Test days: scheduling, warming up, and everything else!

[turnip]

my coach always advises skaters to get off a little early when theyre skating first, to give them chance to get it together before they have to skate

another reason judges might be unwilling to give feedback is that their comments can get misinterpretted. One girl at my rink failed a moves test for being scratchy. The judge said he thought this was probably down to her blades, but that he couldn't pass her even if that was the case. The story that went round the rink was that he failed her because he doesn't like this particular blade(which all the skaters of a particular coach have). Another girl supposedly failed because her coach had been asked to move further away from the judges while a previous skater was getting their results and it made the judge want to fail that coaches skaters. So nothing to do with she just didn't skate to standard then  

I wouldn't recomend doing elements in a moves warm up, but it should be ok to do Bronze elements in a pre-bronze warm up (although it would be very kind to mention this to the other skaters in the warm up if you know them, so they don't panic thinking they should have those elements too lol!)

[jjane45]

Haha thank you. kids in my pre bronze group are testing prelim and pre juv, so it actually blends in perfectly, lol.

[jjane45]

Just sent an email asking to "exchange a few words" regarding comments. Hopefully it will do the trick, coach is not coming with me.

A very kind test chair responded almost immediately after I emailed her directly, saying it will be arranged no problem

And a very kind coach from the testing rink taught at my home rink Wednesday, she graciously agreed to film me!!! Fingers crossed it's a good test...

[slcbelle]

Fingers crossed it's a good test...

Crossed! 

[jjane45]

Well the test day went very well, all of the tips in this thread helped a lot

I learned how much the volunteers and judges appreciate smiles and "thank you"-s. They're contributing precious times and resources into skating events and some judges are not even local.

One thing I was not sure about is, after the skater finishes the test, should s/he and coach wait in a specific area for the scoring sheets? I think runners spent time calling my name in the lobby but I was by the rink side watching more tests...

[phoenix]

Most test sessions i've been to, they give the sheets to the coach, not the skater.

[jjane45]

Most test sessions i've been to, they give the sheets to the coach, not the skater.

They did know my coach was not able to come. It's just... I did not know whether I need to make myself more visible, lol. At larger rinks or testing sessions it must be even more difficult to find someone!

[Sk8tmum]

Yes, you should make yourself "available" for the test sheet.  If it's somewhere you don't normally test, check with somebody who is familiar with the procedure to know where you should wait.  Don't "lurk" outside of the judges room though, in the hopes of grabbing the judge who is dashing out to the bathroom !

[davincisop]

Stalling isn't a good idea, says this test chair.  In my club, ice time is limited and test sessions can be tightly scheduled to make maximum use of the available ice and with hockey teams frothing to get on the second the clock tricks over to "their" hour, running over isn't an option.  Skaters who stall waste precious time and can throw off the whole schedule.  Plus it's perceived as rude behavior by the judges.  You know you're first after the warm-up.  Best to be ready to skate then.

That happened to a girl at my rink's recent test session. She was in the middle of her novice moves test, waiting to start her next sequence, and the refs opened the door and moseyed onto the ice with their drinks setting up in one of the penalty boxes, chatting and completely ignoring the skating director over the microphone asking them politely to get off the ice. It took one of the judges getting their attention to get their tushes off the ice. During this time hockey moms were letting their kids run rampant, which I think was completely rude. This mom told her kids to shush several times but then would let them continue to run around. If I hadn't been feeling like caca I would have approached her and asked her to keep her kids seated until the tests were over because it was a major distraction and not fair to the girl on the ice who paid god knows how much to test that level. Instead the other coaches and I gave her some probably not so nice glares...

[JSM]

I just wanted to say that this discussion has been very helpful!  I am planning on testing in one month- eek!  It's been 15 years do I'm pretty freaked out, and this is giving me a good idea of what to expect. 

[jjane45]

I just wanted to say that this discussion has been very helpful!  I am planning on testing in one month- eek!  It's been 15 years do I'm pretty freaked out, and this is giving me a good idea of what to expect.  

Good luck! This thread certainly helped me a ton.

Did you check out the "companion thread"? Common questions before the first competition / test session

[alejeather]

Good luck! This thread certainly helped me a ton.

Did you check out the "companion thread"? Common questions before the first competition / test session

Seconded! I tested for the first time this morning and I learned so much about what to expect from these threads.

Speaking of timing, my test session this morning started running late because one judge was about 40 minutes late. They were able to do the pre-pre, pre and pre-bronze moves and then everything came to a halt waiting for the final judge to show up. They made it up at the end by having all the dancers do only one pattern of each dance and waiting on the ice in-between each one. The same coach was partnering every single dancer, so he'd skate over and pick one of us up, head to the corner, skate a pattern, finish, and then come pick up the next girl and do it all over again. He partnered 13 dance tests in about 20 minutes! He was a really good sport about it, and the test session finish exactly one minute before the scheduled end time.

