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ten left thumbs, I don't recall Peter mentioning 3, but the idea behind 1.25 is this: if the 8 level ABRSM system and the 10 level RCM system start and end at the same level of difficulty, then mathematically you can convert one set of levels to the other by multiplying the ABRSM level by 1.25. For example, 8x1.25 = 10, so ABRSM 8 would correspond to RCM level 10. 4x1.25 = 5, so ABRSM level 4 would correspond to RCM level 5.

The "if" is important: do we know that ABRSM and RCM start and end at the same level? Another poster mentioned that she thinks they start at different places, so she thinks ABRSM 1 is the same as RCM 3, and that after that the levels proceed at the same pace: A1=R3, A2=R4, and so on up to A8=R10.

I see an interesting challenge: to examine the pieces assigned at various levels in all these systems and come up with a correlation. It won't be perfect, because some systems might rank the relative difficulty of some pieces differently.

Okay, back to the OP...

I think all this "levels" talk is pointless, except for the idea that "level 10" (or whatever is the highest level in each system) is supposed to lead into an entry point auditioning for college/university/conservatory piano major.

But if you look around, every college has its own set of criteria. I know most colleges will require a J.S. Bach Prelude and Fugue (or the equivalent), a classical sonata movement of Mozart/Haydn/Beethoven, plus a large Romantic work (e.g., Chopin Etude or Rachmaninoff Prelude). Some colleges also want a standard 20th-century work (e.g., Prokofiev Sonata).

And when you get to repertoire of this caliber, you can get 10 different experts in the same room and they'll argue until their faces are blue which work is "harder" than another. Where do you draw the line between a BM work and a MM work or a DMA work? Is Chopin Ballade No. 2 a BM-level work, while Ballade No. 4 is DMA-level work??

Got it, thanks.

OK, I will do this and see what comes up. I can accept imperfection.

To address AZN's point, yes there will be some subjectivity in assigning levels to pieces, especially at the higher levels. I am more interested in the lower levels, and I'm really just trying to get a feel for how to understand all sorts of US-Canadian materials I end up using.

As someone else already said it doesn't communicate specific information unless you also include what system is being used.

But it can give general information. You can understand that someone working on level one is still early on in the process, and someone at level 9 should have some significant skills.