Promotion?

[sushi_error]

I'm going for promotion tomorrow and this is my first time. I am nervous, but at the same time, I am calm. Any suggestions to calm nerves before the exam? Should I do light training tonight?

[pittbullJudoka]

Good luck. Don't think about it too much just preform.

[joesteph]

I just went for my test to be promoted from 7th gup (orange belt with stripe) to 6th gup (green belt) in Soo Bahk Do. I was far from perfect, but I feel good about the experience.

I did a lot of stretching before I went down for the test, and I feel it helped me relax. When the test started, I was in good spirits. I guess doing something physical but light is a good starter.

Good luck!

[Erin]

The way it was explained to me is this:

The promotion testing and ceremony is merely a formality. You are being tested every time you set foot on the floor. So you go in there, and you perform and work out just like you do every time you're in the dojo.

You will be fine. Good luck!!

[tallgeese]

I'm a bit late to offer any advice, so I won't. Except to say good luck and let us kow how it turns out.

Welcome to the forums.

[tori]

So I too am late in my suggestions, but my instructor has always said, you are nervous because you care about your performance. I am sure you did well.

[bushido_man96]

I still get nervous at testings, even after 15 years of training! Just breath, relax, and be confident in what you have learned.

Let us know how it has turned out for you.

[sushi_error]

Ah, sorry for posting this in the wrong forum.

I still have to do the 2nd part of the exam, because my dojo does not have enough space to do Kata. I think I have that down pretty much.

I think the 1st part went OK. Honestly, I could have been better, but I was nervous. I had to do have my sensei repeat the names of blocks for me and I messed up a number of times. He made us do free fighting (kumite, I think?) to show what we knew and I did OK. I think I messed up a few times during this, but that was because I was nervous and I had to think of what I should do. I stayed after class and told my sensei how worried I felt. He told me I did a good job, so I'm not quite sure how I should be feeling now.

[joesteph]

I think the 1st part went OK. Honestly, I could have been better, but I was nervous. I had to do have my sensei repeat the names of blocks for me and I messed up a number of times. He made us do free fighting (kumite, I think?) to show what we knew and I did OK. . . . I stayed after class and told my sensei how worried I felt. He told me I did a good job . . .

I don't know your rank/belt level, Sushi, but is it a lower one? Mine is, just having taken my test on Friday, and I wasn't nervous (like my first test), but I still needed to have certain commands repeated (especially "Ki Cho," when the next two-three moves are called out in Korean for a line of us to do all at once). An error I made in one-step sparring was a simple, dopey one, performing the last move, a crescent kick, with the wrong leg against my partner. I winced as soon as I completed it, and the judge simply asked me if I knew what I'd done wrong. I bowed, said what my error was, and she just said it was fine, not to redo the exercise.

Your sensei told you after class that you did a good job? Believe in what your sensei tells you. I think that when we're tested, we want it to be perfect, and the judges first want to see that we know what we're doing, then they decide if what you're doing is of acceptable quality. Sure, I know I'll have to grow in proficiency by the time I take my next test, but at least I know that the judge isn't looking for the moon.

Don't beat yourself up. And if you need an emotional boost, eat chocolate.

[ineluki]

He told me I did a good job, so I'm not quite sure how I should be feeling now.

Accept it.

It is a common "error" students to expect to much from themselves.

It's your first exam, you just have to fulfil the requirements for your grade. You don't have to be better than higher belts, you don't have to be the best whitebelt (or whatever you wear now) in the world, you don't have to be flawless.