Still trying to figure out the instructions and symbols on this forum. They are like the techniques shown in our Aikido class: "Figure it out for yourself and it will have more meaning to you." With that in mind and a purely amorphous grasp of anything Aikido, why should I test in it? I have only been at it six years in my current school. I enjoy the people and the activity. I have not done so much "follow the leader" since kindergarten. The endless variations are indeed unique and if you don't get one or several, no problem; you will never see/recognize it/them again. But if I do not have someone to imitate, it does not happen.

In my former school we were taught the syllabus. I could take home a technique and practice it on my buds. Now I cannot remember a variation out the door. (My buds are relieved.)

If I am not grasping new things in a memorable fashion, what purpose would there be in wasting my instructors' time with testing my knowledge?

a test is from my point of view a way of charting your progression through the art until you make it your own. I as well study a style in which we are told to make it our own Takemusu, just to put that out there but testing in the instructors eyes proves to them that they are seeing their instruction work and that they are reaching out to the students.

Testing serves two different purposes. It not only shows the student's progress, it's an method of the teacher evaluating whether or not the information is getting through.

You will have some students that aren't good at testing, but perform well in class, and others that do the opposite, so it's also a method of giving both kinds of students a place to "shine". "Performing under pressure" isn't all it's cracked up to be in most testing circumstances, because most MA players have a few base techniques that they depend on, and having 10 million that can be called up on demand won't change their response in "real" circumstances.

Personally, I hate the tests that take all day, because it's nothing more than an ego trip to make somebody jump through the hoops until they drop. If you aren't getting any information out of the testing, it's useless.

There has to be some balance in how tests are conducted... and there should be "new information" coming out of it. If all you're testing for is to award another rank, you can do that in class without all the hoopla... but of course, that would do away with all those pesky "testing fees".

Time for your next test... cha ching....

"... cha ching...."

Yeah, I wa$ gonna add that third rea$on for te$ting.