So despite thinking that I never wanted to test, part of me thinks I might want to some day (though I need a LOT more work before then! Could quite likely pass Pre-pre right now as it is, but would still rather work on it some more).

However, I've considered eschewing the adult track to go with the regular one instead. Is there any reason not to? I know, with adult track there are only four tests (read: CHEAPER! because not so many test fees), but with regular track, I see that if you've passed Prelim it is considered the same as passing adult Pre-Bronze, whereas it doesn't work the other way around (I could pass adult Gold and still would not have any equivalency, so would have to go back and start at the beginning with standard track if I wished to have both).

Would it be dumb to start standard track as an adult? Is that really only meant for people who start as kids?

If you pass Gold, you don't really have to start over. It's not like you have juvenile, in regards to competitions. But your next step IS intermediate, so once you do that, then you're on the standard track, as if you started from the beginning.

Look at the moves that make up the adult track and the standard track. What do you think about the back circle 8s- a good skill to learn, but they could take a long time. What about spirals on the first test? Do you have the flexibility for them to be the breeze they are intended as, or do you need to wait until silver?

It's perfectly fine to do standard track, just remember, you have to skate to standard track standard, so adult leniency is gone. And some judges might judge you HARDER than the kids because you don't NEED the test. (Edit: To respond to phoenix, it is VERY true in our area.)

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In my area at least, this is totally not true, so take that sentiment with a grain of salt.

I personally think adults *should* test standard track moves, if they're capable. As you said, there are now crossover points, so if you ever got stuck you could switch over. My main reason is that the adult track, with its only 4 levels, leaves out a LOT of stuff that you learn on the standard track. I'm all about the learning & having solid skating, so IMHO it's to your great benefit to do standard as far as possible.

Try to find out what's going on in your area re adults testing standard. I've seen quite a few adults pass standard track tests that I think the judges would have failed kids on. Some judges are actually aware of the fact that adults testing standard are not doing it to become competitive skaters.

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I see that in the Basic Skills program as well - the Adult track has an odd mixture of things that don't handle skill-building as clearly as the Basic/Free Skate levels. I've been teaching the missing elements as drills, which helps tremendously.

Once concern is the "adult friendliness" of your intended skating club, where you will be taking the tests. The North Jersey FSC is like a haven compared to some of the stories I've heard about other clubs. I know of several clubs whose officers pride themselves on having tough judges for Moves.

Speed and power are the dividing line, imo, not age. All standard-track skaters have to demonstrate that they can skate with both speed and power. There is less emphasis on speed and power with the Adult-track tests.

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I'd actually sort of prefer being tested to higher standards...I don't want someone saying "well, she's an adult, she's going to suck, oh look, she didn't fall down, that's great!"

I might be worried about it if I were older, but I'm 27, not 47 or 57....hopefully I've got a few years before my body goes TOO much to hell!

I test standard track for everything.

Adult v. standard for moves doesn't really apply to me. I had novice moves from when I was a teenager, so I've never had to take an adult moves test and at 28 I'm trying to pass junior and senior.

For dance, I got through my pre-silvers as a teenager and picked dance up again after college/grad school (am now on my pre-golds). I continue to test standard because I don't feel that testing on the adult track and not having to solo would make me a better skater, it's perfecting the solos that carries a benefit over to my freestyle. And I compete solo dance, so I'll need polished solos anyway.

I've actually tested both tracks for freestyle for various reasons, and will probably continue to do so since I only have one adult test left. I have kind of been staggering it so I take the adult test, and then the equivalent-ish standard test is almost a "step" to the next adult test. I really didn't mean to do it that way, I was going to switch to standard after the rules for ANs changed and standard tests were OK, but I kept doing both just for the experience of performing under pressure. If I can handle my (really bad) nerves on a test, competing is nothing.

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Kat, if you were going to compete, I would recommend the adult track, since you could pass those test faster and qualify for the level you want to compete at. But since you don't have a time limit for passing your tests, I agree with the strategy of starting on the standard track and switching over the adult track partway through if you want.
I tested all the way through Adult Gold and then took the Intermediate MIF test, which is the one crossover point from the adult MIF to standard track MIF. I definitely suffered from not having done the Juvenile MIF, because I hadn't had the back power 3's from the Juvenile moves to prepare me for the more difficult back power 3's on the Intermediate moves. And yes, the passing standard was even higher than I'd expected on the Intermediate test than for the same moves on the Adult Gold test.
P.S. You have plenty of time. I started skating at 27 and didn't feel my body starting to slow down on me until I hit 40.

