well as far as testing fees go..we were talking about testing fees the other night in class between me and my instructor, and well last week was the week before testing and we had all kinds of folk complaining about how much testing is...well...we were talkin and i said ya know...if it really meant anything to them they wouldnt complain about it...and plus..think about all these people that go and spend money on useless things and they complain about testing fees...no way...martial arts is the cheapest thing you can do, and actually get something out of it (as depending upon what school u go to)..now i agree...$500 and stuff is pretty expensive but if you have a price list of testing fees..& u know ahead of time...then u save up for that and not go out to eat and do extra things that there are no need for..and then you'll have that money to test when ready to....My 2 cents..