LOL! Re the flapping arms!!!!! Boy, one can almost never be too far down in the knees. And it is so hard during a test!

I feel like tests I've taken (since my very first PB test) start when I walk through the rink door, and aren't over until I'm in my car going home!!!! Which means that once I step on that ice, I have to *pray* I'm not too stiff so that my xovers and stroking make me look like there's no way I'm ready for what's to come! LOL!!!!

Your observations WERE very helpful. Live and learn. My very first test was an absolute disaster from start to finish. I had to laugh at myself when I read some of the things you saw! I did (and still do some) all of those! LOL!

Good stuff to know. I want to test pre-bronze moves in a month, and I'm kindof casting about on my own. Group classes do some of the moves (right now they're from the bronze test), but nothing whatsoever about starting and ending.

My private lesson coach is used to kids, so again I think she might be unsure of how much to say or not say outside of the techniques themselves. I'll be sure to ask next time.

GEEZE! On one of my Gold MIF test tries - I warmed up, and then waited for *55* minutes to test (I was last in a large group). I did NOT pass - needless to say, the warmup was pretty useless for "warming up".

I passed easily the next time - it was a much more reasonable warm up to test time.

Sara

If you are talking about in the mid to late 80's, that is correct because I was in a similar boat to you. Before about 1983, I can't really say from personal experience, but my coach tell me stories about the 60s and figure tests.

Well, it's good to hear that you have a coach - I got worried when you said you were "on your own". Group classes do not cover the moves at anywhere near the level that you would need to skate them to pass a USFSA MIF test. The idea behind teaching moves in the group lesson sequence is to introduce skaters to the moves and lead them into MIF testing, but that is not intended to replace private instruction on the moves.

As far as starting and ending, your coach should be instructing you to do the same things she would instruct her kids to do for each move. Except for the 3-turn pattern, which is a new move and is only on the Adult track, all of the other moves are on the standard track and there's no reason an adult would be expected to do them differently. (Yes, everyone, I realize that in some cases, the passing standard is different, etc, but I'm talking about the execution of the patterns.) Definitely ask your coach how you should start and stop each move (if you're testing in a month, I would hope that she would have already gone over this), but don't accept a "I'm not sure what adults are supposed to do so I don't know what to tell you" answer. You should do the moves the way anyone else would do them on the Pre-Prelim or Prelim tests.

Don't get hung up, though, on the intro and ending steps. As has already been noted, different coaches have different opinions, and as long as you don't break the rules (ex: having too many introductory steps or starting patterns on the wrong foot or direction if one is specified, or not finishing a pattern properly - like not doing at least 3 crossovers around both ends on the forward perimeter stroking), anything you do will be fine. I've seen test sessions where there were multiple versions of the "optional steps" on a particular move.

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Terri C is a Bronze lady!
Gold Moves, here I come!

Each coach has a different requirement for where to start and how to end a pattern. As long as you don't go over your alotment of intro step (7 for all moves except the power circles (Gold, Int, Jr) which must commence from a stop) and it doesn't look sloppy, I wouldn't be too concerned. A nice stop is good. I've seen nice snow plows on PB moves tests, T stops, forward T stop, etc. Usually the judges are already looking down furiously scribbling notes when you come to a stop.

ITA I had another coach tell me my skater was doing a pattern "totally wrong" because the kid made a mistake and did TWO crossovers instead of one on her introduction. (It was her first lesson on MITF.) "Everyone has to do it L/R/L/XO/L/R spiral!" So the kid did two crossovers instead of the extra two pushes - still <= 7 steps, right? Not to some people.

Seriously, I know coaches that will "tweak" their stock entrance for a skater. For example, there's a girl who can't do good mohawks, so they'll put a three turn in her intro steps for the BO crossover circles. (Prel)

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I enjoyed reading your observations.

I will admit, that on my bronze test, no one was with me, not even my coach, but i had someone stand at the door to tell me what was next.

