Ohh I didn't know that it was only us in UK with the grading system, as someone said yeah it ranges from 1-8, it's a well-thought out system of advancing pieces/scales/exercises etc. but yeah it can be boring, I'd never had any bass lessons before starting my music college course, and my teacher put me into grade 8 straight away

but I thought I might as well take the opportunity to get another piece of paper to add to the pile for any future CV's, the Rockschool system is also free to any of us students so why not! Did the exam earlier today and nailed it I hope, the pieces from the book tend to be pretty easy to average, here's some dude playing one of the pieces
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=ssARdM-5iFc
I also played a Bach invention for my free choice piece, was funnn