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

[TangSooGuy]

I've been running a studio for 3 years now, and I havenot personally had any of my students fail a test yest, but that doesn't mean it won't happen.

I have held back students who weren't ready to test, though, and I'd say that is a more common practice.

I have however been to tests where people have failed, and, sitting on a testing panel, have been forced to fail people who were not ready for the rank they wre testing for.

I often sit on the testing panel for black belts in our region, and it is very rare that everyone will pass the black belt test, partially due to sheer number of people testing, and partially due to the fact that some just aren't ready.

I go through a fairly rigid pre-testing/ preparation period before I even allow my students to test, and honestly, I think it is best.

I have seen entire groups fail, and I have seen individuals fail, and if someone cannot preform to expectations, I won't hesitate to fail them, but I'd rather be fairly sure they will pass before they even set foot on the testing floor.

[Sandan]

I think it's normal for people to fail a grading at least once, it's sort of a normalisation ritual. If not fail, at least to feel that one came close to failing.

I see it all to often that people stroll through kyu gradings and when it comes to shodan etc. they are told either they are not ready or they fail. Either way, the results are not good.

I think also that people are and should be failed for bad attitude or even over confidence-though I've never done it myself

[JimmyNewton]

people need to be brought down a peg every now and then

[Sandan]

aye, but the message is all to often lost. I've recenlty fought with a parent about the suitability of their child grading, I agreed to let this person go through, then 2 weeks after the grading, the child came to me to say that she was leaving Karate!!!

I've become less lenient!

[aefibird]

It's interesting becuase I don't really care if the guy next to me is better or worse than me even though he's got the same belt. It's my training and my journey.

I guess that's the problem I have with belts, they're a "public" display.

I don't know if every Aikido dojo is like this but my friend does Aikido and they test for the next rank, but everyone wears the same color: the students wear white and shodan and above wear black (which you can't really see in aikido because of the funny black pants they wear, I won;t even venture a spelling for what they're called )

That system would suit me just fine.

I trained in Aikido, and that's the system we used - whitebelts for mudansha and blackbelts for yudansha. BTW, the "funny black pants" are called a Hakama.

Generally, students from the karate club I attends don't fail or get temporary gradings. My Sensei tries to make sure that everyone is as ready as possible before they test. My club tests with other clubs from our association and I've seen students from other schools in the organisation fail, even those who are taking their first grade.

[pittbullJudoka]

I have seen and I have fail one belt test.I for some reason became so nervous when I was called up I when blank I forgot kata and anything else I was supose to know.I was devistaded but my Sensei tested me the following week and told me he was suprized when I froze up the fight time.At the dojo i train at now the tests are totally spur of the moment and my teacher asks us to demonstrate moves as a group then we proform what kata we know then he will anounce at the end of class if we had been promoted.His theroy is to not put one in the spot light to help eleminate the nevers.He also will tell each of us were we need to improve.I like this style of promotion the best.But now days I don't chase the belt like I use too I just want to learn something new.

[Bleeding Lion]

Thanx for the replies.

1 reason why i was also asking is because i feel like tests i attended to were not rigorous enough. I might be wrong or simply higher standards or maybe it doesnt have to look like an academic type test.

[cathal]

In our testing we don't know right away. We're informed of the pass/fail status on the next training day. When we gather in huge numbers for gradings it isn't practical to announce those who've passed. But I have heard of thsoe in my dojo who've not passed. However we're very honest with one another so we're informed of the reasons why we didn't pass. That way everyone can help out, as a team.

[gojoinstructor]

BL, Most tests are tailored to the belt level that you are testing for, at least in our school. Our white belt tests are nothing compared to our blue belt tests, etc... I hear that every once and a while from a student too. They will approach me and say, "wow, that wasn't that bad" and I always tell them "be careful what you wish for "

I have seen kyu belts and black belts fail tests before. It is usually because they just give up. We only allow students who are ready to test, test.

[papaschtroumpf]

Since our dojo is affiliated with the ISKF, tests can only be administered by a certified ISKF examiner and are formally recorded in the ISKF rosters.

That means they tend to be more formal and planned. it also means that there is less variance from one ISKF affiliated dojo to another, although I'm there is still some.

Since ISKF Mountain States is headed by Sensei Yaguchi (8th degree), who is a JKA instructor, you can bet that you have to earn your belt, especially your dan levels.