yellow belt and black belt tests

[Blade96]

are they really the hardest tests to pass? I was told this by a senpai. I also knew of one of my own senpais who told me the night i passed my yellow belt test that he failed his one the first time.

Is this true what he said? and if it is then i passed one of the harder gradings then, i guess.

But I'd like to know if its right what the senpai said. and im not gonna post this in the karate section even though im shotokan, because I'd like to hear about belt tests in other martial arts too.

 

[ap Oweyn]

I sincerely doubt that there's any hard and fast rule on this. Tests are shaped by the style, the school, the teachers, your sparring partners, and whatever circumstances are going on in your life at the time. It's impossible to say whether yellow is generally harder than green or whatever.

I can tell you that my yellow belt test, in either style in which I got a yellow belt, was not harder than my green, blue, brown... tests.

The black belt one was though.


Stuart

 

[dancingalone]

Why would the yellow belt be the hardest? Merely because it's the first one?

I personally believe they should all be hard, instead of making the 1st dan test some incredible gauntlet, although I understand why some make it a milestone and test of guts.

 

[Tez3]

As a white belt the first grading appears to be daunting, the unknown often is but once passed you realise that it is the easiest belt to pass as it demands only a reasonable knowledge of basic techniques, that's how it should be. the black belt test is the longest I've found as you need to demonstrate everything you know, spar etc, the actual most difficult may well be the brown or brown equivalent.
Blade it may be that your being told this to boost your confidence or they are just having you on.
I've passed a yellow grading in three styles and frankly have never known anyone to fail. It would be a bit stupid of instructors to put someone in for their first ever grading not being ready for it.

 

[terryl965]

Every single test should be hard, it is the proper way of course.

 

[Tez3]

A good instructor will know however when someone is ready to test, whether they pass or not is a different matter but it is down to the instructor to only put students ready for testing forward. it's demoralising to fail a test not because you haven't done enough or didn't work hard enough but because you weren't actually taught what you needed to do, as the instructors wanted some more money that month and thought grading fees would do the job.

The perception should be too that each of your gradings should be hard but when looking back they were easier than those you have to come.

 

[Stac3y]

I've been nervous as hell before every single test I've taken, even the ones that "don't count" (that is, that won't result in a rank change). And they have all been hard. Our black belt test is the "trial by fire" type, and mine is coming up in August. Just typing about it makes my palms sweat.

 

[Tez3]

I've been nervous as hell before every single test I've taken, even the ones that "don't count" (that is, that won't result in a rank change). And they have all been hard. Our black belt test is the "trial by fire" type, and mine is coming up in August. Just typing about it makes my palms sweat.

What are gradings that don't change your belt? I've never been anywhere that has them, do you still have to pay for them?

 

[Bruno@MT]

In Genbukan all kyu levels (9th to 1st) are green belt. Perhaps her system is similar?

My next exam is monday actually. For 8th kyu. I am less nervous about it than for my 10th + 9th kyu exam (it was 1 exam session). The reason is that now I have some idea of how it will go. Mentally that was the hard part. Otoh I know that this examn will have more technique and more details. Not every grade contains as much difficult stuff as the other of course so that will vary too.

BB is another tough exam because again the mental aspect plays a role, and because it contains a lot of techniques.

 

[Grenadier]

A neophyte white belt's first test is usually the most difficult. Many times, such individuals have never been in the glare of the spotlight, and sometimes, it can be quite intimidating, seeing your sensei staring at you from the judging panel.

For that matter, even non-neophyte white belts (those who have experience in another system) can be a bit jittery. Back when I started training in Shuri Ryu Karate, I already had significant amounts of experience in Shotokan Karate and Tae Kwon Do. Despite all of that experience, though, my old Shuri Ryu teacher's testing always included a physical portion, where you run 1-2 miles (no problem), and then everyone has to do 500 front kicks in a row, combined with 300 situps / stomach crunches.

The 500 front kicks is what seemed like an enormous mountain. For the first 100, I was thinking that this was quite a workout. The next 100 were generating a bit of a burning sensation in the legs. The next 100 made it a fiery burning sensation. The next 100 made the legs go numb, and the final 100 were the most difficult front kicks I've ever thrown in my life.

Then came the situps...

