Why have the written section? Isn't demonstrating to your instructors your capability to defend yourself during a test good enough? I'm not seeing the point of having a written section of a martial arts test?
Indeed, that is a large part of why we have written tests--our students should be able to talk about the martial arts (and fighting) with technical and precise language, and with thought. Furthermore, written tests are the only way to really test historical knowledge, besides oral exams, which we have as well.
Ou r tests in 8 step start with endurance then you show what you learned and application then your test is over. Our teacher informs us when we are ready to test which is usually a few weeks after we think we're ready. You can only get three strikes in our tests so its best to wait till he says your ready. He lets us learn at our own pace so there is no set time to test, just when the student is ready. Our teacher waits till you have it down good enough to suit him the higher the level of your test the more critical he is of posture stance etc. since our stances are quite lowit takes time to build your muscles up to get them perfect.
testing Testing a student when he is "ready" opens an entire discussion on the individual instructor's perception.
Pretty much how our school is run. It's very traditional in the way Sifu decides personally when each of his students are ready to go to the next level of their training. We don't use a belt/sash system, but we do have set curriculum for different levels of training. Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and then a Sifu curriculum for those who make it that far and then they may be asked to become Sifu's. Time between levels of training is all dependent on the students level of learning and training. An average would be 1-2 years from beginner to intermediate, 6-8 years from intermediate to advanced, probably 10-12 years to start training to be a Sifu. Testing time varies on how many people are testing. It can be 1 or 12 people testing at one time. Covers everything from a verbal exam, forms, demonstrating techniques, and an endurance. The endurance part of the exam alone takes about an hour. - ft
