testing..

[bullet08]

two weekends ago.. or was 3.. i passed my 2-kyu test.

it was kinda strange. for some reason, i expected some report on my testing from the panel of judges. they were busy writing something down it seems, but when i went up to them after the testing, they didn't have anything written down. then i remember none of the martial art testing has any score sheet.. or comment sheet on test performance.

it would help greatly if one can learn from past mistake in promotion testing, and some sort of test performance comment from the judge will help on what needs to be improved and so on.

pete

[joekc6nlx]

At the Detroit tournament, I watched the promotion exams. Especially at the shodan exam, the judges explained the performance of each of the testees.

I don't know how the other regions would handle it, but I would be the one who would ask my sensei if he knew what the judges felt I had done wrong. Then again, when I went up for a new license level for my ham radio, I was only concerned that I passed.

I'm sure that if there are any deficiencies, your sensei will help you with them.

[kendokamax]

there is normaly so many people to judge, how would they actually remember you?

especialy for lower grade...they only wait for one "ok" men and it's a passed examination..

[Neil Gendzwill]

We have comment sheets at the grading we run, some judges write quite a few notes, others don't.

[KevinF]

Since most gradings are done with the zekken removed (to maintain a semblance of aynomity) and numbers in its place, an examiner on your panel may be hard pressed to remember you. Different regional and national kendo federation may, of course, have slightly different criteria for examinations, but most often, the grading sheets list the criteria and judges assign X's or circles to each. Circles mean you got it, X's mean you missed it (like use of semai, ashifumikomi, other basics, etc.). Most examiners may not have time or see need to make notes on the sheets - they are looking for specific things. This explains why they may call off the shinsa keiko after only a few moments (they saw enough to make decisions).

Depending on the rank being tested, you may need to get 3 of 5 judges, or 5 or 7 to pass, etc. As far as I know, the grading sheets are confidential.

[Neil Gendzwill]

Just looking over the sheets from last year, there were quite a few useful notes. So if you ask the panel members, they may be able to refer to their notes by your number and help you out. Frankly, if you were bad enough to fail an ikkyu or shodan exam, they may well remember you. But for the lower ranks, I'll bet your own sensei was watching your exam closely and can tell you what you did wrong. It was probably all the same stuff you already knew you were doing wrong, amplified by pressure.

For the more senior ranks, of course all this numbering stuff is a smokescreen and they know exactly who you are (outside of Japan, anyways). I'm sure you can get constructive criticism from the panel.

[joekc6nlx]

there is normaly so many people to judge, how would they actually remember you?

especialy for lower grade...they only wait for one "ok" men and it's a passed examination..
At the Detroit tournament, they had the lower ranks divided into groups. Each "group" represented a grade for which they were testing. That way, they didn't try to grade all of the -kyu ranks at once.

For the shodan/nidan/sandan, they divided them into ranks again. So each testee got a number based on the rank they were testing for. Five testing for shodan, so they got numbers 101, 102, 103, etc. Nidan got 201, 202, etc.

After each rank had tested, the judges commented on the performance, gave feedback (some of it quite strongly), and then dismissed the testees to await the final decision. The decisions were then posted at the Chief Judge's table.

I think the way it was handled was very well organized, especially with the number of people who were testing. I don't know how other regions do it, since I've only seen two promotion exams. My own region, ECUSKF, has promotions this weekend, but because of an injury, I can't test.