I will be grading for my yellow belt on Feb 26th. Am excited and nervous. I'd love to hear other first grading experiences!

Don't worry you can do it.

sorry I have no experience yet but I will be happy if you shared your experience with us after you do it

You can do. give 100% and you'll do well.

My 1st Grading was in mid to late 2001 (i was in the 1st Grade at school). and i was very nervous but once i got into it i was able to relax and was enjoyable

Don't worry you can do it.

sorry I have no experience yet but I will be happy if you shared your experience with us after you do it

Will do for sure Safroot!

Thanks for the advice Nidan Melbourne. I always find anticipation is usually worse than the thing I'm worrying about, so I'll probably feel better once I get started as well.

Approach it as just another training session. Don't think too much. If you're grading (and you're sensei is allowing you to grade), then you should know enough to pass. But don't "think" yourself into trouble. When he tells you to do a back leg mae geri followed by a nuki te, think about what it is, then let your body perform the technique. In your kata, let your body perform it. Your muscle memory should be there. And do not get upset/down on yourself if you screw up. Recover quickly and focus. I believe that when a student does something incorrectly and realizes it and corrects it, it is a positive thing. If they screw up and it takes them out of their game, that is a negative. Imagine going thru the test in your mind a few times, and when it gets here, you'll have already done it repeatedly!

Good luck!

I sat my 8th Kyu last year. I was a bag of nerves through the class beforehand, but when it came to grade I just took a deep breath and my focus fell into place. I passed with a class 2, which in my club is rare for the first grade. All I can say is practice your stuff as much as possible until the day of your grade and you'll be fine. Good luck!!!!

M.

My first grading was back in the late 90's, I remember being nervous. But just remember to relax.

Instructors know that everyone makes mistakes (some even do it during gradings), it's how you recover from it and the spirit that you show, not just the techniques that you demo (even though it is still a big part of it)

Good luck and let us know how you get on...

My first grading took place in the late 80's and I don't remember much of it...I guess I was quite intimidated with being alone in front of a very stern looking examiner from another Dojo...

But really, if you have attended classes regularly before the exam than there is not much to worry about. Do your best and you will be fine!

- Good Luck

Thank you for all the encouraging replies! I do consistently attend three times a week, and I feel pretty comfortable with my kata - - although there's still a lot I want to clean up technically. But from what I understand, they expect you to continue to perfect it as you move up in ranks, so I think I have it well enough for my first grading. (We add a new kata each level, and the newest will be your grading kata, but you are expected to know all the ones you have been taught and your proficiency in each is expected to improve - - not sure if that is standard across dojos but it is how ours works).

We will see how it goes in two weeks. I'll update the thread after the grading!

So I graded, and I got my yellow belt!

It was intense but fun. My elbows are killing me from all the push-ups though, lol.