Extensive Testing

[Nidan Melbourne]

Recently I was asked to be an examiner for a Black Belt Grading; Total Duration - 28 Hours which was spread out over 3 Days. 

It was the Clubs Largest  ever grading for Adults attempting for either Black Belt (Shodan-Ho) or a Dan-Grade. There were a total of 45 Candidates that were eligible for promotion with a total of 15 Instructors (10 Club Instructors + 5 Visiting Instructors)

Now how did we manage to fairly evaluate all the candidates? 

• 2nd Kyu Students (12 Total) - Tested Seperately with the "Senior Graded" Candidates ran it. 
  • As the Guest Instructor, I observed both the 2nd Kyus and the "Senior Graded" Candidates running it. 
  • Senior Graded Candidates = 5th Dan and Above (12 Candidates)
• 1st Kyu Students (12 Total) - Tested with ALL the Dan Grades 
  • They had more breaks than the other candidates 
• Dan Grades - Complete ALL Required aspects for Promotion 
  • 1 - Shodan-Ho FOR Shodan
  • 1 - Shodan FOR Nidan
  • 1 - Nidan FOR Sandan
  • 3- Sandan FOR Yondan
  • 3 - Yondan FOR Godan
  • 4 - Godan FOR Rookudan
  • 4 - Rookudan FOR Nanadan
  • 4 - Nanadan FOR Hachidan

 

Pass Requirements 

• 2nd Kyu 
  • 75% "Pass" 
  • No Hurdle Requirements
• 1st Kyu 
  • 75% "Pass" 
  • Hurdle Requirement
    • "Acceptable" Fitness/Health Screening
    • 10 Teaching Credits (Signed Off) 
    • 90% Correct Theory Exam 
• Black Belt (Shodan-Ho to Sandan) 
  • 80% "Pass" 
  • Hurdle Requirement
    • "Acceptable" Fitness/Health Screening
    • 30 Teaching Credits (Signed Off) 
    • 98% Correct Theory Exam 
    • "Atttitude" Portion of Grading***
• Black Belt (Yondan+) 
  • 80% Pass
  • Hurdle Requirement
    • Medical Clearance
    • "Acceptable" Fitness/Health Screening
    • 50 Teaching Credits (Signed Off) 
    • WKF Referee (Local Level Minimum)
    • No Mistakes - Theory Exam 
    • No Ego due to Rank/Experience

***Attitude Portion***  

This aspect of the grading; looks at the following

• How you persevere through a Difficult or Long Grading
• How you interact with others (age/rank/gender)
• How you treat gradings/classes 
• Arrival/Departure times for Grading
• How you look after your Uniform 
  • Did you bring a Fresh Gi to the next day? 
  • Did you wash your Gi? 

If you Fail this portion of the Grading; no matter what else you do, you will not be promoted to the next rank. 

 

*Grading Format*

• Friday 1400 - 2200 (2nd Kyu's Complete their part today) 
  • Fitness/Health Screening
  • Teaching 
  • Throws/Takedowns
  • Students to Check White Board for Continuance to Saturday 
• Saturday 0900 - 1900 
  • Teaching 
  • Kihon 
  • Combinations
  • Kata
  • Theory Exam
  • Students to Check White Board for Continuance to Sunday
• Sunday 0900 - 1900
  • Pre-Arranged Sparring
  • Bunkai
  • Kyogi
  • Kumite
  • Students who Complete Today
    • Dinner at Post-Grading 
    • Awarding of Rank (If Successful)

The Chief Instructor explained that for Sunday they do a minimum of 50 Rounds of Kumite. But when he (or majority of the instructors) are satisfied he will stop rounds and formally end the grading. Once ranks meet their grading requirements (CI doesn't tell them how many rounds they need to complete) they have an option of sitting out and stretching or continuing to help the other students. 

 

At the end of the Grading; and we finished making our notes and discussing it with the CI. We decided to hold off on awarding any grades above 3rd Dan as there were that many notes written for each candidate that the CI needed to sit down read them so he could be informed of what we suggested. 

