2024-10-09

Teaching my regular classes at the Ross Farnsworth - East Valley YMCA.

Ten students are eligible for testing on Monday so I spent the whole night going over the test and giving each student one or two pointers to improve their performance. Of course, no one will be fixing any major problems between now and Monday, but then again if anyone had “major problems” I probably wouldn’t encourage them to test in the first place.

After we’d gotten through all the material I intended to cover, I spoke to everyone about “making mistakes.” Of course you’re going to make mistakes. We all make mistakes, particularly when we’re under stress, and karate tests can be very stressful for some people.

But a test is not a tournament. In a tournament, judges are looking for any little mistake to differentiate you from your opponents. In a test, I try to determine your usual level of performance. If your side kick is awful on test day, but I’ve seen you do it right 1000 times, I account for that. Then again, if your kata is amazing on test day, but you just “phone it in” every day in class, I account for that too.

That’s not to say that testing isn’t important. It is. Your performance on test day is the most important factor in determining your “score.” I’m just saying that most instructors are able (and willing) to temper the effect of “outliers” on your results.