AMEB Grade 5 aural tests: what to expect and how to practise

Tap or clap a passage after hearing it twice, then say whether it is in duple or triple time.

Your last rhythm test in the AMEB grades: clap or tap the passage after two hearings, then say whether it's duple or triple. AMEB pitches each passage to the grade, so expect more variety than before. Our Grade 5 passages are four bars long and use a wider set of rhythm patterns than at Grade 4, including dotted quavers and semiquavers. Clap with small, crisp movements so each note is clear, and keep counting the beat in your head through long notes and rests.

After the keynote, sing the note an interval above it, then name the interval (major scale).

Unchanged from Grade 4: after the keynote, another note of the major scale; you sing it and give the interval's full name. Use Grade 5 to make every interval up from the keynote automatic, from the major second to the octave, because Grade 6 adds harmonic-minor intervals. Our trainer plays the keynote and the note twice, checks your sung note, then asks for the name. If two names seem possible, sing up the scale from doh and count the steps.

Hum or sing from memory the higher or lower part of a two-part progression (heard twice).

A two-part progression of three successive intervals, played slowly and twice, near middle C; you sing the higher or lower part from memory, as asked. Our trainer gives the key chord and your starting note, then plays both parts twice. The lower part is usually harder to hear, because the top line naturally stands out, so give it extra practice. Follow your line from its first note and notice each move: up, down or the same.

Hum or sing all three notes of a major or minor triad, upwards or downwards.

A major or minor triad, in root position or an inversion, is played twice, and you sing all three notes one after another — upwards or downwards, as the examiner asks. Our trainer chooses the direction at random each time and checks every note. Before singing, find the note you hear most clearly (often the top one) and work out the other two from it; then sing them in the order asked, stepping through the chord's notes rather than the scale.