Well as i found out on Saturday there were more testings. I guess they would tell us tonite & promote us as well. But at one time everyone had to wait a full week & if u got a call u know that u did pass. & there was a huge promotion ceremony at the school on the friday after the testings. But a few adults complained about something. I guess it was cause there was whole lot of kids getting promoted before they even got to the adults or it also could be that the adults felt funny getting promoted with all these little kids around them. But me i would have loved it but now i just get promoted in class. :cry: . But thats how my school works. But like Xanth said it all depends on how the school runs things.
I didn't think about the "more people testing" idea behind delaying publishing the results of the test. I've never been formally in a school that had ranks like that until now, and at only six months into Wing Chun I have yet to hit a test. Thanks for clarifying that. It sort of makes sense now, though I don't know why the couldn't tell you the result and just wait for the formal promotion to give you the new belt and the certificate, sort of like graduating from university. You know you're going to graduate, but you still need to wait to be give the diploma.
You may be assuming too much, querist. Just because the Princess didn't come back to post here in this thread until a week after she tested, doesn't mean she only just found out the results. [edit: she answered while I was composing this reply - end edit] Since I never let anyone test without them first getting a recommendation to to test, it's pretty well expected that they will pass (this is for my dojang only, not speaking for anyone else here). Due to this expectation, I always made it a point to let anyone know (privately, on the day of the test) if they did not pass. It rarely if ever happens, and those who don't pass almost never need to be told they would need to test again, after more review & practice (IOW, they would not be allowed to test if I have a make-up test scheduled). Some schools do not offer make-up tests and FWIW, in my school I only offer them if there are extenuating circumstances as to why someone couldn't make it to the regularly scheduled test (I know many MA schools offer monthly testing, not that people actually test every time a test occurs, so the wait isn't as long as it would be if using a quarterly test schedule). For the reasons I listed above, concerning expectations of not failing and not offering a make-up test date, some MA schools will hold promotions on the same day as the test. Certainly this method of instant gratification becomes problematic if a certificate is to be awarded along with a belt, as there would need to be some lag time between the day of the test & the subsequent promotions, so that all of the certificates can be processed. Hopefully this clarifies things for you, querist, as to why someone (such as KSN Princess) might not want to say anything before promotions were carried out. EDIT: Doh! I forgot about that. :bang: Nope, none at all. It's purely "work at your own pace." If a MA studio has an awful lot of students, waiting to test them all at the same time requires all sorts of details that need to be worked out (securing a sufficient number of judges/examiners are but one item on the list that could prove to be difficult with this way of doing things). Therefore testing those students who are ready, WHEN they are ready, makes the most sense. Until getting to such a phase, most start-up schools will usually test all their students together on a quarterly cycle — at least this has been what I've experienced over the years. FWIW, querist, when I studied CMA (pei shao lin), there WERE no tests and no colored belts (or colored sashes for that matter), you simply had a different title depending on how long you had consistently trained ( <1 year = novice, 1-5 years = student, >5 years = disciple, >15 years = teacher, 10 years of teaching = master — or something along these lines, as it has been quite awhile since I trained in CMA).
I understand what you're saying, but KSN Princess said in follow-up post: "The crazy part about testing is that i have to wait like almost a full week before i get to know if i passed or not." My current kwoon (Cantonese word for the place where you train) works the same way your dojang does it (apparently) - the sifu won't recommend that you test until he's sure you'll pass. The test is more of a formality and a "rite of passage" than an actual test, though I guess in theory it is possible to fail. I personally like that approach as long as there is no (implied) expectation that after n months you should be testing for x belt or whatever.
:topic: On a completely unrelated note. Red belt was my second favorite belt color to wear. Not because I have KJN envy , but becase the red just looks nice on the black uniform. Yellow is still my favorite. Yeah, I'm just a tad metrosexual when it comes to uniforms... I was the guy who always had Korean on the back of my uniform pre-black belt..even after they stopped isssuing them, I would just recycle the patches off of old uniforms.
thanks querist!!!! We are set on a 3month testing cycle & even more crazier is that its mandatory to test even if u are not ready at all! The only way u can get out of it is if u have a doctors note.
This could be an entirely separate thread just on testing practices. Every three months, ready or not. I hope you are not required to pay an extra fee to test if it is mandatory every three months. But, to the real question at hand: Why every three months? Are there that many ranks/grades that someone could, in theory, advance every three months? It makes little sense to have someone who just passed a blue-belt test to have that person test for red three months down the road. (I would think it would take longer to go from blue to red than just three months.) The only advantage I can see for the student is that the student will find out what is on the test and can then prepare accordingly for when he or she is really ready for the test. My favorite way to do it is the way my high school best friend's Ueichi Ryu dojo did it. At the end of the class, they'd announce promotions for the night. No test except for black belt. My second favorite way is the way my current kwoon handles it. Sifu will tell you when you're ready to test, and then you test. We only have six grades (seven if you count beginner-no sash), so odds are you will test about once a year. I've not made it to that point yet. What do other folks' schools do and why? I'm especially curious to hear from instructors and from other Wing Chun students.
querist, perhaps you should start a thread in the general MA sub form, then you would get a broad range of comments, also as this is the kuk sool section you may not get many other styles posting comments.
Well we have to pay $20 - 10 for the belt & 10 for the testing fee. We have stripes in between soild belts. So i would be testing either in Dec or jan for my red stripe. Cause that is the testing cycle in my school. Yes if im not wrong i think there are 11 ranks in Kuk Sool if not someone plz correct me.
I'm curious, querist, as to WHY you would think that Wing Chun stylists would be hanging out in the Kuk Sool subforum of MAP? I realize there isn't a "wing chun" subforum, but CMA ain't exactly equivalent to KMA, now is it? There is a JKD section, and if not mistaken, Bruce Lee did base much of his *new* MA system off of the style he initially trained in, so unless the lurkers on that subforum are anti-WC, it would make much more sense to search for WC practitioners there, don'cha think? :dunno: [edit: doh! :bang: Beaten to the punch by Obewan (post #29). -end edit] Only because people keep insisting on going off-topic. Most of the *regulars* who post in the kuk-sool section do their utmost not to derail a thread from its main theme, although sometimes threads do tend to *wander* from the original topic (human nature to get side-tracked, perhaps?). EDIT: I believe it's 12 geups, Princess (2 for each colored belt: white, yellow, blue, red, brown, brown/black). But since no one is expected to test for their white belt, that would make 11 rank tests to get to black belt (although the 11th test would be for chodan and dan-rank testing is often handled differently than geup-rank testing).
Because people from different arts read and sometimes comment in sections that are not directly related to their specific arts. I believe a moderator or two were very specific in saying that sections that are named for one art in particular should not and cannot require those who do not practice their particular art not to post there. In other words, a question was posted that applies to all. It just happened to be posted in the Kuk Sool Won area.
:topic: 0FF-TOPIC :topic: Don't I know it! But most non-practitioners of kuk-sool seem to come here mainly to trash either the art or the people who train in it. Hell, I've been known to post in other sections of MAP myself, but if there weren't a kuk-sool section, I wouldn't ask questions about this MA in say, the ninja subforum or the one for karate or judo or AKD, rather I'd go to something like the HKD section, seeing as how kuk-sool was largely based on HKD. This is all I meant when suggesting that you might attract more flies with honey than you will with vinegar. Read more closely, querist, as I never suggested that you not post here in the kuk-sool section. In fact, I said basically the same thing as Obewan, and you thanked him for his input. Just because I asked why you were so haphazard in WHERE you asked your question, rather than simply point you in the direction where it might prove more useful to ask it, you assume I'm being hostile. Far from it, my friend, so no need to go crying to the moderators nor "quote" me what they said, as if that will somehow stop me from imploring you to be more reasonable about derailing threads and whatnot. For the record, querist, this is NOT the KSW section of MAP. Rather, it's merely named KUK SOOL (no WON, in other words). Due to recent changes adopted by WKSA (the parent organization of KSW), it does make a difference when asking about certain things (just so you know). EDIT: It might also interest you to know, querist, that a thread I started here in the kuk sool section got moved by the mods since it was deemed "unrelated to kuk sool" (that and the fact that a bunch of *non-soolers* decided to run amok on that thread and totally derail it). So apparently it does matter where you decide to post certain things here on MAP, according to the arbitrary decisions handed down by the powers that be. :thinking:
The fact that we are limited to written words here makes it much more difficult to ascertain intention. I was not implying that you were hostile. I was simply answering your question. I thought that the discussion flowed naturally from the previous point. I have started a thread in the general area, however. I was not aware of the changes in the WKSA, nor am I familiar with Kuk Sool or Kuk Sool Won other than what I have read here on MAP. It is unfortunate that people will intentionally go to an area on the forum primarily intended to discuss a specific art and, as you put it, "trash either the art or the people who train in it". That is certainly not my intent, especially since I know next to nothing about Kuk Sool.
The short version of that little exchange (between me & querist)... querist: No offense. unknown-KJN: None taken.
Simple summary: KSW is Kuk Sool Won , an organization within the arts collectively known as Kuk Sool. These include, but are not limited to: Mu Sool Won, Kuk Sul Do, Kuk Sool Hapkido, etc.....ad infinitum
Totally off-topic and all, but how's that list you were working on, Xanth? Any further progress to report? I could've sworn there was a thread detailing most of the kuk-sool groups, but when I took a quick peek I only noticed the following thread which merely mentions your collection, but not the actual collection itself: Another Kuk Sool ? EDIT: Aha! A little digging is all it took (actually, a lot of digging). The Kuk Sool List
Well as you know me Unk, you'll also know that I very rarely train (or walk around outside in real life) without wearing some kind of footwear. And if you've ever been up close and personal with a Savate boot at any time in your life you'll know that the edge of those boots are chamfered/angled/rounded somewhat (please see pictures attached). And if I were to be wearing hobnail boots, with a mini 'horseshoe' on the heel, you can bet your life which bit of those I'd be using too! At the end of the day, the ankle is a hinge joint – albeit a rather loose one. So I much prefer to pull my toes back and point my heel when doing a side kick (or any kind of stomp kick) irrespective of whether I'm wearing Savate boots, hobnail boots, or no boots at all.