Final Results 

• 40 Candidates Passed 
• 5 Candidates Failed 
  • 1 x 6th Dan Candidate Failed
  • All 7th Dan Candidates Failed 

Unfortunately 2 of the Candidates that Failed - and they were both due to the "Attitude" Section of the grading. One of which was not invited back after Friday Night, and the other on Saturday. 

I sat down with all the candidates that failed, and walked through the feedback from the instructors and to explain why they weren't successful. They were generally very receptive to why they weren't successful. 

• Biggest reason for failing - Pre-Arranged/Bunkai/Kyogi (Self-Defence Routines) and Kata.

Edited June 24 by Nidan Melbourne

[sensei8]

Great post, Nidan Melbourne!! Thanks for your post!!

Brings me back to the good old days of the SKKA Testing Cycle; thorough, long, and strict.

[Nidan Melbourne]

On 6/24/2025 at 11:43 PM, sensei8 said:

Great post, Nidan Melbourne!! Thanks for your post!!

Brings me back to the good old days of the SKKA Testing Cycle; thorough, long, and strict.

It was a first for me where there was such high standards to testing. 

I was the person responsible for several sections; but the Kyogi (Self-Defence Routines) Portion I found the most interesting. 

The club doesn't normally do them; but the CI found them to be a useful tool to have students actually understand and explore the purpose of kata. 

     Typically my club prescribes 1 kata to 1 grade for the student to explore, explain (via a demonstration). But as most of these students were going for such high grades; the CI opted for them to do 2 Kata (25 each) + 25 kyogi which the instructor says the Kata and the respective step (i.e. Seeiunchin Step 4, Kanku Sho Step 14). 

[RJCKarate]

This is a very interesting grading format, and I can see how it could work for clubs who come together. Personally, I would hope that people don't become candidates if their attitude is unacceptable and has been screened beforehand. I wouldn't expect many candidates to be failing on that portion... although I've had a circumstance where I've observed a candidate behave in a way that wouldn't generally be acceptable, but the reason may have been permissible. 

How did you find evaluating grades that are much senior to your own? That's also a big grading... I don't know many clubs in Australia that would have such a number of senior grades.

Edited June 26 by RJCKarate

[Nidan Melbourne]

8 hours ago, RJCKarate said:

This is a very interesting grading format, and I can see how it could work for clubs who come together. Personally, I would hope that people don't become candidates if their attitude is unacceptable and has been screened beforehand. I wouldn't expect many candidates to be failing on that portion... although I've had a circumstance where I've observed a candidate behave in a way that wouldn't generally be acceptable, but the reason may have been permissible. 

How did you find evaluating grades that are much senior to your own? That's also a big grading... I don't know many clubs in Australia that would have such a number of senior grades.

They had a few people come Internationally to grade, hence why there were quite a few senior grades. And turns out (I was only just informed of this a few hours ago) that there were actually 3 clubs coming together to grade! 

It was quite intimidating at first to be honest with you, because I thought "how many of these karateka would take the thoughts/opinions of a lowly 2nd Dan". As the "highest" rank I had assessed someone to was to 3rd Dan. 

But when I spoke to the CI about my worries, he just said stick to what I know and don't feel pressured into thinking otherwise. So for me keeping to the "basics" was the key, and work from there. 

I think if I was to run a large club that had multiple locations; I'd run smaller gradings for quality control over having one large grading. 

In relation to the "Attitude" thing, a lot were screened out prior to the grading. But the ones that failed during the grading; came down to how they handled themselves on the day. Which in my experience in being an examiner, I've only seen a small handful of people fail (<5). 

 However it does check one thing off my MA Bucketlist; assessing a huge BB Grading. Next one is to be an assessor interstate or internationally. 

[bushido_man96]

That's a long grading.  Kudos to you for getting to be a part of all that, @Nidan Melbourne.

[Nidan Melbourne]

5 hours ago, bushido_man96 said:

That's a long grading.  Kudos to you for getting to be a part of all that, @Nidan Melbourne.

It was a long grading indeed. Mentally tired for sure, took me a few days to go through all the information for each candidate so they got individual packages of information. 

On top of the 2.5 days; it took all up 14 hours of work to give them comprehensive information alongside giving the clubs a massive portfolio of data.