try to submit a
previously submitted video a second time (for any qualification) we will not accept or assess the
recording and the candidate will be disqualified from the second assessment.

Status of the video recording (for data protection purposes)

A video recording of an exam has the status of an exam script and is therefore exempt from subject
access requests made under data protection law. However, candidates are allowed to keep a copy
of their video recording after submitting it to ABRSM.

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5. Appendices
Appendix 1: Declaration content
Candidates over 18

Candidates under 18

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