On my Silver MIF i brought my husband with me, but made him walk around outside the rink. He came in the last few minutes of the test. I'm definitely not superstitious, but i act like it when it comes to this crazy stuff. Don't know what it is. It's like "I want you here," but "don't watch." ridiculous, isn't it?

Warm ups are something i definitely think adults need about double the time. Heck, we are more than 2x these kids' ages, but i know that will never change!

When I passed my Intermediate MIF, I had NO ONE there, not even my coach, due to a conflict and I found out about 24 hours in advance that I was testing.

Something dawns on me: kids (usually) can't get to the rink themselves, right? That's probably why each had family with them - chauffeurs! LOL Adult can drive themselves, and we don't really need a cheering section.

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No, but isn't it nice when we do!!!

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Mrs Redboots
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I love my computer because my friends live in it!
Ice dancers have lovely big curves!

Absolutely, Mrs Redboots. ITA

Went to a different rink for a test session and saw a few things that I thought were food for thought. No adults testing - only kids. (I knew no one, so don't ask if I saw your daughter/son. Hahaha)

There were four judges at the session. They tested from high-level MITF tests down to lower-level MITF tests. I thought that was interesting - what if you had registered to take two MITF tests? I guess they would have scheduled the other way around.

Since Pre-Prel only requires one judge, they split up the skaters 1:1 and ran three tests at once. When they reached the Waltz Eight, one skater worked from the middle circle; the other two used the double hockey circles at the end. I usually teach/practice on the center circle or the center of a hockey circle, so this is going into next week's lesson plan for my students and myself.

On the Prel MITF, the judges tested the skaters at the same time. On the Power 3's, two of the skaters ended up almost colliding because they were so close. It messed up their patterns, but the judges didn't ask for a retest. (Both passed.) Food for thought: if you're asked to test at the same time as someone else, make sure you leave enough room (give the skater before a good head start) so that you don't "catch up" with him/her.

Same notes as before about clean pushes, stopping properly, stopping completely, and heading off for your next pattern.

One skater kept doing a weak little t-stop (probably learned it for the test) that never quite stopped. Once she sort of stopped, she then moved a few feet off that spot to get where she wanted to be for the next pattern. It was very fidget-ey to me, not sure if the judges noticed.

One new thing I noted was that some of the skaters made sure to look at the judges (or their coach) before beginning the next pattern. Others just went to the next "START" and skated off. I think the "check the judges" approach was much better.

Only reskate I saw was on a PreJuv MITF test. The kid was 'jumping' the forward threes on the Threes in the Field pattern, but only on one side. The judges had her reskate the one side only and she passed.

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The judges like it better too. It gives us time to finish writing our comments so they can be read easily, instead of trying to write while watching the skater. I was at a long test session this week, and apparently towards the end, some of the kids had the idea they wouldn't be allowed to test if we ran behind (which was not true and we actually finished 15 minutes early -- on a FIVE hour session!). So on the Pre-Juve and Juvenile moves we had skaters leave the ice after the warm-up and the first skater start milliseconds later. One of the judges missed the first part of the first move. The skaters would finish the element, then take one breath and start on the next element. The Pre-Juve test usually takes about 10-12 minutes.. and two of these kids did it in less than seven! Needless to say, the comments were not as helpful as they might otherwise have been.

At test sessions in the SF Bay area, where I've tested and judged, usually the judges prefer the skater to come over before the start of the test. The Judge in Charge usually says the skater's name, to make sure we have the right person taking the right test, and then the JIC asks "Are you ready and do you know the order of the moves?" The skater nods or says yes and then the JIC says "When you finish each element, please look over at us to make sure we're finished writing our comments for you. Good luck (or have fun or something with a smile to let the skater know the judges are probably not going to eat the skater alive) and the test starts. It helps the judges relax knowing they will have time to watch the ENTIRE test and then have time to write comments... rather than watching the first part and rushing to write comments while kind of watching the second half of that element.

