Please help me : Skipping Piano grades

[vesivian]

Hey there ,I really need advice , i just finished my grade 5 practicals and was wondering if i should skip to grade 7 or even 8 is it worth it and will i have enough time? p.s : Do we need grade 5 in theory to move on to grade 6-8+ for practicals?

[keyboardclass]

For Trinity you don't need grade 5 theory.  I wouldn't advice skipping but each case has its own merit.

[perfect_pitch]

It depends...

If you got an A+ or possibly an A on your Grade 5 exam, then you could attempt to sit Grade 7, but skipping 2 grades would just be stupid in my books.

If you got a B+ or anything lower - don't even think of skipping a grade. You'll just crash and burn.

[vesivian]

Is A+ or A considered as a merit and distinction? If so then i have received 143 marks for my grade 5

[perfect_pitch]

Okay... I got no idea how ABRSM works... I guess I'm not much help to you then...

Sorry.

[keyboardclass]

Yeh, that's a distinction. 

[kelly_kelly]

143 is an extremely high mark (for those who aren't familiar with ABRSM, the exam is out of 150; 100 is a pass, 120 is a merit, and 130 is distinction), so I would say grade 7 is probably a logical step for you, but grade 8 might be a stretch depending on your motivation. What does your teacher think?

[pianissimo123]

That's really good!!
With regards to skipping grades, you should go by what your teacher recommends. See about what they think. Get them to give you a personalized game plan. You should also assess the music you are wanting to play. You need to make sure that your hands are developed enough to take on the challenge. It seems that you have alot of talent.So you will probably be up to the challenge. Maybe get your teacher to give you lots of finger exercises, warm-ups and practices. Be careful not to strain your hands. Believe me, sometimes it's hard when you skip grades. If you advance too quickly sometimes your hands may not be able to catch up.  Maybe  see if you can ease into the grade seven first for a little while then see if you can try the grade eight.  I hope everything goes well for you. I'm sure no matter what you do,you will succeed. Best wishes.

[braintist]

You will need a grade 5 theory for ABRSM. You scored pretty high and I think skipping grades should be fine. But a jump to 8 will be pretty challenging.