Just curious, how long do you all go between belt tests? IS it a set number of classes or hours or is it just XX number of months? Also, how long do the belt tests last? What all is involved in doing a belt test? Or is it just purchase the next color belt kind of thing?
This varies greatly from style to style and even among different schools in the same style. For lower belts you might test every couple months with longer times between tests. Never heard of x many classes till test but did attend a school once that had minimum training times to test, ex: You have to be a yellow belt for minimum of 6mo. before you can test for orange. At one of the local schools here the first dan or black belt test lasts four to six hours. Lower grade tests at my current school consist of performing moves on command according to association standards. These are done both solo and on a partner, becoming more complicated and done with more speed/power the higher in rank you go.
It depends on your organisation, in TAGB it is: 3 months between gradings up to blue belt. 6 months between gradings up to black tag. 1 year x your grade for each dan grading. In gradings we tend to: do linework and set techniques. do ~3 patterns of the examiner's choosing. sparring; sometimes no contact and sometimes contact with sparring gear on. 1, 2, and 3-step sparring; formal sparring techniques performed with a set routine. korean-english terminology and understanding of taekwondo patterns and philosophy.
too add, dont forget class attendance has to be over 75%, also train minimum 2 times a week or the grading times are doubled. So if you didn't train twice a week it would be 6 months between grading up to blue and 12 months for the others.... etc...
And it's a privilege not a right; if my students aren't ready, regardless of time served, they don't grade. Mitch
Grade when you are ready to grade.Unless you have aquired the required skill it makes no sense grading because a certain time period has passed.At the end of the day deep down inside you will either know you earned the next grade after passing a grading or know you scrapped through. My TKD instructor Master Eldon used to just award belts on what he saw in front of him on the day.So in theory a white belt who hadnt graded but had done a lot of practice could jump up to say a yellow with tags. More importantly it also worked the other way too,you could go down. Because the students knew about this they didnt keep going for each grading "to give it a go".If he thought you were crap he gave you belt level he thought you showed him in the grading.One particular guy was always going in for gradings even though he clearly wasnt ready,seeing him go down from a blue to a green soon stopped that. Back then you knew you had earned one of his blackbelts.Even now in the style i practice now i still carry the same grading mentality, i only grade when im 100% sure i will pass it and not scrape through. You are only kidding yourself otherwise. In fact now i care very little for belts,skill is more important, i only grade because my instructor gets the hump if i dont and he springs it upon me.I have just spent 2 years at red belt which is the equivelant of a yellow in TKD.I showed up for a class and he says to me so you are grading today and i just had to do it there and then.No big deal thats how it is on the street,you just get on with it dont you ? Remember anyone can wear a belt but if you made everyone wear white belts the skill should stand out as to who is higher grade.
Check with your instructor for how it works in your school. That said, our school used to offer tests (for those deemed "ready") every two months and we expected students to attend at least 2-3 classes per week (75 minute classes) as well as some outside practice. Now that we are on a smaller schedule (only 2 classes per week, 90 minute classes), we have to extend the time between tests to every three months, provided students are ready. In a test, we generally run a bit of line drills, air + paddle kicks + strikes, and then get into specific patterns (hyung/poomsae), step sparring, self defense, and free sparring (and breaking at each color level). Each test covers all new stuff learned plus all previous material (so don't forget the previous stuff). Black belt tests often have a "time in grade" component - the most common being a requirement of waiting the number of years equal to your current rank (1 year to 2nd dan, 2 years to 3rd dan, etc.) - some require the number of years equal to your next grade. Again, check with your instructor for the general schedule - generally they will come to you when you are ready to test.
We had a seminar yesterday with GrandMaster Chong Lee, well the "advanced" ranks did which I think was everything above white. We were able to watch. Anyway, aside from basically a regular class, there were also 2 of the 3rd dan instructors testing for 4th. Now, unless they did some other stuff previously, they did one form(no idea which one) and some sparring, sort of. Don't know what you would call it but it was basically sparring but with one guy not fighting back. THey also did everything the class was doing. So, is that typical when testing for dan grades? Having asked that however, I suppose if GM Lee was ok with it, who am I to question. Also, pretty impressed with GM Lee that at 74 he was demonstrating fully what techniques, stretches, and other things he wanted the class to do. 2 belts in 48yrs he said and the one he was wearing basically looked like a ribbon of frayed, faded gray about to fall apart. But I guess after 64yrs you dont' want a nice brand new looking belt.
For my association we, as a minimum, have to wait the number in years of the next grade we are going for i.e. 3 years for 3rd degree. This can be reduced by 6 months if the practitioner has attended an International Instructor Course (IIC).
Not as a stand alone exam.. but perhaps GM Lee was keeping an eye on the students testing, as they were going through everyting anyway at the seminar and the final stuff was just a few bits he wanted to see in more detail or put them under pressure with! As for a stand alone test, I can't speak for other schools but heres what goes on at out Dan testings: http://www.raynerslanetkd.com/RL_Black_Belts.html Stuart
The length of the test changes depending on the belt being tested for; testing for a Yellow Belt will be shorter than testing for a Blue Belt. These are the GENERAL lengths of the test at the class that I attend: Gold Belt Test: 30min Orange Belt Test: 45min Green Belt Test: 1:15hr Purple Belt Test: 1:30hr Blue Belt Test: 2hr Red Belt Test: 2:30hr Brown Belt Test: 3:30hr Black Belt Test: 4:30-5:30hr In the belt tests at my class you do general P.T( push ups, squats, leg raises, kicks), all the techniques you have been taught in all the previous belts( you do them in crazy combinations) then comes the forms( you have to do everyone you know), and then you do self-defense techniques. After that, the more advanced students(Green belts and up) do sparring.
For my 2nd dan i did a lot more than that.A stack of patterns,various breaking with kicks finished with backfisting a house brick,1 step and 3 step sparring.Sparring 1on 1 and 2 onto 1 plus exercises in a set time and all of the other stuff i was asked to perform.
What my instructor does is: 1) It's always a year between belts (just with white through black, don't know what he does exactly with the black belts when they want to go higher). 2) Tests - Every April, usually the weekend before college finals, 6 hours and includes: a) Physical b) Written 3) Written Reports according to belt level.
