Parents usually ask me which board is better, and teachers usually answer "whichever your teacher knows", which is true and unhelpful. The two exams test the same understanding in noticeably different ways, and for a particular student one of them is a fairer fight. Here is how to tell which.
First, the thing that is not a difference
They are the same qualification. Both boards are regulated by Ofqual, Qualifications Wales and CCEA Regulation. Their grades sit at identical levels on the Regulated Qualifications Framework — Grade 1 is Level 1, Grades 4 and 5 are Level 2, Grades 6 to 8 are Level 3. Grades 6 to 8 attract identical UCAS tariff points from both: 8, 10 or 12 at Grade 6, 12, 14 or 16 at Grade 7, and 18, 24 or 30 at Grade 8, depending on whether you pass, get a merit or get a distinction.
They even agree on how long each grade takes. Both publish a guided learning hours and total qualification time figure for every level, and the two sets of numbers are identical to the hour all the way from Initial Grade to Grade 8 — the whole ladder is here.
So: nobody's Grade 8 is worth more than anybody else's, no conservatoire prefers one, and if you have been told otherwise you were told wrong.
The difference that decides it for most people
It is the tests either side of the pieces.
| ABRSM Practical Grades | Trinity graded exams | |
|---|---|---|
| Pieces | Three, one from each of Lists A, B and C | Three, from one repertoire list |
| Own composition | Not in Practical Grades | Yes — may replace a listed piece, at every grade |
| Technical work | Scales and arpeggios | Scales, arpeggios and exercises |
| The other tests, Initial–Grade 5 | Sight-reading and aural, both compulsory | Any two of sight reading, aural, improvisation, musical knowledge |
| The other tests, Grades 6–8 | Sight-reading and aural, both compulsory | Sight reading, plus one of aural or improvisation |
| Theory prerequisite | Grade 5 theory before Grade 6 practical | None, at any level |
| Marked out of | 150 — pass 100, merit 120, distinction 130 | 100 — pass 60, merit 75, distinction 87 |
| Pieces as a share of the mark | 60% | 66% |
| Repertoire expires | Every two years, with a one-year overlap — the current piano list is replaced on 1 January 2027 and can still be used, all three pieces from it, until 31 December 2027 | No — published as valid indefinitely |
The row that changes lives is the fourth one. Up to Grade 5, Trinity lets a candidate choose two supporting tests out of four — and two of the four options, improvisation and musical knowledge, do not exist at ABRSM at all. Musical knowledge is questions about the pieces the candidate has just played and the notation in front of them.
For a child who freezes when asked to sing a phrase back, or who reads slowly, that single choice can be worth a whole mark band. And it is not a way of dodging anything: knowing your own score is a genuine musical skill, and it is being assessed as one.
I should declare an interest in this one. I teach composition and improvisation, so for my students Trinity's options are a real choice rather than a theoretical one — a child who would rather make something up than sing a phrase back can prepare improvisation properly, and a student with a piece of their own can enter it. If your teacher does not cover those, the menu is shorter than it looks on paper, which is worth asking about before you choose a board.
The counterweight, and it is a real one: those tests exist because they matter, and a student who avoids aural at Grade 3 still cannot hear. Trinity itself closes the gap higher up — from Grade 6 sight reading becomes compulsory, and the second test must be aural or improvisation, with musical knowledge no longer on the menu. If you choose Trinity because reading is weak, plan to fix the reading anyway. The exam has simply stopped charging you for it while you do.
The other decisive one: the theory gate
To enter ABRSM Grade 6, 7 or 8 practical you must already have passed ABRSM Grade 5 in Music Theory, or Practical Musicianship, or a Grade 5 solo Jazz instrument. Trinity states plainly that no theory qualification or other prerequisite is required to enter its graded exams at any level.
This stops more players than anything else in either syllabus, and almost always because nobody mentioned it until the entry form did. If you are with ABRSM and heading past Grade 5, start the theory early — it is a genuinely useful exam and a miserable one to cram.
But notice what the gate is really doing before you switch board to avoid it. Theory at that level is not paperwork; it is the difference between playing the notes and understanding what the piece is doing, and a student who skips it tends to arrive at Grade 7 unable to explain a single thing about the music in front of them. Choosing Trinity to escape it is a legitimate decision. Choosing Trinity and then never learning any theory is a decision with a bill attached. I teach it separately, board or no board.
