Are You Ready?!?

[sensei8]

This topic is NOT about passing judgement about how a MA school approaches Testing Cycles, a.k.a., belt tests. 

How does your MA school approach belt tests??

There’s no wrong answer because of either phrase “you say tomato, I say tomato” and/or “You say potato, I say potato”, which illustrates differing perspectives. 

Here’s how we prep upcoming Testing Cycles…WE DON’T!! We let the chips fall where they may.

Prepping for a belt test puts the importance on rank and nowhere else!!

An unannounced belt test is preferred because either one is ready to defend themselves or one is not!! Not both!!

You want to prep for a belt test?!? Fine!! Make sure you attend regular classes and practice as though your life depends on it!!

CI should be focusing on fundamentals, improving physical and mental conditioning at every class and not be concerned with any testing cycle without ignoring, for example, the three K’s: Kihon, Kata, and Kumite.

Every passed Testing Cycle is a measured advancement of ones maturity in techniques.

Regular class and practice…that’s the prep; focus on class and practice which is the focus on the fundamentals.

You outwitted my chancellor and you bested my swordsman whenever the floor is in play. The floor should always be a serious place and not a place where rank is first and foremost.

I’ve witnessed schools of the MA that concentrate on the next testing cycle and not on the fundamentals. Making sure that the students are ready for the test by concentrating on the next test requirements and nothing else. Whereas, and because of that, those students are not ready for the streets.

Imho!!

Edited Wednesday at 07:31 PM by sensei8

[Furinkazan]

3 hours ago, sensei8 said:

Here’s how we prep upcoming Testing Cycles…WE DON’T!! We let the chips fall where they may.

Is there at least a syllabus, so that the students can practice on their own at home?  I think a problem that can arise from this is the material they need not being covered on the day they show up.

 

3 hours ago, sensei8 said:

Prepping for a belt test puts the importance on rank and nowhere else!!

IMO, the very existence of tests already does that.  The last BJJ school I trained at did belt promotions every quarter, but there were no tests.  You were simply promoted based on how you were evaluated on regular training days.

 

3 hours ago, sensei8 said:

An unannounced belt test is preferred because either one is ready to defend themselves or one is not!! Not both!!

Unannounced or short notice?  Because “unannounced” creates a “right place at the right time” scenario that leaves out guy that did movie night with wife and kids because he was unable to schedule that around the test.

 

3 hours ago, sensei8 said:

CI should be focusing on fundamentals, improving physical and mental conditioning at every class and not be concerned with any testing cycle without ignoring, for example, the three K’s: Kihon, Kata, and Kumite.

This is why I think the list of testable items need to be kept short.  If the list is too long, there’ll be little to no time to do things that are not on the test.

[bushido_man96]

In TKD, we have testings scheduled for the year, and they run about every two months.  Personally, I think it's too short a cycle.  If students are ready based off their performance of the material in class, they are allowed to test.  If not, they are not.

In Aikido, its different.  I think the Sensei only has a couple of tests a year, maybe four (quarterly).  There is an accumulation of hours requirement along with doing a "demo," which is basically a pretest, in front of the Sensei.

[Montana]

My students know they are tested every day, every class. They are tested on their skills compared to their last test. Also on their new, and old, kata. Better speed, power and accuracy. And of course, attendance and effort in class.

There is no "formal" testing. No scheduled day for testing. No "need to learn certain techniques" for testing, other than their next kata.

They know each and every class that I'm watching them by the corrections I make, or positive/negative feedback they get. if I have to keep telling them to correct the same mistake each class, they aren't ready to advance. If they do correct it, and stay corrected, then they have learned.

Being in an Okinawan system, we don't adhere to the military mindset of highly stressful examinations. We're not looking for perfection, as perfection doesn't exist. We are looking for a marked improvement over the last test. There are certain basic things that should improve every time, such as stances, blocks, punches, kicks, and every previous kata that they've learned.

[Spartacus Maximus]

The testing isn’t quite as formal as what one might expect to see in the majority of karate schools in Japan or the West. 

Only Hanshi can decide who is ready and one simply does not test until Hanshi explicitly tells them to test. Perhaps this is only possible because it is a small dojo with few students and less than 5 training today one time. 

The test is judged by Hanshi and a panel of at least 3 other people who are at least 2nd Dan or 2 Dan grades above for shodan and above tests. The test content is nearly identical for each level, but the appropriate level of understanding for the grade tested for must be demonstrated. Usually as follows:

1. All kihon waza and 5 kihon kata.

2. Bunkai and bunkai application of 1 kihon kata drawn at random from a hat

3. One Naihanchi with bunkai(solo) and bunkai application(attacks by volunteer shodans and above). Students choice

4. Same as above for Pinan kata. One chosen by the students and a random one chosen on the spot by Hanshi

5. Demonstrate(no bunkai) the highest kata learned for the grade ex: candidates for 3dan must do Kusanku Sho or Chinto

6. Breaking with correct technique. Technique varies by grade tested: 1 inch thick pine board. 3dan and above must break 2 boards and 5dan and above can do tiles.

