What is a Test or Exam

[Revario]

Hi to all, bizzare question here. How would you look or feel about a student wanting to offer a specific presentation of their skills based on what you taught them and their own interpretation of it. Student has very good understanding of Martial Arts and combat with over 20 years of experience in various arts. Not the curriculum stuff that is to be regurgitated for basically confirming one can copy paste what they were shown. 

 

Would you consider this offensive? Would you appreciate the initiative? Would you find it a waste of time? Would you make it count towards actual ranking? Would you find it insulting towards the other students that do follow curriculum by the book? 

As ultimately a test is to confirm that the student has understood the material. Now if we want them to teach exactly how we teach I would see that it is important they stick to curriculum. If the goal is to pass on knowledge for them to live with then their adaptation and understanding would be preffered. 

 

I post here as it relates to testing but it does relate to Karate as the situation is in a Karate context. 

 

Thank you 

[sensei8]

On 11/27/2025 at 8:08 AM, Revario said:

 

Hi to all, bizzare question here. How would you look or feel about a student wanting to offer a specific presentation of their skills based on what you taught them and their own interpretation of it. Student has very good understanding of Martial Arts and combat with over 20 years of experience in various arts. Not the curriculum stuff that is to be regurgitated for basically confirming one can copy paste what they were shown.

 

Why would a student want to do that in the first place?? Especially a student with 20 years MA experience?!?

On 11/27/2025 at 8:08 AM, Revario said:

Would you consider this offensive? Would you appreciate the initiative? Would you find it a waste of time? Would you make it count towards actual ranking? Would you find it insulting towards the other students that do follow curriculum by the book? 

Offensive?? No. Students initiative?? Depends. Waste of time?? Not exactly. Count for rank?? No. Insulting Student Body?? No.

Students, imho, should never assume a position that they don’t possess. Said student came to me for training; I didn’t come to that student.

The proof is on the floor. If a student has 20 years experience in the MA, that student won’t have to suggest anything to me because I’ll know it quite clearly. Proof is on the floor, and the floor reveals everything.

If warranted, I’d consider said rank that I believe would be most appropriate for that student. 

After that, I do not bargain any Testing Cycle because no student is greater than the floor and the floor is where the Testing Cycle starts and ends.

 

 

Edited November 29 by sensei8

[JazzKicker]

I don't find the question bizarre, it's very intriguing and thought provoking. At first impression, I thought maybe this student has an ego trip going on, and is looking for an opportunity to show off a bit.

I may be generalizing, but I think a lot of martial arts teaching and ranking is about "practice-this-and-this", then there's a test where they tell you, "do this and this."

How often does a student, even an advanced practitioner, get asked, "OK, let's see what you've got. Show me something, freestyle it, draw on what you know, in the moment".

I have to wonder, how many would struggle to think of something?

[bushido_man96]

I think it would be an interesting criteria to add to an existing testing to see what the student can do, how it would differ, what the focus would be, etc.  If they asked for something like that to replace the testing, I would say no.  To do it as a supplement to the same test, sure.  Seeing how students grow and evolve is the fun part of teaching.

[DarthPenguin]

Is an interesting idea but it does depend on the purpose of the testing. I could see how it might work well for more skilled practitioners who are attempting to demonstrate 'mastery' of some skills. If there were some constraints set such as : need to perform a combination of a minimum of X strikes of which Y need to be kicks etc. and have a few similar constraints then it might be an interesting idea. Could run alongside the usual testing of perform this kata etc.

Sorta reminds me of a style i did in the past where for grading you were also required to perform a prior grades pattern/kata but with free direction, which meant you had to change the directions and could adjust the techniques a little (eg make a kick a jumping variant or more complex one - so could replace a roundhouse with a 360 roundhouse but still had to move into the next technique smoothly). Was good for really bedding down the patterns in your muscle memory i thought

[Furinkazan]

On 11/27/2025 at 11:08 AM, Revario said:

Hi to all, bizzare question here. How would you look or feel about a student wanting to offer a specific presentation of their skills based on what you taught them and their own interpretation of it. Student has very good understanding of Martial Arts and combat with over 20 years of experience in various arts. Not the curriculum stuff that is to be regurgitated for basically confirming one can copy paste what they were shown. 

Would you consider this offensive? Would you appreciate the initiative? Would you find it a waste of time? Would you make it count towards actual ranking? Would you find it insulting towards the other students that do follow curriculum by the book? 

As ultimately a test is to confirm that the student has understood the material. Now if we want them to teach exactly how we teach I would see that it is important they stick to curriculum. If the goal is to pass on knowledge for them to live with then their adaptation and understanding would be preffered. 

I post here as it relates to testing but it does relate to Karate as the situation is in a Karate context. 

Thank you 

I think there's one important question that you need to know the answer to: what, exactly, is this particular student's end of goal offering an unsolicited demonstration of what he can do?

Because the answer to that will determine whether or not it's offensive or a waste of time.