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I have done both tracks, the adult does stop at gold and then you go on to intermediate should you choose. If you are only 27, I would stick with the standard. Save the adult tests for something you do when you are older. I took all the adult fm tests in about 3 months while recovering from a serious injury.

I passed my Jr at 45 and am working on my Sr. fm test. Passed the intermediate fs at 41, will probably never get the novice but I still enjoy working on free skate.

I do both adult and standard for dance, silver standard, and pre gold adult. I have also been doing free dance and passed the novice fd in Sept. So the adult track really isn't cheaper if you want to build your skills.

Have fun!

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I'm an adult (30) who started skating as an adult (29) and plan on testing standard track as soon as I can afford to start taking private lessons. I just think it will make me a better skater overall. If I decide I want to compete I may end up testing Adult track also, but right now I'm not that interested in competing.

My coach discouraged me from testing standard track. He says there are some things that are just harder for adults. People get hung up on them and get discouraged. By the time you pass adult gold, the difference doesn't matter so much. I told him I want to test moves through senior someday and he's all for it.

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So far I'm doing the standard track for MITF.

I passed the bronze freestyle test before there were adult Moves in the Field. So I could start moves testing with adult silver. There would kind of be no point in doing the adult prebronze and bronze.

But it's taking me years to master the threes in the field patterns up to 2.7 standard.

So I tested prepreliminary with a month's practice in brand new boots. Preliminary took me three tries, with breaks for injuries and concentrating on freestyle when I was competing, because of the forward alternating threes that adults don't need to do.

Now I'm finally getting the back threes close to passing standard. I asked my coach whether I should test prejuvenile or adult silver first, and we decided on prejuv because on average I'm stronger on the other moves on that test.

We'll see how that goes. Now the plan is to pass prejuvenile, then pass silver soon after, and then aim for juvenile (should take a couple years) and then adult gold (will take many years because so far I cannot do the brackets on the pattern at all). Those are my testing goals because I don't want to move up officially in freestyle. And I don't anticipate ever passing any moves tests beyond juvenile and adult gold, although I will work on some of the skills in isolation.

OOOh you just gave me a good idea. I'm hoping to get back on the ice around Thanksgiving and will need to do a few weeks of "rehab" skating. (I was thinking just figures and going back and doing basic moves patterns). I could just do the adult moves tests and probably bang them all out on one test session. That would give me something to focus on so that I don't get bored and start trying things my ankle isn't ready for yet. And since I haven't taken a moves test in 9 yrs, it'll be good practice in handling nerves for my jr test when I get that back into shape. It may be a few months before my ankle can handle the diagonal patterns on junior again.

If you can pass adult gold, you can pass intermediate. I don't know what the changes to intermediate will be after next year, but as of now half the test is the same as adult gold, you'll just have to make the patterns that are the same a little stronger for intermediate (I think the brackets are the most difficult thing on intermediate right now).

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2010-2011 goals:
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Don't break anything

FWIW, in my area there IS no "adult leniency" on the adult track. In fact, since there is such a limited number of adults testing as compared to the kids I think the judges have no clue what a passing adult moves test ought to even look like and they judge the moves to the regular standards anyway. Meaning, regardless of what "number" you need to pass the test, they expect to see your Silver cross strokes look just like the one that the kids are doing on Juvenile if they're going to pass Silver.

My other problem with the adult structure is that the skill progression doesn't "build" upon previous levels anywhere near as well as the standard track. Picking on Silver moves again, you've got power pulls and cross strokes on the same test. The power pulls are good for really learning to do cross strokes properly (I can do neither, but I don't spend much time practicing them anymore )but in the adult structure you learn them at the same time. I was grandfathered to Silver, having passed Bronze FS before they implemented moves, so have an even weaker background on the lower level elements. IF (and that is a big IF because I don't enjoy working on moves at all) I ever get back into testing, I'm going to to back to pre-pre and probably prelim. I see no chance of ever moving ahead on the moves tests until I really learn those skills.

If only that were the case. We have a coach at our rink who passed adult gold with flying colors and is now on her 3rd try with intermediate moves. She has had new coaches come in to watch the tests and NO ONE can figure out why she hasn't gotten a pass.

Our coaches seem to have this problem- they have no idea what the numbers are supposed to represent for the moves. But the judges (at least up until Bronze so far) seem to be having some "adult" standard in mind. One of my coaches suggested that while on my best day my 5 step mohawk was up to standard track, on my test I probably got a bit of ease for being an adult on adult track

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I think that all Moves tests should be the same, but that there should be different passing standards like there are on compulsory dance tests. The skater could choose to test "standard", "adult" if they were 21 or older, or "masters" if they were 50 or older. The progressively lower passing scores are meant to give older skaters a bit of a break on power - for dance tests, we're still required to show correct edges and timing.