[icedancer]

Seconded! I tested for the first time this morning and I learned so much about what to expect from these threads.

. They made it up at the end by having all the dancers do only one pattern of each dance and waiting on the ice in-between each one. .

One pattern or once around (two patterns)?  One pattern is just not enough but you could certainly save time that way!  I am assuming these were all lower-level tests.

[jjane45]

One pattern or once around (two patterns)?  One pattern is just not enough but you could certainly save time that way!  I am assuming these were all lower-level tests.

Very mixed feelings even if these are all preliminary dances.

[Icicle]

Very mixed feelings even if these are all preliminary dances.

Yes, I think it's very confusing especially for skaters who test their preliminary dances. They obviously don't have enough testing experience and having them skate only half of what they expected makes the whole situation even more stressful.

[Sk8tmum]

Up to Senior Bronze (which is European here) the norm and standard is one pattern around the ice. If the judge chooses, as s/he wants to check something, then, they are sent around for up to an additional lap.  You only get the double laps with the Junior Silver on up, i.e. Keats, Harris, American and onwards.

My DD is an evaluator; her call on this is that, at the lower levels, the lower level of complexity in the dances is such that an evaluator can clearly see what needs to be seen in a single lap; they give them that second lap to help them correct something that might have been a momentary glitch.

We can also solo from Senior Bronze on up if the evaluator requests (although adults have a different rule).

[Skittl1321]

Up to Senior Bronze (which is European here) the norm and standard is one pattern around the ice.

For the preliminary tests (Dutch Waltz, Canasta Tango, Rhythm Blues; others too at other levels, but these are the only ones I know for sure, because I haven't gotten past them yet) the requirement is one lap around the ice- but that is two patterns of the dance. This is reduced from 3 patterns, or 1 1/2 laps it used to require.    I think it was shortened from 3 patterns to 2, because like you said- a lap is enough to see if there are issues.  But this test it sounds like they did half a lap, if only 1 pattern was done.



I'm confused how the judge can change the requirement on the fly- could they also tell you you only have to do half of the MITF pattern?  It won't be necessary to skate your free program, just do the elements?  The test requirements are set, and 2 patterns of those dances are required.  It doesn't make sense that the judge can decide to have you do something else.

[Clarice]

It sounds to me like alejeather was describing one lap (two patterns) for each skater.  They just had all the skaters lined up one after the other on the ice, instead of taking the time for exits and entrances.  You could not do the test on one pattern - checking the repeat is important.

The number of patterns required for dance testing and competition can be confusing at first, because testing is different from competition, because different dances require different numbers of patterns, and because for some dances one pattern is a half lap while for others one pattern is a full lap.  Always check the rule book.

[jjane45]

I just checked my own dance test video, 3 prelim dances in 3 minutes. It does make sense if they still skated the required number of patterns (13 tests in 20 minutes), just cutting the transition time from one tester to the next tester. Poor dance coach, bet it was frantic! ;o

[alejeather]

We did only one pattern, half a lap around the rink. The judges said they had watched us all do one pattern in the warm-up so they only needed to see one more pattern. There was a little bit of a flap about whether it was legitimate that they had decided to judge the warm-up. They were all low level dances, mostly preliminary and a few pre-bronze. I'm guessing they probably passed everybody, because it seems unfair if what they had seen in the warm-up seemed unsatisfactory that they then only gave the dancers one pattern to get it right.

[Clarice]

Whoa.  That really does not sound right to me.  However, the judges make these decisions, and if it's in favor of the skaters, I guess I wouldn't argue.

[Skittl1321]

Yeah, that's kind of crazy.  I would think if anyone got a retry there would have been a pretty big fuss.

[SynchKat]

I was told of a judge who will watch the warm up and give critiques and then have all the tests done rather casually.  Most people will do better in the warm up so for some people this is an advantage. . Some judges just want the skaters to pass I think...I had a driving tester acting like a driving instructor during a test, made me a lot more relaxed and I passed.  Some judges are just really nice.

[Skittl1321]

I think a lot of judges do include the warm up on as part of the information to pass a test.  My fantastic warm up is the only way I can justify how I passed my Bronze test (which was a nightmare).

But it still seems odd to not have the skaters even DO the requirement for the test.

[alejeather]

Whoa.  That really does not sound right to me.  However, the judges make these decisions, and if it's in favor of the skaters, I guess I wouldn't argue.

One of the dance judges there was apparently a very high level dance judge and it was his decision. The coaches were saying, "It's strange, but whatever <dance judge's name> wants, <dance judge's name> gets."

I think they probably rotated judging, too, because, while there were three dance judges there, I only had one of them judge my dances. She had actually been on the same freestyle session with me the day before during my dance lesson and I can't help but wonder if she was judging me then, too