Dan Testing

[white owl]

Well I just turned in my Black Belt Essay and I will testing for my dan ranking in a few weeks. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. How many of you had the butterflies and the nervousness for your dan ranking? I think it is worst than for my kyu rankings.

[sensei8]

How many of you had the butterflies and the nervousness for your dan ranking?

First of all, I want to say good luck with you Dan test. Glad to see that you've got the essay out of the way, now, you can concentrate on the three K's.

As far as your question is concerned...OH YEAH! The higher the ranking, the more the butterflies/nervousness I felt.

[twistkick kid]

I had a massive case of the butterflies when I tested for first degree, but it wasn't due to a lack of faith in my technique. It was because Grandmaster Burleson was sitting on the test board and I was the youngest person testing for first degree EVER (at 15.5 yrs old) in the history of our studio.

My second degree test was full of short tempers and nerves. I had demo practise the night before, and nothing went right. Other circumstances did not allow me to have enough time to fill in the application to my liking before the day before. Then the morning of, we had the demo right before the test, instead of after. After the demo, then I just ignored the world. I felt much better after the test was over. Then the anticipation of the results kicked in, on top of finals week at school. that tipped me over the mental edge and I was a headcase until I got the letter telling me that I earned my second degree

[white owl]

Thanks, Sensei8 and twistkick kid.

[bushido_man96]

I was pretty nervous for my 1st dan testing, more so than any before it. I think it is normal, like Bob said, to get nervous as the stakes get higher.

Good luck on your testing. Be sure to let us know how it goes.

[DWx]

Good luck! What did you write your essay on?

I was pretty nervous for my 1st dan but I think my 1st grading to 9th gup was worse.

[white owl]

Thanks, Bushido_man and DWx. I was given topics. So I had to write about; What are my future plans in martial arts, How did martial arts change my life, and How did Shotokan come to our side of PA and few quotes I had to interpret what I thought they mean.

[tallgeese]

Very nice. Good luck!

[Tiger1962]

Well I just turned in my Black Belt Essay and I will testing for my dan ranking in a few weeks. I am so excited and so nervous at the same time. How many of you had the butterflies and the nervousness for your dan ranking? I think it is worst than for my kyu rankings.

Butterflies and nervousness - definitely! I had them both times I tested for first dan and second dan. That just means you really want to do well and are serious about it all.

I bet you did very well. I had to write essays also - once I got started on a few thoughts, the rest of the words seemed to flow easily.

Congrat's on your upcoming test and good luck!

[pittbullJudoka]

First off good luck on your grading. Personally I got a little nervous. But I felt really good on the morning of me test and very confident in what my instructors had taught me. The real nerves really kicked in while the canadets sat outside the dojo waiting to be called in one by one to get our pass fail results. But after is was over it wasn't as hard of a test as I expected. I thought my test for my brown belt was harder but I felt apart mentally before that one too.