1 | N/A | Early Elementary | Five finger positions. No hand position movement. Steps, skips, and repeated notes. Quarter, half, dotted half and whole notes. Minimal hands together. Simple duple, triple & quadruple metre. |
2 | Preliminary | Elementary | Black key pentatonic . Simple hand position movement. Intervals: 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th. Quarter, half and whole rests. Root position triad. Simple hands together. Accidentals: sharp, flat and natural signs. |
3 | Grade 1 | Late Elementary | Major and minor pentascales. Finger extension to the interval of a 6th. Dotted quarter note. Eighth note, eighth rest. Key signatures and primary chords: C, G & F. Cross-hand arpeggios. Simple pedal use. |
4 | Grade 2 | Early Intermediate | Melody may occur in left hand. Intervals: 7th. Swing rhythm. Dotted eighth note. Triplet. Larger chords including four note chords. Broken chord accompaniments. Common time & cut-common time. Compound time. |
5 | Grade 3 | Intermediate | Greater independence of hands. Arpeggiated chords. Sixteenth note and rest. Ornaments: appoggiatura and acciaccatura. Continuous pedal technique. |
6 | Grade 4 | Intermediate | More complex note reading outside staff. Chromaticism. More variety in chords. Larger left hand accompaniment leaps. Ornaments: trill, mordent, turn. |
7 | Grade 5 | Late Intermediate | Irregular rhythms. More complex textures: Counterpoint in two voices Greater use of the keyboard extremities. Faster tempos and passage work. |
8 | Grade 6 | Early Advanced | Melody and accompaniment in same hand. Counterpoint in three voices. Variations in tempo and style. Cadenzas. Large leaps, stretches, chords and octaves. Polyrhythms. |
9 | Grade 7 | Advanced | All major and minor keys, modes. Consecutive octave passages. Chords spanning greater than an octave. Complex rhythmic figures and tempo changes. Fioritura, glissandos, tremolos. |
10 | Grade 8 | Advanced | Complex melodic lines, textures and rhythms. Greater velocity requiring technical facility. Extensive consecutive octave passages. Large works with many technical challenges. |
11 | Associate | Late Advanced | Part or whole of multi-movement works: sonatas, preludes, toccatas, fugues, suites, etc. Virtuosic etudes, rhapsodies, ballades, nocturnes, scherzos, variations, etc. |
12 | Licentiate | Virtuosic | Part or whole of multi-movement works: sonatas, preludes, toccatas, fugues, suites, etc. Virtuosic etudes, rhapsodies, ballades, nocturnes, scherzos, variations, etc. |