Belt Testing
Belts are awarded when a student has mastered the required skills. For school-age students, evidence of good citizenship and grades is equally important in deciding whether promotion has been earned. Regardless of age, the belt system has several great benefits:
Ultimately, the greatest benefit is self-determination: It is amazing how quickly students decide to modify their own behavior when faced with not earning their next belt!
The schedule for testing and rank promotion correlates to the curriculum cycle, which is 8 to 10 weeks long for beginning students. During this cycle, students will earn stripes that correspond to various aspects of the curriculum. Stripes represent shorter-term goals and ensure mastery of the required material. Stripe testing is performed in class and takes place approximately every two to three weeks. After earning a second stripe, the student is given a graduation application. The completed application must be returned by the last day of the third stripe test. After earning four stripes, the student is eligible for rank promotion and is invited to attend the graduation ceremony.
If a student misses stripe testing week, they can make have a make-up test in class within the following week.
The purpose of the graduation ceremony is for the student to receive their new belt, certificate, and any awards they may have earned. Graduation dates are announced closer to the fourth stripe test and are not on a set schedule. On average, the graduation ceremony takes place five times each year.
If a student is unable to attend the graduation ceremony, they will receive their belt, certificate, and any awards they have earned in class.
The time it takes for a student to earn their next belt depends on various factors, chief of which is the difficulty of the curriculum. Here is a general break-down of the time it takes for students to progress through the curriclum.
Students testing for the lower belts generally earn rank promotion three to four times a year. This is highly dependent upon whether they train without breaks (2-3 times a week or 12 hours of training a month).
Students preparing for intermediate belt graduation are typically on a different testing schedule because advanced skills require more training time to achieve mastery. Rank promotion may require at least six months of solid preparation (average training of 32 hours per month).
Higher belt promotion typically requires anywhere between one year to several years. This depends upon how often the student attend advanced classes (including sparring), their technique progression, and whether the instructors agree the student is adequately prepared.
Black belt promotion requires a considerable amount of focus and preparation. Eligibility for testing at this level requires a stringent adherence to the curriculum of the school's curriculum and of the official governing body of Olympic Taekwondo. This is a significant achievement in an athlete's training and occurs only after Master Brown, the instructors, and the governing body agree a student is prepared. The rank of black belt is not awarded if a student does not participate in sparring classes.
The graduation application is a great way to teach responsibility to our younger students. The hope is that they learn to take ownership in completing the application. They're also learning to be accountable for what's in the application:
