Play your MIDI keyboard through this device’s audio output. Plug headphones into this device and turn down your piano’s own speakers.
← Sight reading exercises by level
A sight reading test puts music you have never seen in front of you and scores one read of it. Play the passage below once, without going back, and the reader marks every note and gives you a percentage. It starts at level 3, about ABRSM Grades 1–2.
Prefer a full screen? Take the test in the full reader →
Your turn · both hands
Preparing your passage…
Play on the keyboard under the staff, on a digital piano over MIDI, or into the microphone. Your score is the share of notes you played right, so a single wrong note in a short passage costs 6–12%. Judge a level on three passages, never on one.
Each level is banded by how hard its passages are to read cold, not how hard they are to play once learned. The exam grades are approximate ranges: the passages here are shorter, and in easier keys, than a board's own test at that grade.
| Level | Hands | ABRSM | RCM |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | treble clef | Initial | Prep–1 |
| 2 | treble clef | Grade 1 | 1 |
| 3 | one hand, then both | Grades 1–2 | 1–2 |
| 4 | both hands | Grade 2 | 2–3 |
| 5 | both hands | Grades 2–3 | 3–4 |
| 6 | both hands | Grades 3–4 | 4–5 |
| 7 | both hands | Grades 4–5 | 5–6 |
| 8 | both hands | Grades 5–6 | 6–8 |
| 9 | both hands | Grades 6–7 | 7–9 |
| 10 | both hands | Grades 7–8 | 9–10 |
What each level looks like shows a real passage at every level.
Sight reading moves faster than playing level. A month of daily reading can lift you a level or two, so take the test again rather than treating the first result as fixed. The best practice is the test itself: read new passages at the level where you score mostly 90%, every day. A daily sight reading routine sets that up in ten minutes.
The highest level where most fresh passages come out at 90% or better. Each level has an approximate ABRSM grade range: level 3 is about Grades 1–2, level 6 about Grades 3–4, level 10 about Grades 7–8.
No. Exam tests are longer and set by the board. The grade ranges here are approximate equivalents, and the passages are shorter excerpts from real piano pieces.
