How do you prepare for a music entrance exam?

What do music entrance exams assess?

Although each university designs its own exam, almost all assess the same broad skill areas. The order, difficulty, and weight of each section vary.

Pay attention to the term elimination round. In several programs, if you do not reach the minimum score on the instrument or specialization exam, the rest of the exam does not count. That is why strong theory skills cannot make up for weak instrumental performance, or vice versa.

There are important nuances if you are self-taught. Los Andes makes it clear that its musical aptitude exam is not a knowledge test, and Javeriana's Music Education specialization asks for a piece of your choice from any genre, although all applicants take aptitude tests that require basic theoretical knowledge: theory will catch up with you sooner or later.

First, choose which programs to apply to

Preparing for a generic “music exam” is not very efficient. An exam that assesses harmonic analysis and counterpoint is quite different from a twenty-minute aptitude test. Choose two or three programs and read their instructions before making your plan.

Official details are available on pages such as the Universidad Nacional's program-specific exams or the music admissions process at Los Andes. If you plan to study outside Bogotá, see studying music in Medellín, Cali, and other cities and our guides to UdeA, EAFIT, Univalle, UIS, Universidad del Atlántico, Universidad de Caldas, and Conservatorio del Tolima. If you are still unsure which degree you want, start with music degree programs in Colombia and the difference between Maestro en Música and Licenciatura degrees.

Questions to answer before you start preparing

• Which degree and specialization do you want: performance, composition, conducting, education, jazz, production?
• Does that program offer your instrument?
• When do applications open? For example, El Bosque admits students every semester, while Univalle does so once a year.
• Which sections must you pass to continue, and how much does each count?
• Where do you take it? At Nacional, for example, the instrument exam is in person, which matters if you live in another city.
• Do they publish repertoire, etudes, or an assigned piece? How far in advance?

A 6 to 12 month preparation plan

This plan assumes you already play your instrument reasonably confidently. If you cannot read music yet, add a few months at the beginning to learn to read sheet music before starting the plan below.

If you have six months, combine the first two stages in months 1 to 3 and set aside at least the last four to six weeks for mock exams. If your university releases an assigned piece shortly before the exam (Pedagógica released it about a month beforehand in the cycle reviewed), leave time in those weeks to learn it.

What a typical week looks like

• Every day: 20 to 30 minutes of ear training and reading in short blocks. This is much more effective than one long session on Saturday.
• Five or six days: instrumental practice, including technique, etudes, and pieces.
• Two or three times a week: written theory (exercises, analysis, harmony).
• Once a week: record yourself playing your program and review corrected dictations.
• One lesson a week with a teacher, or more in the final months, to address things you cannot spot on your own.

The five skills you need to train

1. Music fundamentals and theory

It is the foundation for everything else: if you cannot recognize a key signature or a chord on paper, you will not be able to write it down in a dictation exercise either. Master major and minor scales, intervals, triads, and seventh chords with their inversions. If the programs you are applying to assess harmony (ASAB tests voice leading in common-practice harmony and two-part species counterpoint), you need someone to correct your exercises: those mistakes are almost impossible to spot on your own.

2. Ear training and dictation

This takes the most time and cannot be mastered by studying the night before. Work on intervals, rhythms, melodies, and chords every day, and get used to writing the rhythm first, then the notes. We explain it step by step in how to prepare for music dictation.

3. Rhythmic and melodic reading

You may be asked to read a rhythm, sing a melody, or sight-read before a panel. At Nacional, for example, sight-reading is done on an instrument other than the one you applied for. Work on a steady pulse, singing scale degrees, and the habit of continuing without stopping. You can find techniques and exercises in rhythmic and melodic reading for the entrance exam.

4. Your instrument or voice

In many programs, this section carries the most weight and must be passed to continue. The point is not to play the hardest piece: the panel listens for tone, intonation, rhythm, technical control, and musicality. Choose pieces you can play confidently, and prepare scales and etudes. We help you choose in repertoire for an admissions audition.

5. Secondary piano skills

Even if you play another instrument, a basic piano or keyboard can transform your preparation: it lets you hear the chords you write, check your dictation exercises, play a reference note before singing, and understand harmony with your hands. Supplementary piano is also a common course in music degree programs. You do not need to be an accomplished pianist: scales, triads, simple progressions, and one-handed melodies are enough. If you are starting from scratch, a few months of piano lessons can make a big difference.

Mock exams: practice handling pressure too

Knowing something in your room is different from doing it against the clock with a panel watching. Mock exams show you where you struggle under pressure and help you get used to the format, so nothing feels new on exam day.

1. Put together a written exam in your program's format: theory, analysis, and dictation, with the same time limit you would be given.
2. Ask someone else to play the dictation for you. If you play it yourself, you already know the answer.
3. Sight-read material you have never seen before in front of someone, without a second attempt.
4. Play your entire program straight through, without breaks or a half-hour warm-up beforehand, as may happen at the audition. Record it on video.
5. If there is an interview, rehearse your answers aloud: why you want to study music, what you have done, and what you expect from the degree. We cover this in the music admissions interview.
6. Review your work, note recurring mistakes, and adjust your plan for the following weeks.

Take your first mock exam around the middle of your plan to assess your progress, then at least one every two weeks during the final month and a half. Ideally, your examiner should have experience preparing applicants and know what is required and at what level.

Exam day

What to bring

• Your ID and anything listed in your exam notice. Read it twice, checking the time and location of each test.
• Your instrument, checked and ready, plus spares: strings, reeds, rosin, drumsticks. In the Univalle admissions cycle reviewed, applicants brought their own instruments except for piano, double bass, and percussion.
• Your sheet music, plus copies if the instructions require you to give them to the panel.
• Pencil, eraser, and sharpener for the written section.
• Water and something to eat: some exam days are long.

During the exam

• Arrive early and warm up calmly: slow scales and long tones, rather than playing the whole piece ten times.
• If your exam is early in Bogotá, the cold can make your hands stiff: keep them warm until you play.
• In dictation, write down what you are sure of first (time signature, rhythm, anchor notes), then fill in the rest on subsequent hearings.
• Before reading, check the key signature, time signature, and difficult passages, and keep going if you make a mistake.
• If the panel interrupts you or asks for another section of the piece, that is normal: they often listen to excerpts.

You will feel nervous; the aim is to keep nerves from taking over. Find practical strategies in how to overcome stage fright.

Who can help you prepare?

You have three options, and many applicants combine them:

• University prep programs. Nacional, ASAB, Javeriana, El Bosque, Universidad de Antioquia, EAFIT, and others offer extension programs. None guarantees admission: Javeriana, for example, makes it clear that entry to the degree program is only through the official exam, and Nacional's prep program also requires you to pass an entrance exam.
• Private music schools with group pre-university courses.
• Private lessons in theory and your instrument, with a plan tailored to the programs you are applying to.

We compare these options in what a pre-university music course is. At Gissi, you can take music theory lessons, sight-singing and dictation, and lessons on your instrument with vetted teachers, online or at home in Bogotá; see how we organize this in preparation for music entrance exams. No preparation, including ours, replaces the exam: each university decides who gets a place.

Frequently asked questions