Yellow Belt Test

splazzatch

Orange Belt
On Saturday I took my Yellow Belt test and it brings up some questions for you all..

How long did your Yellow Belt test take? Mine took 3 hours.

How much time were you in before you tested? I was in for 5 months.
 
I don't know the answer right now but my friend that takes isshinryu with me got past a yellow belt in shotokan*sp?* i can tell you tommoro. what he tells me. Reason being i have 3 hours classes tuesday thursday.
 
Hmm, I think when I took mine, it took maybe 10 or 15 minutes. It's been almost 4 years now so I can't remember too well all the details :) Anyway there was a whole bunch of us testing for it at the same time, I guess around 20 or so. I think I had been training about 4 months before the test (I don't have the dates with me)
 
The test at our school lasts 1 hour.

But, as that includes all of the lower belts, when testing for yellow, we were able to sit down after the first 15 minutes or so, while the higher belts continued their tests.

At our school ... yellow belt testing consists of ...

13 techniques
Short Form 1 (sometimes, the Head Instructor works both sides)
Blocking Set 1

The instructor may ask a few questions. The students may have to recite some pledges.

In the week leading up to the test, there are some physical requirements that must be met ... sit-ups, push-ups, heavy bag punches, kicks, and sparring rounds. At the Yellow belt level, these requirements may take 30 to 45 minutes total time to complete.

The test is private. A promotion ceremony is held later, usually the next day, where all friends and family are invited.
 
For me session itself took about 1,5 hours and I did techniques about 30-45 minutes.
This was about 5 years ago and in Wado-ryu.
 
When I tested for yellow belt, the test took about 45 min. I had been training for four months. I tested for advanced yellow two months after that (my current belt) and just before x-mas I will be testing for Orange belt. All of our belt tests seem to take about 45 min to an hour if that helps any.
 
Interesting that a yellow belt test (assuming yellow comes after white) took that long, but some dojos are known for that.

Most exams I've taken in various styles would last 60-90 minutes. Each school has held the philisophy that the exam was more of a formality, since you wouldn't be given the opportunity to test unless the chief instructor felt you were ready.
 
I'm sure it differes from school to school. In Ko Sutemi our minimum time requirement from white to yellow was 2 months. I was in a little over 2 months when the belt test came up.

As for the test itself, all of the students who were testing tested at the same time (except black belt). So, the whole test took a few hours.

For the actual test, I had to demonstrate and explain our 8 basic techniques, perform 2 katas, and spar (for about 10 minutes maybe). So, I'd have to say the test took 20 minutes, give or take.

Even today, if I were to test, I'd have to explain the same basics, do the same 2 katas, and spar. Maybe I'm in the remedial black belt program and just don't know it?
 
With the tests for my students I observe them while they are testing for around 2 mos at the yellow belt level. The final part of the test takes 1-2 hours depending on what I have observed during observation. For myself I can't remember back that far to give you an answer.
 
It varies considerably. I was simply handed my first yellow belt; at other times I've had hour-long tests for it. (Longer ones for higher belts.) It will depend on the school.
 
My first yellow belt test was about an hour and I had been in that school about 4 months. The next time I tested fo a yellow I had been in 6 months ( but had mad black in a different system) and the test took about 1 1/2 hours.


I'm testing a person for yellow tonight and he has been in a year the test will take at least an hour also testing a green who has been in over 2 1/2 years now I figure the whole testing tonight will run at least 3 hours to complet both tests
 
For higher belts, and actually for any belt, our sensei has said that he only needs to see one technique to know which belt anyone deserves. At first I was a bit sceptical about that statement, but nowadays I don't he has exaggerated at all
 
We have a small school, so I guess tests do not come along very often. Once maybe twice a year. My first test was stripes on my white belt at about 8 months in. I tested for yellow about 3 months after that. So now I have been there for a year and a half. Waiting for next test, be it for stripes or green belt. Hopefully green. Half of the time we are not working curriculum, which would speed up the process. We usually concentrate on curriculum near test date, and then your scrambling. Both tests were about an 45min to hour. Mostly techniques, then a little ground work basics. But overall its not the belt but if I happy at what I am learning. And I am.
 
To drift a little from topic I think most instructors know well befor a test if a students can/will pass.
The point of the test (in this case yellow) is to do what. What is/was expected of you in that test.
Not trying to steal the thread but what was/is expected on the test may help decide how long the test takes or how long befor you can take it
 
splazzatch said:
On Saturday I took my Yellow Belt test and it brings up some questions for you all..

How long did your Yellow Belt test take? Mine took 3 hours.

How much time were you in before you tested? I was in for 5 months.

Not sure about yellow belt because with my current sensei there are no yellow belt.. only 6 kyu ranks. Our first belt is white then blue, then purple, then brown, then black.

My blue belt test is about 4 hours, I was tested after 6 months. The material was: reiho, stretching, ukemi, kihon, kata (kihon kata, sanchin, naihanchi), jiyu ippon kumite, goshinjutsu randori and finally Jujutsu kata (idori, tachiai). No jiyu kumite yet.

Sensei has this habit of varying the test material every year so that the seniors cannot 'leak' the information to juniors about what to prepare for.. he likes to make the tests unpredictable :)
 
I was in for a little over 4 months and it took...no s**t, seven and a half hours.

There was a lot of people testing that day, but we stayed VERY active the entire time...kata, techniques, "the box", running, pushups/situps/jump-squat-thrusts, jumping jacks...

glad I did it, but seems to me now to be an obscene amount of time :) . That was over 12 years ago now in a little school in NW PA...that building is now a motorcycle shop, I think.
 
I don't remember how long mine took or really how it happened it was over 20 years ago. However in my system is takes on average 2-3 months of training to get to yellow and the test takes about an hour.
 
The time and intensity vary a lot between schools and arts.

In Wado I tested for red belt (our belt order is White-Red-Yellow) after three and a half month. We go trough all the stuff up to the appropriate belt so the time the test takes is almost porportionate with your rank. Red belt test were probably under 15 minutes, but pretty intense.

In Ju Jutsu we tested for yellow stripe (White-Yellow stripe-Yellow-Orange) after only seven weeks. The test was about 45 minutes long but had a pretty relaxed pace.

In Kobudo I tested for 5.Kyu after about five months.
The test was a bit heavy on cermony and you go on and off the mat a few times. Probably took about 45 minutes.
 
My girls just got their Yellow(Junior) last week, I wasn't there so not certain how long testing was but they've been at it for 3 months. When I have been there I've often seen one of the Senior Students(I think they call it leadership program students) took all white belts to one side of the Dojo to work on forms and another took all the Yellows to the other end to work on their forms while the Sensei continued teaching the Orange Belts, seen this usually at least once a week.

They train here in Brooklyn at Amerikick under Sensei's Ross Levine, Alex Davydov and Vlad Davydov, can't say how they are training Adults but they are GREAT with kids. And the kids always LOVE seeing all Sensei Ross's new Trophy's.

You can see some pix at my girls website(I made it of course) at
http://www.geocities.com/welovekarate

Skennen Peace
 
I don't have my yellow belt yet, but I have my yellow stripe, so, close enough. Our test took place over a period of two days; four hours one day, two and a half the other. The first day consisted of techniques, kata, weapons, and tests to show how physically fit we were. Our second day was kumite. I've been in the class for a little over five months now.
 
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