Have you ever heard about a student failing a belt test?

[baronbvp]

My renshi says you can make ten mistakes of any kind on a test to pass. I made three on my yellow belt test, all three the same as I forgot to shuto out of the pivot. But I have seen people fail, I have seen people not be allowed to test, and I have seen kids with belts they don't deserve. My personal opinion is ten is too many mistakes -- but it's not my dojo.

I only care about my learning. I was never into belts but they are indicative of mastery of kata, which I am focused on for awhile.

[scottnshelly]

I've only seen two kids fail a belt test. Coincidentally it was me that failed them. My father opened a dojo when i was about 14 or 15, but i taught all of the classes. he helped out with belt tests. there were these two kids - brother and sister - that came over from a "rival school". they insisted on testing for green belt because that was the way it was done at their last school. we tried to convince them not to test, but they insisted. on the test date, we had two of Black Belts from the area come in and help (4 total) they failed because they hadn't learned the material yet. they came from a different style and didn't bother learning ours. they weren't at green belt level for our school, so they failed.

that was their last class.

[Chado]

In karate I've never seen anyone fail...they just dont test you till your ready. And testing is just like a class that your expected to know how to do everything without any help.

Kendo you fail. Lots of people fail. My sensei told me one guy took 4 times to get his 4th Dan. Mind you in kendo your first test is for 1st kyu...and after that shodan, so it's not like karate where there is umpteen number of kyu belts to go through. But still

Chado

[SaiFightsMS]

Most test failures I have seen were the result of the person going blank and not being able to perform or not being able to do the required breaking. We did pretty extensive pre-testing though.

[Kane]

I used to see this in more sports oriented karate organizations all the time: everyone passes, and if they don't a temporary half-grade is awarded, and a retest a little while later rectifies this into a fell grade.

Now that I practice with a traditional organization, testing does not mean passing any longer. There is no testing fee, and for kyu ranks, every student has the right to test (though no-one really tests against the instructor's advice) at every grading. And yes, it happens that people don't get promoted to a new rank. It's part of the process. For shodan, I think about half of the candidates don't pass. The higher the rank, the lower the percentage who pass.

I'm really happy with this. I don't need the guaranteed promotion. I don't need to be babied. I would feel insulted if I received a half-rank. Pass me or fail me - but don't try to sweet-talk the failure. If you can fail a test, it makes passing it so much sweeter!

[radicalspiegal]

I have heard of it, but never wittnessed it.

-Bran

[Fish]

Last grading I attended (when I was moving from yellow to orange), the tester failed everyone from our school testing for green belt!

[rodeo68]

The last testing, which was last weekend, there were four adults going for Green Belt.....2 passed, and 2 did not....so I guess it does happen. MY style has 3 Kyu colors..White, Green, and Brown....so the are fairly strict when it comes to grading for Green.

[mrbigmuscles]

At my dojo, the head instructor said before the testing (to family and such): "These people have been black belts (it was yudansha testing) for months. What we are seeing here is just ceremony, these people have already earned it."

Basically, they will not test you until you are ready. Why do that? It would just reflect poorly on student and instructor. Then again the tests only occur about every 6 months, so people have to be ready when they arrive. Seems like a good attitude to me.

[Son Goku the monkeyking]

they assistant instructor in my kungfu school failed his green sash test when he first started kungfu

PEACE