During a recent RGT Guitar Tutor Interview with guitarist Trevor Darmody, the subject of RGT Exam preparation came up, and Trevor had a lot of solid insights into this side of his teaching career.
After the interview was over, we decided to expand upon the subject of RGT Exam preparation with Trevor as we went into more detail with him on his approaches to learning the technical, performance and other sections of various levels of RGT’s syllabi.
Here is that collection of advice and insight from Trevor regarding his approach to RGT Exam preparation that you can check out and see if these ideas will be helpful in your own study or teaching of the RGT Syllabi.
To find out more about Trevor, visit the Waterford Academy of Music & Arts Homepage and the WAMA Facebook Page.
Click for more information on RGT Exams in Ireland.
******
Keeping Things Simple
I think as a general tip to start with, and in fact it’s a crucial one in my opinion, is from the outset to distill the requirements for the exam in to a simple one pager for the students to reference in their study.
I do this because when a student first skims through the handbook, the quantity of material in it can sometimes seem overwhelming and off-putting, especially to a child.
But this is only because there are many choices available to the student in terms of repertoire and rhythm studies.
Plus, the many good explanations in the book for how to score top marks can be a little unwieldy to a young student to digest.
So a single page that shows that there are, for example, 5 sections in the exam, how many marks are awarded for each section, and what’s expected from the student in each section, can go a long way to reducing stress for the student and feelings of overwhelm.
And as you know, feelings of overwhelming can cripple a student.
Dissecting The Exam Marking Scheme
Related to this, I also point out to them that the Performance section of the exam is worth 50% and that the Accompaniment is worth a further 20% (in the case of the RGT Acoustic Guitar Syllabus anyway).
And so because these are the high scoring sections of the exam, I make absolutely sure that the students understand that they need to apportion their practice time accordingly.
Choosing Exam Pieces
In terms of which Pieces and Rhythm Study the student chooses for the exam, I often choose for them.
Although, this decision will depend on how well I know the student, and how much prep time we have for the exam.
For instance, if I’m prepping a student for Acoustic Grade 2, and if I know that that particular student is comfortable with fingerstyle accompaniment, then I would likely steer him/her towards the fingerstyle options instead of the flat picking melody options.
If I felt that he/she was stronger with the pick I would advice the opposite.
And actually that’s one thing I really like about the lower grades in the RGT Acoustic Guitar Syllabus, i.e., it caters for students who are more inclined to go either the fingerstyle route, or the flat picking route.
Anyway, knowing your students is a great advantage when choosing.
I mentioned also that it depends too on how much prep time we have. If we have plenty of time, I will teach multiple pieces from the handbook and then choose the best one from there.
But if time is of the essence, then I choose for them from the outset, in order to ensure that we don’t waste time ‘experimenting‘ with different pieces.
Working In Groups
As I mentioned in the interview, I do most of my RGT Exam preparation with groups of students.
It’s also worth mentioning that when prepping in a group environment, it sure is a lot easier if they are all prepping the same material.
However, as long as we have enough time, which we usually do, it’s not a hassle to have different pieces or rhythm studies being prepared by different students in the same class.
Lesson Cross Over
Another tip for preparing your students for exams is to sneak in a bit of grade material in to the regular lessons every now and then without the student even knowing it.
All my beginner classes will eventually learn ‘Auld Lang Syne’ from Acoustic Grade 1 for instance, whether or not they ever sit an exam.
The same is true for the scales or ear training. I just teach it to everyone anyway.
So then, when it comes time for the student to decide weather or not to take an exam, you can then help convince them by saying something like “Well you know that song we learned a few months back, and those 4 scales we learned, and that accompaniment exercise we did, well that’s what’s on the exam. So we really only have a few other bits and bobs to cover in order to be ready.”
Less work than anticipated is always a good selling point to a student when you are trying to gently nudge him or her towards taking an exam.
Memorization
Of course I have my methods for teaching the actual material itself, all of which comes from experience, but if you like I can share one here.
For example, a good tip for prepping a student for any of the exams is to find a way to help them memorise all the different chords required.
This can certainly be a source of stress for the student, especially as you move up through the grades where the number of chords to memorise increases.
How I do this, is to first create my own master page of chord diagrams for that exam, again a one-pager.
This makes referencing the chords for this grade and the previous grades a synch. (Most students feel overwhelmed if they have to search through multiple handbooks to find the chord their looking for.)
I then give them a grid/spreadsheet with the names only of the chords, grouped in to categories. By categories I mean that the ‘A’ category would consist of A Maj, Amin, A dom7th, A Maj 7th, A min 7th, Asus2, Asus4 for example.
I then make the class/student play through every chord in that category, one bar each. So they play through all these A type chords a few times until they can play through them from memory. We then add the B category of chords. Then the C category, etc.
Each time we add a new category we go back to the start and play up as far as the new category. i.e., we play through all the As, Bs, and Cs.
Then when we add the Ds, we play all the As, Bs, Cs, and Ds until memorized. Then we add the Es and play through all the As, Bs, Cs, Ds, and Es. Continue this process until you reach the Gs.
Then do the exercise in reverse, progressing from the Gs, to the Fs, to the Es, to the Ds, etc., until you reach the As.
Probably a bit boring to most, but its highly effective and very quick to achieve.
I have had people come to me the day before the exam upset that they couldn’t remember what chord was what. I was able to turn it around for them by the next day!
General RGT Exam Preparation
Have the student be well prepared. It stands to reason that if he or she is well prepared that he or she won’t worry so much in the exam.
Show them the examination room beforehand, if you have access to it, and where they will be sitting. Invite questions about the exam from the student.
For my teen students who are very self critical, I sometimes try to put the exam in to perspective and to help them understand what it actually is, just a guitar exam.
Talking Through The Exam
Talk the student through their exam day, step by step. Give lots of details.
Tell them where they will wait before the exam and how early to show up. Tell them that you will tune them and have a run through / warm up beforehand.
Tell them the name of the examiner and that he or she is a really nice person. Tell them that the examiner wants you to do well.
Tell them how long the exam will take. Be detailed because you will be surprised how much it can put someone at ease if they can have a clear picture in their head of what to expect.
Not knowing, and therefore leaving their imaginations run wild can be a large source of nervousness for some students, especially in children.
RGT Exam Preparation Walkthroughs
Explain to them how the examiner will behave, and that it’s his/her job to be professional and not be engaging in tons of chit chat.
You would be surprised how children can interpret professionalism into “he didn’t like me.”
I would go as far as to pretend to be the examiner and speak like the examiner would speak, i.e., straight and to the point, “Hello John. Can you take a seat please. Ok, if you are ready we will begin with the Fretboard Knowlegde section of the exam. Can you play a G for me please?”
That sort of thing works very well for RGT Exam preparation with students of all level.
Coping With Mistakes
The big one is to explain how to cope with a mistake in the exam. Unless told otherwise, children can have a meltdown in an exam when even a minor mistake is made.
To a lesser extent the same is true in teens and adults.
And so it is crucial that you explain the process of how marks are given, and that more often than not each slip in rhythm or clarity will only result in one mark being removed per slip.
When put in the context of a piece or rhythm exercise that is worth 25 marks, loosing only one mark per slip is no big deal. Show them this through specific examples.
So for example when a student plays Auld Lang Syne for me and makes a couple of hiccups I tell them their score at the end, which is often a lot higher than they thought.
If a student is aiming for a Distinction or Merit, which I always encourage, I explain that they can make up to 15 slips before they drop out of Distinction territory.
15 slips sounds like a lot to most students and so they are then usually not so uptight about making one.
And because they are not so uptight about making mistakes, they generally don’t make as many.
Do you have a favorite RGT Exam preparation tip or piece of advice? Share your thoughts in the comments section below.