Where the 70 marks go
This page covers Paper 1, the Test of Aural Perception for Unit A2 3, Responding to Music: 70 marks in 75 minutes. The paper divides into Part 1, on your prescribed set works, and Part 2, on unfamiliar extracts you have not studied. Both parts test the same core skills by ear: naming what you hear precisely, placing it in period and style, and reading harmonic and structural detail out of a live listening.
Most marks are lost not through mishearing but through under-specifying an answer: naming an instrument family instead of the instrument, or describing a cadence's general feel instead of checking the actual chord pair.
The time budget
75 minutes for 70 marks is close to a minute per mark. Part 1's prescribed set works, worth around 32 marks, benefit from preparation you bring in with you: know each set work's key moments, instrumentation and structure before the exam so identification is instant rather than something you work out live. Part 2's unfamiliar extracts, worth around 38 marks, need you to apply the same listening skills cold, so use every repeat playing to check your first answer, not just confirm it.
Name the instrument, not the family
A general answer like brass or woodwind loses marks where the question wants the specific instrument, cornet or trumpet, oboe or clarinet. The same precision applies to accompaniment questions: naming dynamics or tempo is not enough when the mark scheme wants the instrumental voicing, the rhythmic motif, or which line is doubling the melody.
Cadences, keys and one answer per question
Plagal cadences, IV to I, are the ones most often mistaken for imperfect or interrupted cadences. Check the actual pair of chords at the cadence point rather than trusting how conclusive it sounds. The same applies to modulation: state the actual relationship of the new key to the tonic, the dominant or the relative major, rather than naming any plausible-sounding key. Where a question wants a single response, give one. Listing several contradictory answers does not earn credit for whichever happens to be right, it forfeits the mark.
Placing unfamiliar music in its period
Assign a historical period using specific scoring evidence, the presence of a continuo, the size and make-up of the orchestration, particular instrumentation, rather than a general impression of how the piece sounds. A twentieth-century piece with regular phrasing is not automatically Classical; check for neoclassical features before assuming an earlier period. Keep recitative and aria distinct too: recitative is speech-like and rhythmically free, aria is a structured, melodic set piece, and the two terms should never be used interchangeably.
Devices worth a checklist
Short-answer prompts that ask you to name a musical device want a specific term: sequence, anacrusis, pedal point, ostinato. Keep a mental checklist of these terms and scan the extract against it rather than reaching for the first plausible word.
The week before
Revise each set work's structure, key moments and instrumentation until you can identify them without hesitation, so Part 1 costs you as little thinking time as possible. Then run timed unfamiliar listening practice for Part 2, checking every cadence, key change and device name against the specific evidence in the extract rather than your first impression of it.