RCM ear tests: what each level asks and how to practice

What the ear tests are

The examiner plays short musical examples, usually at the piano, and you respond by clapping, naming what you heard or playing it back. Since September 2024 the same lists of intervals, chords and progressions apply to every instrument. Piano, violin, voice and guitar already used this model, and the 2024 Musicianship Addendum moved the other 19 instruments onto it.

A few details depend on your discipline. Preparatory A and B exist only for piano; other instruments have a single Preparatory level with the same three tests. Singers call the section Aural Skills, sing the melody back instead of playing it, and both name and sing each interval. The optional improvisation alternative to playback at Levels 5–10 is for pianists only.

The RCM never asks you to name the time signature: in clapback the examiner tells you the meter before playing. There is no cadence-naming test either; from Level 5 you identify chord progressions instead.

How the ear tests are marked

The ear tests carry 10 of the 100 marks at every level, split between the individual tests. Playback is always the largest single item, worth 4 marks.

• Preparatory (A and B): clapback 4, chords 2, playback 4
• Levels 1–4: clapback 2, intervals 2, chords 2, playback 4
• Levels 5–10: intervals 2, chords 2, chord progressions 2, playback 4

Why 10 marks matter

The pass mark for the whole exam is 60, with Honors from 70, First Class Honors from 80 and First Class Honors with Distinction from 90. Ten marks is the width of a whole classification band, so the ear tests can decide which band you land in.

At Level 10 they matter even more if you plan to continue to the ARCT. You need an overall mark of 75 or at least 70% in each section, which for the ear tests means 7 out of 10. The syllabus doesn't say how many items each test contains, so make every test reliable rather than counting on a strong one to cover a weak one.

The ear tests level by level

Here is the whole sequence in brief. Each level keeps what came before and adds a little.

• Preparatory A and B: clap back a rhythm of about two measures in 3/4 or 4/4, heard twice; hear the first five notes of a scale and say whether the chord that follows is major or minor; play back a four-note melody built on the first three notes of the scale, in C or G major, with A minor added at Prep B.
• Levels 1–4: clapback of two to four measures, with 6/8 added at Level 4; intervals played up and then down, starting with minor and major thirds and adding the perfect fifth (Level 2), perfect fourth (Level 3) and octave (Level 4); major and minor triads, plus from Level 3 whether a single note is the root, third or fifth; playback of five to eight notes, heard twice.
• Levels 5–7: clapback ends; each interval is played as two separate notes and then together, adding sixths (Level 5), seconds (Level 6) and sevenths (Level 7); chords add the dominant seventh, then the diminished seventh and the augmented triad; you name short progressions such as I–IV–I and I–V–I, with minor keys from Level 6 and I–IV–V from Level 7; playback is heard three times, with a clap or sing step after the second playing.
• Levels 8–10: the full set of intervals including the tritone, then ninths at Level 10, where each interval is played either as separate notes or together; four-note chords and first inversions from Level 9, major and minor sevenths at Level 10; name every chord of a four-chord progression, or five chords with the cadential 6/4 at Level 10, as the examiner pauses on each chord in the second playing; playback of up to 11 notes at Level 8, the upper part of a two-part phrase at Level 9, and at Level 10 a melody that pianists play back while adding I, IV and V chords in the left hand.

How to practice ear training effectively

Ear training works best in short, frequent sessions. Ten minutes a day covering two or three of your tests will move you further than one long session a week, and starting a few months before the exam gives the sounds time to become second nature.

Learn intervals and chords as sounds with a character, not as calculations. Sing each interval up and down from different starting notes and connect it to a tune you know well; for harmonic intervals, sing the lower note, then the upper. For chords, listen for color: major is bright, minor darker, diminished tense and squeezed, augmented unsettled, and a dominant seventh pulls toward a resolution.

For progressions, follow the bass line, which usually tells you the chord roots directly, and remember that progressions at Levels 9 and 10 always begin on the tonic. In playback the examiner gives the key and the tonic chord but not the first note, so work out where the melody starts from the scale degrees your level allows, then sing it before you find it on your instrument.

• Practice with the exact presentation your level uses: up and down at Levels 1–4, separate and then together at Levels 5–9.
• Answer after the number of playings you'll get in the exam, with no extra replays.
• Plan the last few weeks with our step-by-step exam plan.

Common mistakes

• Counting up the scale for every interval. It is slow and error-prone under pressure, so aim to recognize each sound at once.
• Mixing up the perfect fourth and the perfect fifth when they are played together. Sing both notes before you answer.
• Calling a dominant seventh “major” because its lower three notes form a major triad. Listen for the extra tension on top.
• Guessing the first note in playback instead of hearing where it sits against the tonic chord.
• Leaving ear training until the last few weeks before the exam.

How our trainer helps

Our trainer presents each test the way your level does, played on a sampled grand piano: intervals up and down or separate and then together, chords broken or solid, progressions twice with pauses on each chord where your level has them, and melodies heard two or three times. Every example is generated by our own engine, never copied from a book, and our methodology explains how.

It listens on your device. Clap the rhythm into your microphone and we compare it with what was played, allowing for your own tempo. Playback is the one test we handle differently: in the exam you play the melody on your instrument, while in our trainer you sing or hum it and the pitch tracker checks each note. At Level 10 we check the melody but not the left-hand harmonization.

Full mocks run every test of your level in exam order and give an estimated mark out of 10, using the RCM's own split between the tests, plus a list of where you lost ground. It is an estimate, not an examiner's mark. You can practice free every day without signing up; pricing covers full mocks.

Questions people ask