Do not read anything into the percentages
ABRSM's pass is 100 out of 150, which is 66.7%. Trinity's is 60 out of 100. It is very tempting to conclude that Trinity is the easier board.
It is not. The number a board scales its marks to is an internal decision, not a standard. The standard is what an examiner requires before awarding the mark, and that is set by the qualification's level — which, as above, is identical. The distinction thresholds land within a third of a percentage point of each other, which is the clue: at the top of the range, where the standards are set most carefully, the two boards agree almost exactly.
One small mercy is common to both, and is worth knowing because it is not obvious from a mark scheme: neither board requires a pass in every section to pass overall. A collapse in one component is survivable in either exam.
Two things about the pieces
ABRSM's lists rotate; Trinity's do not. ABRSM rewrites its piano repertoire every two years: the current list is replaced on 1 January 2027, and stays usable for one more year — until 31 December 2027, provided all three pieces come from the same list. Trinity stopped retiring its piano repertoire and publishes it as valid indefinitely, adding new books rather than withdrawing old ones. If you are choosing pieces in late 2026, which list to start on is a live decision rather than a footnote — there is a whole page on getting that choice right.
Trinity takes your own composition, at any grade, and a duet up to Grade 3. The composition is marked as a performance like any other, with no marks awarded for the writing and none deducted for it being simple — which is precisely the right way round for a nine-year-old with an idea. ABRSM allows a duet at Initial to Grade 3 in the same spirit, and it is chronically under-used: playing one of the three with a person beside you changes the whole experience of the exam for a nervous child.
If the room is the problem, both boards have an answer
Some students play beautifully and fall apart in front of a stranger. Both boards sell a performance-only route for exactly that person.
ABRSM's Performance Grades are four pieces played straight through as one continuous performance, recorded on video and submitted — no scales, no sight-reading, no aural, no examiner in the room, and the fourth piece is the candidate's own choice. Trinity's digital exams offer a repertoire-only pathway on the same principle, four pieces and no technical work. Same qualification level in both cases, and neither is a soft option: you can record it more than once, but you also have to hold four pieces together in a single take.
One piece of small print if you are with ABRSM and undecided: marks cannot be transferred between Practical Grades and Performance Grades at any level. They are separate entries, so choose before you enter rather than partway through preparation.
So which?
My honest short answer, having prepared students for both:
- Choose Trinity if the student is anxious about aural or reading, if they compose or improvise and would like that to count, if you want the repertoire to stop expiring, or if you would rather not meet the Grade 5 theory gate at a fixed point.
- Choose ABRSM if you want the most widely recognised name in the world, if the structured discipline of compulsory aural and sight-reading is what the student needs rather than what they fear, or if their teacher has spent twenty years preparing candidates for it — which is a better reason than it sounds.
- Choose either and stop worrying if the student is happy, reads reasonably and just wants a target. At that point the difference is not big enough to spend another evening on.
And you are not locked in. Nothing stops a student taking Grade 3 with one board and Grade 4 with the other; neither requires you to have taken the grade below with them. I have had students switch for one grade and switch back, which sounds indecisive and was in fact simply choosing the right exam twice.
If you would like a second opinion on which suits a particular child, that is the sort of question I am glad to be asked — I teach piano and music theory in Thames Ditton and the villages around it. Tell me about the student rather than about the syllabus, and the answer is usually obvious within a minute.
References
- ABRSM, Piano Practical Grades qualification specification, 2027 & 2028 — exam content, the Grade 5 theory entry requirement for Grades 6–8, regulators and RQF levels, UCAS tariff values, learning hours, mark allocation and result categories. Read 18 August 2026. The overlap rule — the 2025 & 2026 specification remains valid until 31 December 2027, all three set pieces from the same specification — is from the same page ("Specification validity and overlap period"), same day.
- Trinity College London, Piano syllabus — digital and face-to-face assessment — exam structure and mark scheme, supporting test options at each grade, attainment levels, learning hours, UCAS points, the absence of any prerequisite, and the repertoire validity statement (which carries its own footnote, "copyright and territory dependent"). Read 18 August 2026.
- Both boards revise fees, dates and syllabus terms, and do so regularly. Everything above is structural rather than seasonal, but check the boards' own current documents before entering.