I have passed Adult Gold MIF, and would like to continue testing MIF (I have also passed standard track through Pre-Juv), but there's no way at my age that I'll have enough power to pass Intermediate on the standard track.

I actually made this suggestion to the Adult Committee, and was told that they're already talking about it.

I agree. This would be especially useful at the higher levels, where right now the only option is standard track and it's about to get more difficult.

An adult who starts at 30-something or 40-something may have no trouble getting through the first few levels on either track. But by the time s/he actually gets past gold level and starts working on the harder moves, the skater will already be older and physical aging may start to have more and more of an effect on the quality of the movement even as the skater's technique continues to improve.

Not that I personally ever expect to get there. But if there were a track with lower standards for novice moves, I might hold it out as a very-long-term goal. And I know other older, more advanced adults who would benefit from such an option right now.

This is a really excellent suggestion.

However, at the same time, I think the reorganization of some of the lower levels is good too- spirals particularly. I don't know where the flexibility went (I could do them 3 years ago) but those flat spirals are giving me as much trouble as most of the other silver moves.

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-Jessi
What I need is a montage...
Visit my skating journal or my Youtube videos (updated with 2 new videos Sept 26, 2009)

Regarding which track builds skills better, I don't think there's a huge difference between Pre-Bronze through Gold vrs Pre-pre through Juv. For most skaters in either track, they would be about equally prepared by the time they get to intermediate. Actual age and how hard you train will have a much greater impact then what track you choose.

While I think the MIF are the single best cohesive system to build well rounded skating, it is by no means the only way. Figures is great cross training and there are a great many excercises and drills that are not found on MIF that do a fantastic job of building specific skills. I think a few excercises are better then some closely related MIF patterns

I've done some of both, but primarily the adult track as I compete as an adult. Just remember that if you do have any desire to compete, the equivalency between adult and standard tests is a moving target. So, take a look at the composition of both tracks and see what you prefer as far as the skills and order.
Enjoy

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If you have the time, money and choice, start with the standard track.

At any time you can crossover from the standard track to the Adult track. The intent is for youth skaters (who don't have the option of taking the adult tests) to be able to step in to the Adult testing at the equivalent level they were skating as a kid.

Just my .01€

Rob

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Not true! I passed Gold MIF on the first try, but the back power 3's killed me on the Intermediate test. The passing standard was much higher for the other moves, too. The only 3 moves that passed every time I took the Intermediate test (that's 4 times, for those who are counting) were my forward & backward power circles and slide chasse. I've taken a break from it for the past year but will probably try again sometime in 2010.

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I wonder if the changes to intermediate will make it "easier"- at least pschologically. I mean it's really hard to think "this move was passing standard, and now it's not- what do I do differently"

Learning all new moves is definetly a challenge, and they aren't easy moves by any stretch- but it's a totally different test. And I think that's easier to deal with then trying to figure out how to make the moves you thought were correct, a new level of correct.

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I never said you could pass intermediate with flying colors on the first try without a whole lot of effort if you pass gold. You still have to work, you may not pass the first time, but I still see intermediate as a realistic goal for someone who has passed adult gold. I don't see a reason for anyone who has adult gold to stop testing and not try for intermediate just because they think they can't do it.

I've suggested making the moves and freestyle tests the same and just using the lower passing standard for adults and you can cross over at any time if you choose (just like for dance). It would be a lot less confusing. When I brought it up in a committee meeting, people who don't like spirals or the consecutive 3s on prelim (or are they pre-pre) that are left off of adult tests threw a fit at that suggestion. I still don't see why those complaints would justify not allowing, at the very least, novice-senior moves and free with a lower passing mark.

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2010-2011 goals:
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Don't break anything

OK, I'm not in the US so can't really comment on the test system but want to know quite what adults problems with spirals are. We have to do straight line spirals on the first moves test in the UK and forward and backward ones on the elements test. Adults test the same as the kids with the same passing standard. I know loads of adults who've passed their spirals and these aren't 20somethings. A lot are closer to 60 than 16 and they're managing to get their legs to hip height so what's the problem?
I can understand that possibly having an adult passing standard would be useful especially at the higher levels (I know people in the UK who are getting stuck on the higher tests because they just don't have the power), but I'd have thought all the exercises are manageable by anyone just not necessarily at the power standards.