If you are wondering why only a handful of students go into their exam fully prepared and ready to show their best, this article is for you.

For a student to do their best in a music exam, defined, fixed goals are essential. Much of this is provided through the predefined structure of a music exam including the selective repertoire list and specific technical work. In traditional music exams, however, there is a long-established requirement that interferes with a student’s preparation and stops them from presenting at their best.

This requirement has been around as long as music exams themselves so it can be difficult to imagine any other way of doing things. We are so used to it in fact, that we just accept it and make do without wondering if there is an alternative. This administrative requirement, while necessary for the established exam organisations, does not have the best interests of the candidates at heart.

How to choose your own enrolment date for excellent results.

No long wait before an exam, no surprise exam date, no deadlines, no inconvenient exams after the holidays, no back-to-back exams all-day, no underprepared students, no bored overprepared students — the list goes on.

With International Music Exams, students choose their exam date and time, submit their exam when they are ready and they present their best work.

The student knows exactly when the exam is because they get to choose the date and time. They have the goal-oriented structure of a traditional music exam but now they can position this in the context of a larger goal — personal peak performance — and the potential to play at their best.

This has profound implications for effective and reliable preparation as a student can work towards their personal goal of peak performance and then submit their exam when ready. They know that they have submitted their best possible work and are empowered by choosing the date for themselves.

There are positive implications for teachers too. Teachers can personalise the pacing of each individual student. They can help a student choose the time to present their exam that best captures the skills of the student. From an organisational point of view, the teacher could choose to balance their workload by spreading out exams or concentrate the performances into a block of time, or even a concert.

Choosing the exam date and time is a fundamental feature of International Music Exams. It has a profound influence on the capacity of a student to present their best work.