Testing at US Wushu Academy Eve
ry month a select group USWA students appear before the school's testing bo
ard to demonstrate their readiness to exchange their belts for new ones, sy
mbolizing the next level of expertise.Following the concept instituted by t
he Beijing Wushu Team, Academy students first earn their belt stripes and,
once the training coach makes the determination that individual students ar
e qualified for testing, they are then recommended to the board. The school
does not conduct block examinations; instead, each student is tested accor
ding to his or her particular skill level. As the Academy continues to grow
, the number of instructors and judges is expected to increase in the near
future as well, and they will play a more active role in testing.Coach Pei
will continue to attend the examination ceremonies, but he probably will no
t directly take part in judging students. The goal is to encourage other in
structors to become involved in the process, place greater responsibilities
on senior students, and ensure continuity in the school.
Inst
ructors will be held accountable for the student's preparedness to be teste
d and her or his ability to meet the challenge successfully. A student fail
s to pass the examination when he or she does not meet the scoring criteria
Testing at US Wushu Academy corresponding to the rank and skill necessary t
o advance to the next level.The higher the rank, the higher the score that
the student is expected to attain. Moreover, the test score should be indic
ative of the student's relative competitiveness, in that it also reflects t
he score he or she is likely to receive in the course of a competition. In
other words, if a student has scored 8.5 in a school test and knows that a
rival competitor has a 9.0 score, it is clear that skills will have to be i
mproved significantly before he or she is ready to engage in a competition.
The successful student will demonstrate skill in performing the form,
proper attitude, and familiarity with the examination protocol. The number
of students tested every month varies, but rarely exceeds 20, and the time
scheduled for the entire group does not go beyond two and one half hours.
Unlike some schools, US Wushu Academy does not have fixed testing schedules
for students because progress in skills depends on personal abilities and
class attendance frequency. Classes at the Academy cannot be compared
with regular school classes where students are expected to be present every
day; the US Wushu Academy student comes whenever he or she has time for tr
aining. Moreover, testing only when the coach is confident that the student
is prepared to pass the test successfully is financially more advantageous
to the student, who is spared from incurring testing fee expenses three or
four times a year.The Academy has a flat fee for all examinations and does
not follow the practice in some schools, where costs increase as students
advance to more senior skill levels. The youngest students to be tested at
the USWA are five year olds who undergo the same procedures and protocols a
s adult students. However, it is the responsibility of the instructor to en
sure that the child is ready, qualified, and that he or she will pass succe
ssfully. For example, if the passing requirement for white belt is a s
core of 5.0, the instructor must be confident that the student is at least
at the level of 5.5, so that when performing before the testing board, he o
r she will do so with a margin for error that should help him or her make t
he passing grade. Junior Taijiquan and Wushu students will be tested by sen
ior US Wushu Academy black belt instructors certified by the Academy, who w
ill be applying exactly the same judging criteria that are used by the Inte
rnational Wushu Federation. |