Hey, I saw a thread like this in the TKD section, I figure'd I'd run off with the idea. Lets hear some stories, what was your black belt test like? What was your favorite part? Where did you excel? Were you worried? Cheers.
My black belt test was about an hour and 15 minutes. That is 75 minutes too long as far as I am concerned. You should be testing everyday on the mat. Another ceremony where you get to show people your stuff is overkill in my opinion. You should work your butt off and one day you show up and you get told to change your belt color. No cheering, no celebration, just here's another step, now get back out on the mat and sweat some more.
My test was 6.5 hours long (for WHKD). I performed everything I knew at medium to full contact (depending on the technique). After that, a sub-set of those techniques/sets were done against fully resisting opponents (people who, for instance, during a punch counter, started kicking). A 30 minute horse-stance was thrown in there as well, as was a lot of cardio drills, multi-man drills, sparring, etc. At one point, I had to defend myself against a club at full speed. My WHKD/TSD test (which I took several years earlier) was 8 hours long, as much like my WHKD, except I had to jump rope for an hour (in addition to everything else) while being randomly attacked throughout the test. For both, the best part of them was pushing myself and adapting to the various situations they threw at me (like being blind-folded). The worst part is the after-math, and not being able to move without pain for several days.
My BB test was from 9 am till 5 pm, with 6 months of pretesting. We got one break for like 5 minutes for water.
I like that But I think my teacher likes to use the tests as an opportunity to see you perform under more pressure than usual - even if you added it to yourself by building up "The Test" as some super-big-deal. Well, also, he's a bit sadistic at times I think
I am just curious. From the people that have those Marathon tests where you have to walk uphill both ways in the snow... What is the percentage of people that have failed at your school's BB testing?
I think you have to be a bit sadistic in order to be an instructor...that's at least how my instructors were.
I had to run from my dojo to the city limits and back while carrying a 80lb sack of flour, do 400 pushups, situps, and squats, perform 150 katas while holding kettlebells, and finally fight off 3 starved grizzly bears. What do I win?
SifuJason, I'm interested to know more when people say things like their BB test was 6.5 hours. Do you mean you tested with other people and it took that long? Did you get breaks or were you working all out for every minute of those 6.5 hours? You had to jump rope for 1 hour??? I can't see the relevance but I guess each club is different.
It isn't a real test unless they poured honey and smoked salmon chunks all over your flesh. Seriously...WHKD does that. Wimp
I think the overall failure rate for brown and black belt tests combined is about 40%, but that is just a rough guestimate. The reason I am including brown belt tests is because curriculum-wise they are almost the same (all that is different is two additional forms for black) and so often they are used as a "pre-test" for black. Additionally, when going for black, at least in WHKD, the testing board consists of 3 black belts, and your instructor is not one of them. Instead, your instructor is your coach. This sets up a system where-by you aren't usually allowed to test for your black unless your instructor thinks your are ready, because it is both shameful for him and for you if you fail, and it also fosters a sense of comradere (sp?) between you and your mentor which lasts a lifetime.
Of the 6.5 hours, I probably had 30 minutes in breaks; mostly because I was battling my first flare-up of ulcerative colitis, and had perpetual diarrhea. I was also testing solo at that test. At my 8 hour test (with the jumping rope) my father was also testing for his black, as was a 10 yr? old for his junior black. We probably had about 30 minutes in breaks then as well. As for the necessity in jumping rope; it was mostly a test of will. Regardless of the number of people, however, you are busy the entire time in a WHKD test. If there are different levels testing, they end the test early and are either dismissed or stay and help out with the upper belts' testing after they have recovered a bit.
lol...hey, for being 14 i did ok. the other people in the test started the night before and honestly, the test was pretty much hazing. we had to: run 2 miles to a park, get water thrown at us while doing forms, (no drinking unless they said so), do shuffling side kicks for 2 miles back from the park, dance in the middle of a street (the chicken dance mind you) and sing the song we were dancing to, spar with a trash dumpster, push ups for no reason other than the guy running the test thought we didn't kiai loud enough, answer questions that pertained to bruce lee movies (yes, i said bruce lee movies) and when we got the question wrong, it was more push-ups, get shot at by dart guns, do techniques on each other while getting various objects thrown at you, and much more lovely hazing activities. sounds like a fun test, right? Oh yeah, and the first 2 hours were spent doing basic punches and kicks...20 per command. My 2nd degree test was just as bad, but more compact. 30 basic handstrikes and kicks per command, an obstacle course where someone got their nose broken (not a normal obstacle course), balancing on poles (this stuff wasn't bad), getting zipped up in a body bag, getting the body bag tossed in the dumpster, sparred with a tree, got put in a pit and buried up to my elbows and was told i had 10 minutes to get out of the dirt pit, do some forms and techniques, spar 3 times and that's the end of my test because one of my partners dislocated my knee and Fred Villari relocated it and passed me, but failed the other guy for lack of control.
