A lot of students talk about being nervous at belt testing time. Either the "unknown" or the "known" parts of the test bring anxiety & stress. It's completely understandable. I felt that way (& still do) when I test. But have you ever thought how your instructor feels about your test day? I can tell you how I feel.
I'm testing my students on Saturday. My highest ranked student is testing for 6th gup (green belt). This is the first test that I'm bringing in guest instructors. A master friend of mine is bringing some of his BB's & senior students to help grade the test. We have a set curiculum so that everyone knows the expectations of the students. I'm nervous that I've taught them enough or well. Have we worked on everything enough? What will the visiting master think?
So, in short, the "are they ready?" question comes up for instructors, too. I'm having a "pretest" for the students on Monday & if they're not ready they won't test. Due to circumstances, some of my students haven't tested in nearly a year. There are lots of behind the scenes things to get ready, also. (Belts, boards, certificates [& in my case, the room itself]) needs to be taken care of before hand. I imagine that all instructors have similiar thoughts at testing time. We put time & effort into teaching students. We want you to excell at the art that we all love. We want the best for our students. Whenever there is an investment like that, there's always enough nerves to go around.
