Digital exams: Getting the right interface

Music exams are taken by many students every year all around the world. These have long served to introduce students to new repertoire, help structure practice and provide useful goals to many through their musical journeys. During the Covid-19 pandemic, digital exams became a way for students to carry on taking exams despite the physical restrictions, allowing many to continue to achieve and learn through the exam format.

Now restrictions have been lifted, the digital exams are here to stay, with some pupils still opting to take these rather than return to face-to-face examinations. Online exams have many positives, such as improving accessibility, helping those with performance anxiety and removing difficulty with access arrangements. However, there are also challenges with online exams – from malfunctioning platforms to losing key aspects of the face-to-face experience. The Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music, London College of Music Examinations and Trinity College London all offer online exams, and it will be interesting to see whether these stand the test of time.

A mixed experience

As a music teacher myself, I had pupils sitting both cello and piano exams online during the pandemic, and for my pupils it was a mixed experience. Some were much calmer in their performances, and being in their own homes to record definitely improved their performance and allowed them to demonstrate to the best of their ability. However, for others it was a less positive experience, particularly for players who required an accompanist (because of their instrument) and were not able to find one willing to travel (more of a problem during the pandemic than now). The experience of playing without an accompanist is so different, and the full effect of the music can be lost.

Performing music is of course not just about accuracy; it’s the mood that can be created, or spell that can be cast. I’ve found how this can be more difficult for students to achieve when they are playing in the same environment that they practise in every day. An exam, much like a performance, is the culmination of hard work, and the ritual of travelling to a different place, to share the performance with a new person, face to face, is important in developing confidence and communicating with an audience outside of the people you know.

Time-saving

Of course, there are some instances where it is not possible to travel to a new place, and for those students who have encountered this problem in the past, the online exam is ideal. ABRSM’s deputy chief executive, Penny Milsom, recounts her experience of starting the online exam process when the realities of the pandemic became apparent: ‘We had been planning to introduce these assessments for some time. However, when face-to-face exams became impossible at the start of the pandemic, it became a priority for us to offer digital exams as quickly as we could to give learners continued access to assessment and progression opportunities. Our first online Music Theory exams took place in August 2020, with digital Performance Grades following in October of the same year.

‘To some extent, high entry numbers for these sessions reflected the lack of exam opportunities earlier in the year as well as the continuing problems around attending face-to-face exams caused by the ongoing pandemic. However, these encouraging figures were also evidence of an openness from teachers and learners to trying new assessment methods and a recognition of the benefits of our new performance-focused Performance Grades.’

As ABRSM points out, it is not only the location that makes the online exams useful. The Performance exams provide opportunities to learn more repertoire and spend more time focusing on this for the exam, without having to practise scales that would be required in the face-to-face exam.

Bumps and peaks in the road

Of the aforementioned challenges around online exams, the most notable and talked about of the last few years was LCME’s fallout with its digital provider. This caused all recorded and online examinations to be postponed, creating a huge amount of stress for candidates, teachers and the families involved. Such delays – aside from the upset and disappointment – can cause problems for students who may be relying on an exam grade to join a particular group or apply for a school.

The digital provider, The International School of Musicians (ISoM), released a statement saying: ‘In our opinion, UWL-LCME has provided no justifiable rationale as to why it has chosen to terminate our partnership. And although we were ready, willing and able to fulfil the requests for those candidates who have already booked or submitted their recording, we were instructed on 25 November to stop all activity relating to the delivery of the exams.’

LCME communicated to pupils who had their exams moved that the new platform would be running from 1 December, although this did not console many of the pupils or teachers who had complained. Booking is now back up and running for LCME online exams – but confidence has taken a knock.

Trinity also provides online exams, and reported: ‘We have had high demand globally for the digital exams, right from the first iteration released a few weeks after the start of the pandemic, and it continues to be high.’ The same seems to be true at ABRSM, who also continued to see bookings for online exams, although with a difference to the pandemic bookings: ‘The main difference is in the pattern of bookings. Digital Performance Grades and online Music Theory exams are now available on demand, so there is a steady stream of exams across the year without the peaks created by booking periods and exam sessions. Also, for instrumental and singing exams, learners in the UK now have a choice between digital Performance Grades, with their strong focus on performing, and face-to-face Practical Grades, which assess a range of musical skills.’

Improving accessibility

There is another benefit of the online exam for both student and teacher. With the online exams, there is far more choice around when to take the exam, so the student is neither rushed nor stuck rehearsing the same pieces for a long time beforehand.

ABRSM has also observed other positives, saying that ‘when it comes to the exam itself, Performance Grades offer an assessment that appeals to learners who love to perform, and many candidates also benefit from recording their exam in familiar surroundings. We also know that these exams work well for adult learners who are either returning to exams or learning for the first time. One clear benefit of our online Music Theory exams is the style and format of the assessment, which is familiar to school-age candidates and can work well for neurodiverse learners.’

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The examiner experience

There is of course another set of people who will be largely affected by the online exams – the examiners themselves. From the feedback ABRSM has had, it seems the shift has been a positive one. ‘For all instrumental and singing exams, examiners use our in-house examiner app when administering exams and writing mark forms,’ an ABRSM representative tells me. ‘For Performance Grades, examiners watch a video recording of the exam performance. They then assess this using a set of marking criteria that is very similar to those used for marking pieces or songs in our Practical Grades. Despite the different circumstances, examiners are listening and using their musical judgement in the same way.’

They continue: ‘The significant difference between Performance and Practical Grades is that for Performance Grades examiners provide a mark for the performance as a whole, in addition to individual marks for each piece or song. For our team of examiners, marking digital Performance Grades offers one distinct benefit – complete choice over when and where they work when marking these exams.’

The experience with Trinity examiners seems to echo this, as a representative tells me: ‘Feedback from our teachers and learners around the benefits of online exams include being more accessible to learners. Our examiner panel has been brilliant. They adapted immediately to online, digital marking as soon as the first digital exams were released.’

After speaking to different exam boards, it seems clear that digital exams are here to stay, and the choice between online and in-person exams will continue to help students all around the world find support for their musical journeys.