Surprisefull exam

Yesterday I had a 2kyu exam, that turned out to be a 1kyu exam. I had trained some of the 2nd and 1st stuff, but I was called to show the stuff for 1st kyu. Which I did, and which was good enough to grant me 1st kyu. Some stuff that wasn't on the examlist had to be performed, which surprised me even more, but it went well.

Has anybody else had similar surprisefull experiences during exams etc.?

I was attending an Iaido seminar in Canada several years ago.
I was asked if I was there to test for kyu. I said I was unaware that I could.
They asked which kyu would I test for. I said any kyu they would give me, because at the time I was so new to grading, I did not know if kyu counted up or down.
My sensei was an excellent teacher. Otherwise why else would they have granted me a 1st Kyu?
Talk about surprised!

Never happened to me, but I was working with a guy once who was new to Aikido. I was asked to go through the 6th kyu stuff with him. My old Aikido class only graded annually (i.e. they only graded once a year) and we were waayyyy off the next grading date. The guy was moving through the material pretty well so I asked him one night if he wanted to do some 5th kyu stuff.

The guy was from Slovakia so English wasn't his first language, so there were always a few problems communicatiing. It got to the point were I think he believed the 5th kyu requirements were part of the 6th kyu stuff. After trying to explain what was what, I ended up just doing all of the 6th and 5th stuff with him.

Come grading time, we were doing the stuff and he needed for 6th kyu. As the guy was so use to continuing on after 6th kyu kata, he ploughed on into the 5th kyu stuff. The examiner asked him to do some more stuff after seeing this and awarded the guy his 5th Kyu instead of his 6th.

Good for him!

Hello Ives:

Surprises sure...

I keep expecting any day now they'll ask for all this "rank" back someday soon.

"... ooops sorry about that, it was a mistake on my part... I came to my senses... I'd like it back a from you please..."



Jeff (Only half kidding)

Let's just hope it was good enough for keepers.
At least within our individual schools.

Unless if you've only been training less than 3 months, anyone can take a kyu exam to know what level you are at.

Surprised or not, if you pass a kyu exam, you deserve it. Congrats!

Happened to me. Had a surprise exam for 3rd dan a few months ago. Congratulations to you! They don't invite you to test if they don't expect you to pass. Sometimes they deliberately want to see what you can do without a lot of exam cramming. We train so that we are learning and prepared all the time. Now keep up your studies.

Hate to rehash an old post but I was talking with a friend today and he mentioned something I have never heard of.

He said at his kids TKD school that the instructor will take back a rank if the kid acts up in class and then they have to retake the same test to get the belt back.

I am not sure how I feel on this and was curious if others have experiences this practice.

Thanks,

I've heard about this before but never seen it done. I have no problem with it as rank is somewhat symbolic IMO and a reward of merit and ability. If a student shows they are not mature enough to hold a rank and it can be taken away, I'm all for it. (unless it's just a scheme to get testing fees or some other scam)

On the same note, I'm actually in favor or ranks being earned on a continual basis, not a one time thing. In other sports your ranking is based on your level of ability at the moment. Tiger Woods wa the #1 golfer in the world, then his play slipped as did his rank. MA should have something similar, not exactly the same of course but a separation of achieved ranks and current ability ranks is an interesting idea to me.

I have never heard of this taking the rank away, but I like it. I think that this would be a good way to motivate the kids to engage in correct behavior. Lets be honest, alot of the rank given to children is there to build their self-esteem and charactor development. It should be seen as differant than adult rank.
My only qualifier would be that if rank is taken away the repeat of the testing shouldn't involve more fees.

I see it as a nuclear option if a student really shows poor character, either inside or outside the school.

But it could be a big stick, when a student is promoted they could be told the rank carries a responsibility to uphold the character of the school both in/out. I think it's an important part of training, though it's fallen by the wayside quite a bit.

I don't mean some deep almost religious code, just basic good citizenship all around.

I also think that there is a lesson to be taught to the parents of the kids. There is more to do than just pay your testing fees and junior gets a black belt.
There's not much worse than seeing a child with a black belt on his waist causing trouble.
I guess I'm hard core about this, but I believe that children should be put in a holding pattern at brown belt until they reach the age of 16.
I can say this because I don't have a school to run.Mine would no doubt go belly up.

just some thoughts, Mark

Our school has something called a junior black belt for students under the age of 18, which is written on their certificates.
They don't feel that most kids these days are mature enough to understand the responsibility of holding a black belt.
Exceptions have been made, but not very many.
When they turn 18, they are interviewed by the instructors, then given a normal black belt certificate.

We don't have those problems, since you can only attend classes from the age of 15 and above. By the time you can reach shodan, you'll be 18+.

But taking a belt away, that's kind of bogus in my opinion. What happened to the good ol' leccture by seniors?

If you aren't mature enough (character wise aswell) for certain rank, you won't get promoted in our school. Let alone get a surprise exam!

Interesting responses, tks.

I guess I can agree with it but in this case I was told the person would retest and pay the fee again. That to me sounds like a money making scheme.

I like that way of doing things. That way they keep motivated and let them grow up.
We are fortunate to be training in good schools. There are so many out there that just churn out the black belts.

keep training hard Choonbee!!

Mark

I think that there are more schools like ours than most would think, but they aren't the most popular schools around because they are the type of schools that make you earn everything, and nothing is given to you.
To me, even though that mindset isn't popular with the mainstream, it's a good thing in this age of instant gratification.