The best practice for this is to count out loud while you pay. I've recently looked at the ABRSM syllabus to answer another post and here's my advice based on ABRSM's syllabus (this will apply to many graded music exams):Р”Сћ) Study the rhythms you'll be expected to play. There will probably be huge limitations on the rhythms, the range of notes, the number of incidentals, and the keys you may have to play in. What music exam are you taking? You should be able to get a sample of works that you'll be required to sight read. I actually scored perfect on my sight reading portion in NYSSMA level 6 although my sight reading was god awful (this was when I only knew 3-4 notes in the base clef) and I didn't know most musical notation. I would approach these two goals very differently. Wait, is your goal to actually learn to really sight read or learn to sight read for the exam? In fact most uninformed listeners probably won't even notice anything is missing/wrong if your rhythm is really good and you hit the notes that matter. In reality, hitting wrong notes or even leaving out notes can be forgiven if rhythm is maintained. I was more interested in making good sounds rather than actually playing the pieces. What initially attracted me to piano music was the beauty of the piano. Suggestion #1: Pay utmost attention to rhythm even more so than all the notes.

If you want more just speak up and I'll give you more suggestions. I'll only type my first suggestion (of many) because I'm lazy and I don't know how useful they'll be to you. I mention this so I can emphasize that I clearly remember how I developed my sight reading skills. If I'm very familiar with a classical piece that won't give me technical difficulties I can probably perform it at first sight. Now, I can pretty much sight read many classical works near performance tempo (think Mozart/Beethoven/Schubert) if they don't challenge me technically. I was unable to read bass clef even though I was 16! I learned everything by ear and by looking at the key patterns on the piano when my piano teacher would play. When I first became interested in piano (the internet led me to recordings which kindled my interested), I was unable to read music even after 13 years of lessons on and off.

I can remember absolutely hating the piano from age 8 and quitting multiple times. My parents made me learn piano since I was 3ish.

Sight reading nyssma