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Old 11-26-2007, 02:59 PM   #1
bob_s
Join Date: Nov 2007
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ASU testing requirements

Hello,
The testing requirements for the ASU are listed like:

Rokyu (30 hours/3 months)

Gokyu (60 hours/4 months)

Yonkyu (60 hours/4 months)

Sankyu (70 hours/4 months)

Nikyu (80 hours/6 months)

Ikkyu (90 hours/6 months)

Does that mean that one must wait 4 months after Rokyu before testing for Gokyu, or that one must practice for 4 months TOTAL before testing for Gokyu?

Thanks
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Old 11-26-2007, 03:19 PM   #2
Jim Sorrentino
 
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Re: ASU testing requirements

Quote:
Robert Schwartz wrote: View Post
Does that mean that one must wait 4 months after Rokyu before testing for Gokyu, or that one must practice for 4 months TOTAL before testing for Gokyu?
To be eligible to test for gokyu, one must practice a minimum of 60 days over a minimum four-month period after testing for rokyu. Per the 3rd edition of the ASU handbook, "only one hour per day may count in computing time requirements." (See http://www.aikido-nova.org/asuhandbook.pdf, page 6.) Again, please keep in mind that these are minimum requirements.

I hope this is helpful.

Jim
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Old 11-26-2007, 04:27 PM   #3
Fred Little
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Re: ASU testing requirements

Quote:
Jim Sorrentino wrote: View Post
Again, please keep in mind that these are minimum requirements.

Jim
Not to put too fine a point on it, I have heard it said that "these are minimum requirements for individuals training in a shihan's dojo."

Best,

FL
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Old 11-26-2007, 05:06 PM   #4
bob_s
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Re: ASU testing requirements

thanks all.
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Old 11-27-2007, 02:02 PM   #5
ramenboy
Dojo: midwest aikido center
Location: chicago
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Re: ASU testing requirements

Quote:
Jim Sorrentino wrote: View Post
To be eligible to test for gokyu, one must practice a minimum of 60 days over a minimum four-month period after testing for rokyu. Per the 3rd edition of the ASU handbook, "only one hour per day may count in computing time requirements." (See http://www.aikido-nova.org/asuhandbook.pdf, page 6.) Again, please keep in mind that these are minimum requirements.

I hope this is helpful.

Jim
jim, our requirements are a little bit different in usaf, but your point can be well taken there too...the important word is 'minimum.'

too often we run into someone looking to test because he'll 'have just enough days by the deadline.' not quite getting the message there.

thanx for hammering the point home
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Old 11-27-2007, 07:14 PM   #6
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: ASU testing requirements

Quote:
Jim Sorrentino wrote: View Post
To be eligible to test for gokyu, one must practice a minimum of 60 days over a minimum four-month period after testing for rokyu. Per the 3rd edition of the ASU handbook, "only one hour per day may count in computing time requirements." (See http://www.aikido-nova.org/asuhandbook.pdf, page 6.) Again, please keep in mind that these are minimum requirements.

I hope this is helpful.

Jim
Everybody always wants to look at the minimum time figure, but the really important figure is the "Hours" figure which should really be called "Training Days". The average student at my dojo is training 1 or 2 times a week. A "serious" student at my dojo is training 3 times per week consistently. At that level of frequency, those minimum time figures are moot, basically.

For the person training 3 times per week, week in and week out, it would take three years to work through the kyu requirements (approx). Then it's another 12 months until they can take Shodan. So for the average student, it's a minimum of 4 years until Shodan. In my experience, very few people are that consistent. So the average serious student takes between 4 1/2 and 5 years to get Shodan. Those minimum time requirements really only effect the fanatics who are training every day (like we did in the old days).

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
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Old 11-27-2007, 07:27 PM   #7
George S. Ledyard
 
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Re: ASU testing requirements

Quote:
Jerome Cervantes wrote: View Post
jim, our requirements are a little bit different in usaf, but your point can be well taken there too...the important word is 'minimum.'

too often we run into someone looking to test because he'll 'have just enough days by the deadline.' not quite getting the message there.

thanx for hammering the point home
Frankly, I'd like to scrap the whole time requirements thing completely. If someone is ready they test and if they aren't they don't. If they think they are and I don't, they could show me I was wrong. But if I was right, well, they will hear about it...

The problem with all these requirements is that it distracts from the central issue which is how good are you. You have someone training like a maniac, 7 days a week, hitting the seminars, staying for both classes each night... the fact is that he can have twice the mat time as a person with a theoretically equal number of training days who only does one class, never attends the seminars offered, etc. Why hold him back?

Time requirements don't mean anything unless they are coupled with a testing system in which people fail their tests. Time requirements are there to keep the number of failures down, not as guidelines for when people are ready.

If the testing system doesn't fail people who don't meet the standard, then time in doesn't matter anyway. You just have an incompetent person with three or four months more training getting his rank.

I guarantee that if the dojo standards are high, no one is in a hurry to test. Half the time, I have to coerce my folks into testing because they want more time to prepare. I liked the old days when it was just Sensei looking at you and deciding when you were ready... But those days are gone.

George S. Ledyard
Aikido Eastside
Bellevue, WA
Aikido Eastside
AikidoDvds.Com
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Old 11-28-2007, 11:16 AM   #8
ramenboy
Dojo: midwest aikido center
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Re: ASU testing requirements

george sama,
i guess it can go both ways. i don't know if i'd go so far as getting rid of requirements. at the very least, its a guideline...students can see what they need to work on at a certain level. they know that the instructor will at test them on that material, minimum. he could ask for more, and they should be ready for that.

on the other hand, the students shouldn't look at a list and start cramming for the exam like in school. these are techniques that we're going to be doing for a lifetime. not just for the next 6 months/60 hours.

not long ago, we had a sandan test and the techniques called were the same from a 5th kyu exam. the point was to show just that. we don't just learn a technique for the sake of the exam, and forget about it after the exam. BUT someone at the level of sandan doing ikkyo should also not look like gokyu doing ikkyo. hopefully in the time between those ranks, the student is practicing and refining that movement.

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
I guarantee that if the dojo standards are high, no one is in a hurry to test.
i agree. if the standards of the dojo are high, that weeds out those who are in a hurry to try to fly through the ranks, and those that stay will put their time into seriously learning the art.

Quote:
George S. Ledyard wrote: View Post
...I liked the old days when it was just Sensei looking at you and deciding when you were ready...
yes. our shihan are not getting any younger. and we've already lost some of them. so its up to their students to uphold their standards
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