To provide a more candidate-friendly experience, we will be moving the assessment of Music Theory at Grades 1 to 5 to an online exam.
With a focus on creating a more reliable and accessible assessment, our new Online Music Theory assessments give candidates the best opportunity to demonstrate their musical knowledge and understanding.
Please see our Online Music Theory Exam preparation page here for Grade 1-5 exam support materials.
Music Theory in Practice
We are not making any changes to our Music Theory in Practice books for Grades 1 to 5. These publications still cover all the knowledge and skills you need for our Music Theory exams at these grades from 2020. The sections on rhythm-writing, word-setting and melody writing will not be directly relevant to our current exams, but overall Music Theory in Practice continues to provide plenty of valuable teaching and learning material for the exams.
First Steps in Music Theory and The AB Guide to Music Theory (Part 1)
We are not be making any changes to these books. They cover the basic principles of music theory and provide a thorough introduction to the knowledge and understanding needed at Grades 1 to 5. They continue to offer valuable support for exam preparation as well as wider music theory understanding.
You are still able to buy Past Papers and Model Answers from previous years (2019 and earlier) for all Grades. Whilst these are not directly related to our current Grade 1-5 exams, they continue to provide valuable teaching material and can be used in addition to the new exam preparation content.