After the physical fitness portion was finished, I was wondering how the heck am I going to be able to perform Kata Wansu, along with the Taikyoku series, and complete the ippon and kihon kumite sections, with what I thought were my last reserves of energy.

As it turned out, that was probably the most relaxed I had ever felt in a long time, during a testing situation, and the testing went quite smoothly.

Still, there was a moment in time during the kicks and the situps, where I was wondering how the heck are people supposed to do this... I am quite thankful for everyone else taking the physical portion, since having your classmates and comrades there inspires you. For that matter, we would even have people who weren't testing, take the physical portion to spur on their fellow classmates.

Each test after that wasn't nearly as difficult, once those mental barriers were broken, which is why I still believe that my shichi kyu exam was one of the most difficult I had ever taken.

 

[Blade96]

A neophyte white belt's first test is usually the most difficult. Many times, such individuals have never been in the glare of the spotlight, and sometimes, it can be quite intimidating, seeing your sensei staring at you from the judging panel.

.

Thanks, this was the answer I got on another forum as well and what senpai said. He also said that shodan being like a graduation from the kyus.. so I just wanted to see if it held water, what he said. Thank yooooou all.

Since i was that little white belt once with no previous experience or being in the spotlight before, (except for the tournament i did in december ) I think I'd agree with that. =]

 

[KELLYG]

To be frank, I was nervous during all of my testings. The test for your first belt is difficult due to being in "unknown territory." The not knowing what to expect sometimes builds up an apprehension that really does not belong. I think that after that is gets a little easier then it's black belt time and that my friend is an entirely different kettle of fish.

 

[MJS]

are they really the hardest tests to pass? I was told this by a senpai. I also knew of one of my own senpais who told me the night i passed my yellow belt test that he failed his one the first time.

Is this true what he said? and if it is then i passed one of the harder gradings then, i guess.

But I'd like to know if its right what the senpai said. and im not gonna post this in the karate section even though im shotokan, because I'd like to hear about belt tests in other martial arts too.

Not sure about yellow belt, but I'd say the 1st degree black is, or IMO, should be, one of the hardest, both physically and mentally, that a student will ever take.

I'd say yellow may be more nerves than anything else. Then again, every art will probably vary. So yes, its possible that all tests, yellow thru black, could all be equally hard.

 

[Laus]

I think that would really depend on the instructor. In my experience its very unusual for anyone to fail a kyu test, at least for adults (I've seen kids held back as a disciplinary measure). In fact I can't actually remember it happening since I've been studying karate. But then the Sensei of my old dojo (I haven't been at the new one long enough to judge) usually overprepared us, and wouldn't invite you to test unless he was satisfied you were prepared to move on. If you were missing a few things, he would pass you "provisionally" - you'd get your new belt but not be able to train any new material until you'd cleaned up whatever was lacking (usually a kata foreign to our style, which we aim to learn at various levels but aren't strictly a requirement). He'd do that sometimes to keep a group of people progessing as a unit if they worked particularly well together.

I have, however, heard repeatedly about common drop out points, which where I come from are said to be at white belt (people decide its not for them and never test at all), at green/3rd kyu/halfway (the kid gloves come off and training gets tougher), at brown/1st kyu (trouble commiting the time or unwillingness to endure the harshness Senseis tend to inflict in the run up to Shodan), and then at Shodan (the "mission accomplished" syndrome).

By that theory then, yes, yellow is a tough step to pass (I'm assuming in your system yellow comes after white, it doesn't always). Congratulations!

 

[Blade96]

yeah in our system yellow comes after white.

 

[Stac3y]

What are gradings that don't change your belt? I've never been anywhere that has them, do you still have to pay for them?

No, we don't have to pay for them. We only pay if we are changing rank. Once we reach brown belt, we are required to participate in each of the school's quarterly brown belt tests, whether we are eligible to take off a stripe or not. Eligibility depends on number of classes attended and other requirements. I've been a 1st Brown (our last rank before Black) since December 2009, and have participated in 2 additional brown belt tests since then.

The brown belt tests are very intense, about 3 hours long, and test everything you've learned since white belt--the only thing lacking from them that's on the black belt test is the extracurricular self-defense and the weapons techniques. And whatever surprise torture the testers come up with. Essentially, they're practice for the black belt test.