On a side note, we had one girl (about 9 years old) taking Juvenile Moves who skated over to the panel and said "Do you want me to tell you the order of the moves?". The judges smiled and declined her offer.. although what made it even funnier was she skated the first move, then the FOURTH move. The JIC called her over afterwards and said "Your order seems different than the one we have on our sheets. Could you skate what we have second, the Forward and Back Cross Strokes now?". The girl looked so embarassed that she looked like she might cry and said "But this is the order my coach taught me!" and the JIC (who is a wonderfully kind woman) said "Oh that's OK, you don't have to do that one again, it's fine.. just do the Cross Strokes now". The girl looked reassured then went out and was fine. She was probably the strongest skater we had at that level all day. And she even skated all her moves with a beautiful smile! But I think the test chair did talk to the girl's coach afterwards to explain the test order. So maybe the girl SHOULD have given us the order of the elements before she skated that test!

Can I put in a little off topic warning-> NEVER trust your coach to get the details and or requirements of a test or competition correct. Stupid mistakes happen all the time eg. Michelle Kwan skating to a program that was 2 secs too long, coaches getting confused about which elemenst are in which test, etc etc. If its your test/ program or your childs test/program then it really is up to you to check out the rules each time. I catch errors frequently as I cut lots of music so I always double check program length.
FWIW, speaking from experience
Lyle

At my club's test sessions, the test chair annouces for the skaters and tells them which element (by name) and when to start the next element in each MIF test. This helps keep things moving along and ensures that the judges are all ready to watch the next element.

Our MIF/FS test sessions are normally 6-8 hours long. Our standard schedule is to start with the Pre-Prelim MIF/FS, since those can be single-paneled with Silver or higher judges (last test session we had something like 24 Pre-Prelim tests, some MIF, some FS). Then since the high test judges are there, the normal schedule generally continues with the higher MIF tests (Novice/Intermediate) and maybe some PreJuv/Juv depending on how much of what there is. Then there will be some freestyle tests, followed by an ice make.

Often the Junior and Senior MIF tests will be put after the ice make to give them "fresh" ice. Then maybe some mid-level tests, or often the lower level Juv, then Pre-Juv then Prelim MIF tests, and finally more FS tests.

We double-panel almost everything (or at the higher levels, "double-panel but each skater goes separately"). On our Pre-Prelim tests, there will be up to 6 or more kids testing at a time. Our test chair has it down to a fine art, I think.

Across the whole day, our test chair will have used 12-14 judges (basically it splits into a "morning crew" and an "afternoon crew.")

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...

Here in the Bay Area each club seems to have its own format for conducting tests;sometimes test schedules are dependent on which kids are pulled out of school on test day. We had a four-hour test session yesterday that started with Novice Moves and ended with an Intermediate FS... because that's when those kids could be there. We had a full sprinkling of Pre-Pre through Juvenile Moves, FS and about 8 lower-level dance tests through the rest of it.

And don't worry about depriving the young skaters of their educations. Not all our clubs have tests during school hours. One has early Sunday mornings (7am), another has Thursday nights, another has three test sessions a year (beginning of summer, end of summer and just before the qualifying deadline).. while others conduct 3-4 tests per month at different rinks.

All the system seems to work for the various clubs. And I find it fascinating that each has developed its own "test culture" -- which I get to see first-hand since I'm willing to drive around to the various club test sessions when I'm asked to judge or when I find a test I need to trial judge for my next appointment.

Silly me, I can't seem to stay away from ice rinks.. I skate 4-5 times a week, and this month I will have judged or trial-judged at 5 test sessions all at different rinks.. and I may go watch/support a friend test at another rink. I must be addicted to ice-fumes!

Know what you mean...

We've just got such a volume of testers month after month that the way we do things is the only way for us to get things done. And even then our test chair still has to wait-list skaters or scramble to try and get extra ice time or overflow ice time at a different time/rink.

It's a trial judge's dream club. Other than the pairs requirement I was able to get all my requirements for my Bronze at home club with no problem.

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American Waltz... Once, Twice, ???? ...

Q: How many coaches does it take to fix Jen's Dance Intro-3 Problems
A: 5 and counting...