Recently, we held one of our periodic belt exams. While students are patiently awaiting the exam results, I thought that I’d share my thoughts on what these exams mean to me. In life, there are all kinds of exams that may vary, depending upon the purpose these serve. I’d like to focus on just two specific types which I’ll call, the Final Exam approach and the Entrance Exam approach.

For many folks, passing a belt exam means that “you’ve done it and achieved the rank.” So, whether it’s a yellow belt or attaining the black belt, one may naturally think that he/she is now fully qualified to proudly wear the rank that’s just been awarded. From this perspective, the student treats the test as a Final Exam and has a feeling akin to completing his/her studies and graduating from high school or college. One can now pause and look back on all that has been learned to get to this milestone. From such a perspective, each test seems to be a Final Exam which means they have mastered the previous rank and have graduated to a higher level.

I guess that you may be surprised if I say that your instructors may not look at it in quite the same way. Instead, when we say that you’ve passed a belt test, we see it as an Entrance Exam or first tentative step into the next level. For example, if you are awarded a 7kyu green belt, we’re saying that we believe that you have the potential to become a competent 7kyu green belt. Like taking and passing an entrance exam to attend a university – we believe and hope that you can accomplish all the studies and requirements needed to succeed in an institution of higher learning. Ironically, I’ve read that nearly 25% of the students accepted by four-year colleges drop out during their first year(!). For various reasons, only around a third of the incoming students graduate by the end of four years. Since all your senseis and senpais are college graduates, we are all very familiar with this basic phenomenon of life. The same is true of most life endeavors and the study of Karate-Do is no different. Having a Final Exam perspective may explain why so many excellent students who persevere and make it to the Shodan (first level black belt) feel like they’ve “graduated” and quit shortly thereafter. Fortunately, there are others who see it as their initial entry into a life-long study of the art. While you are the beneficiaries of the old-time black belts who help share the art with you, each of them knows that reaching the dan level wasn’t the end of their learning, but signified their entry into the knowledge/experience that years of training continue to unlock for them.

What is the basic difference between a Final Exam and an Entrance Exam? The former looks backward, indicating the end of a process; while the latter’s focus is set firmly on the future. I believe that a student is best served by treating the results of each belt test seriously as passing an entrance exam and training hard to prove to the evaluators that he/she deserves the rank that they have joined.

Of course, looking at rank this way, the only belt one can competently wear as soon as it’s given to you is…the white belt! 😉 (Note, no exam needed)