Grade 2 piano pass vs merit

[tabbycat4321]

Hi all, I understand the difference between last, merit and distinction with piano grades but wanted to understand whether it matters all that much if you pass but don't pass with merit? My daughter is taking her grade 2 in piano and the teacher thinks that if she takes it now she will just pass. If we wait a few months until after the summer holidays where she won't be having lessons she could pass with merit (if she practices over the summer without the teacher there). For those who know more about music and how grades works, what would you do? Wait and do it in a few months to try and get a merit or do it now and just try to pass? Many thanks!

Is she actually entered for a summer session exam? If it's ABRSM the entry deadline was the end of April, so it's too late to be starting to think about doing it now.

I'd say only grade 7/8 anyone would really pay any attention to higher grade passes, and only then if the DC was quite serious about their music and aiming for A-level and beyond in their musical journey.

For grade 2, no one is going to be asking next year, in 5 years or in 20 years, did she get a pass, merit or distinction.

I wonder if the teacher didn't enter her and is now trying to persuade you it would be in your daughter's best interest to take it in the autumn, even though she's ready now to cover their error of not making the entry.

Will your DC get bored playing the same pieces for another 4-5 months? Personally if they can pass it now, and there is an option to do it now, I'd just get it over and done with and move on to some new fun music for the summer.

If it's not ABRSM, or not an exam with an entry deadline, please ignore my post, other boards may well hate different entry criteria

Good advice from @xyzandabc . It's Grade 2. No one cares at that stage - you are overthinking!

DD got a distinction at grade 2 that was great. But now she has a merit at grade three the grade 2 is irrelevant.

However if she does the grade 2 now she will only have small amounts of the grade 3 started before taking a 6 week break. Would it be better to have lots of grade 2 to practice over the summer or a small but if grade 3?

For DD it would have been better to do lots of grade 2 because she is always unmotivated at the start of a new grade because it's hard and boring.

Bit of grade 3*

If she’s entered go for it, if not the wait won’t harm her, but she may as well get on with grade 3.

also, you don’t need to take every grade, she could go straight to g3.

Thanks. She'll be doing the digital exam. We've just taken the advice of the teacher and the digital one sounded like the best option for her at the time.

Ah, we've only ever done face to face exams so I don't know how entry/timings work for digital.

I'd still do it now if she's ready though. Pass/merit/distinction really doesn't matter at grade 2.

It is grade 2. Don't sweat it. Just make sure at this stage she enjoys it.

This is the way to kill the joy of a musical instrument in a child. Let her enjoy it.
It will matter for the teachers own records and nothing else

My daughter has done several grades in 3 instruments and I have no idea what she got for any of them! I obviously did at the time, but we’ve moved on to the next one!

This is a good point. A good teacher will be able to recommend pieces that she will enjoy and that still develop her skills and technique, without the pressure of exams. Then in a couple of years maybe she'll want to do grade 4/5, for example.

As long as you're confident that your DD will pass the exam, I would definitely go ahead now.

You don't want to draw out playing the same pieces for a further few weeks at the expense of exploring new pieces and building new skills.

At this stage of things I don't think the difference between a pass and a merit (or even distinction) matters.

The most important thing in these early stages is that the learning journey is enjoyable.

I work in music, have a music degree etc. and I don't recall anyone taking interest in how well I passed my graded exams.

As a teacher my aim is to enter a child for an exam at the point they can comfortably learn the repertoire/scales etc. within 2-3 months for these early grades, otherwise learning exam pieces can take over everything.

As long as the teacher is confident she will pass I’d just go for it. It doesn’t really matter and carrying on practicing the pieces for months does more harm than good

Depends if she'll actually practise without the teacher! I think I would just get it over with now and ask for some fun stuff to practise over the holidays personally.

Everything @xyzandabc said.

Adding, there's not that many children, at Grade 2 level who are going to be able to do much productive practice without seeing a teacher for 7 or 8 weeks.
She might be practising bad habits even if she does put the time in.