All this takes maybe 45min at most. No gruelling series of push-ups or 5km runs through the neighborhood. No free sparring either. Those are expected to be practiced in regular training and at home. This is by far the shortest and most informal testing I have ever experienced.

[aurik]

The testing process for kyu grades and dan grades are significantly different.  Our school generally has at least one colored belt test each month (sometimes two).  Each month, the instructors for each set of students will know which students are eligible to test in that month; there are fundamental time-in-grade and attendance requirements. The instructor will have a pretty good idea as to which of those students will be ready to test.  Then the week of the test, the instructor will evaluate each potential candidate to see if he/she is indeed ready.  There is (in most cases) a hard rule that a student must attend classes at least twice the week of the test so the instructor can thoroughly evaluate their preparedness.

When the test day comes around, we will divide students up by age and/or rank, depending on the number of candidates.  Generally the adult students and brown belt candidates will be tested in the upstairs dojo, and the younger students will be tested downstairs.  Each group will run independently, and testing will consist of the following elements:

- Sanchin kata

- Hojo undo (randomly, in English for ranks below sankyu, in Japanese for brown belt ranks)

- Rank kata

- Rank kata bunkai (Not all ranks require bunkai, and if there are more than 30 students testing, this will be tested in-class

- Kotekitae (body conditioning)

- Sparring (required for sankyu and up)

Generally we are more forgiving of mistakes for more junior students.  As a student gets more advanced, our expectations increase and we are less forgiving of mistakes.  At specific ranks (ikkyu, yonkyu, shichikyu), we tell students they're not allowed to make any mistakes (well, at least no egregious ones).  Each student is assigned to an individual evaluator, but to a certain degree, all instructors will evaluate all of the students.  At the conclusion of the test, the instructors will discuss the students performance, and the instructors will get with their students to give them feedback on their performance.  After the feedback session, the CI will announce the results, presenting each student with his/her diploma and belt.  

Additionally, in certain circumstances if a student cannot make the scheduled test, our CI will run an in-class make-up test.  Generally he will have the student demonstrate all of the test material individually to him, and he'll evaluate their performance.  In the case of an in-class test, he will inform the student of their pass/fail status at the next at the conclusion of the next class.

Dan gradings follow the same general format, but are considerably more formal.  For one thing, our dojo only runs dan gradings twice a year - generally in May and November/December.  Candidates are informed well in advance of the gradings, and they are required to attend an extra "test prep" class each week.  This class focuses on the elements of the test, and students will get specific feedback during this class that they are expected to incorporate before the test (or they may not be allowed to test).  They are also given a packet of information they are expected to know prior to the test, since there is an oral component to the test.  Our CI prefers to run tests with no more than 10-12 candidates at a time -- more than that and tests start running extremely long. 

The dan gradings are done in front of a formal test board.  The components are the same for the kyu gradings, but candidates perform either alone or in pairs in front of the board.  Each component of the test has a minimum passing score and a total score associated with it.  Each instructor scores each component of a candidate's performance, and the scores are averaged and collated.  The instructors will then get together to discuss the overall performance of the candidates, and results will get collated.  Once the results are known, the CI will announce the results, and award belts to the candidates who do not already have a black belt (our style does not denote rank on black belts, just shogo titles).  After the results are announced, the instructors will provide feedback to the candidates as a whole, from most junior instructor to the most senior.  The packets are then forwarded on to our hombu dojo (in Michigan), and the certificates come several weeks later.

[bushido_man96]

22 hours ago, Montana said:

My students know they are tested every day, every class. They are tested on their skills compared to their last test. Also on their new, and old, kata. Better speed, power and accuracy. And of course, attendance and effort in class.

There is no "formal" testing. No scheduled day for testing. No "need to learn certain techniques" for testing, other than their next kata.

They know each and every class that I'm watching them by the corrections I make, or positive/negative feedback they get. if I have to keep telling them to correct the same mistake each class, they aren't ready to advance. If they do correct it, and stay corrected, then they have learned.

Being in an Okinawan system, we don't adhere to the military mindset of highly stressful examinations. We're not looking for perfection, as perfection doesn't exist. We are looking for a marked improvement over the last test. There are certain basic things that should improve every time, such as stances, blocks, punches, kicks, and every previous kata that they've learned.

I actually like this approach.  I think it keeps an instructor from being tied to a curriculum, which lends itself to "teaching to the test."  I see that way too much in my TKD experiences.  I think this is very much like the approach of BJJ promotion.