Pre-Bronze!! Aaaahhhh

Hello everyone!

So, my coach has recently decided that I've been resting on my laurels long enough and that it's time for me to test for MIF! The upcoming test is August 26th, but there will be another in October that I'll probably end up doing because I don't think I'll be where I need to be in two weeks.

I'm having the most trouble with my spirals and the waltz eight. With the spirals I struggle with speed, so I'm basically doing the world's longest spiral across the ice on both legs. I think that's more of a stroking issue so I'm taking steps (or strokes, lol) to fix that. With the waltz eight, I've identified that I struggle with keeping my weight to one side when doing the backward edges, which causes me to put my foot down. I also apparently have no control of my arms so I end up winding when trying to step into the second half of the eight.

I suppose it's good that I know my trouble spots with the moves, but I was wondering if there were other things I should know about test day? This would be my first official skating thing. Do I need to dress or have my hair a certain way, or should I be aware of other things outside of completing the maneuvers?

Thank you in advance!

Hi There,

My daughters coach has her in a simple skating dress, 2 pairs of tights (since there's not much warm up), hair in a ballet bun, skates cleaned with fresh laces. Don't sharpen your blades too close to the test date. We also make sure to bring bribe...er snacks for the judges and other skaters. Last two tests were boxes of Sees Chocolates, her good luck charm now. She's working toward Pre-Juvenile whenever the next test session is scheduled. Good luck.

Best of luck on your test!! I’m on Basic 4 now but Pre-Bronze is my first big goal, so I’m excited to hear you’re there. Let us all know how it goes!!

What to expect on test day? Get to the rink early!! Often the test schedule will run ahead or behind, and you don't want to miss your test or feel rushed because of the schedule running ahead and you didn't show up early enough.

You should have some warmup ice assigned. When it comes time for your test, skate up to greet the judges, and they will tell you some basic instructions and smile at you. Make sure you memorize the order of the moves elements. For some mysterious reason, judges will ask you if you know the order, but not tell you want the order is. Also, there's usually a small pause between elements while the judges write down their comments. Make sure to wait until they signal you can begin the next element. You can consult with your coach between elements.

If you think you flubbed a element (touch wood!), just keep calm and continue with the rest of the test. You're allowed to reskate one element at the end of the test, and if needed, the judges will tell you what they want to see reskated. It could be the entirety of an element, or just the part that you made a mistake. You can consult with your coach before beginning the reskate. If you think you flubbed more than one element (touch wood!!), just keep calm and carry on. Who knows, the judges may be lenient. At the very least, they will still give you constructive comments for all the elements.

USFS rulebook contains the official description of the the goals and expectations for the test elements, including passing criteria. However, you'll frequently see coaches consult a handbook published by PSA (Professional Skaters Associaton), which gives the de facto expectations that many coaches and judges follow instead. They are essentially the same, but don't be surprised if you see someone pull out the PSA handbook. If you want to know what form the judges write their comments on, you can find the it online on the USFS website or through your club.

For pre-Bronze, you'll either have one high level judge (silver or higher, if I'm not mistaken) or three bronze level judge. Sometimes, there will be trial judges as well. Don't let them bother you. The trial judges' assessment does not impact your test.

Most skaters will want to have their coach with them during the test, and note that coaches will have their own way of determining how they charge for putting skaters on the ice, so ask ahead of time to avoid surprises.

For what to wear, wear something presentable. What "presentable" means depends on the culture at the test location. When I was in North Carolina, I went with my all-black practice outfit for MIF tests. In Boston, I was advised to wear a dress. Ask your coach what the expectations are at where you're testing.

I think I've covered most bases. Your coach will also explain to you all of these things.

Pre-Bronze tests are generally meant to be more for encouragement than for judgement, so enjoy the process and don't stress too much over it! Good luck!

Everything that the previous posters said is true. I've only taken up to prejuv mif. My coach has me wear my competition outfit, but for my first test I just wore a leotard. I always show up a half an hour before I'm scheduled to test, so I can do some off ice warmups. I was not able to talk to my judge between elements. My parents were not allowed to be in the room for mif, but for freestyle, anyone is allowed to go in and watch. My coach charged to be at the rink with me, but it was less than a cost of a lesson. Make sure you smile, and good luck!!

Wow, thanks everyone! Lots of good stuff has been said. My coach did say that it's pretty hard to fail pre-bronze but that doesn't stop me from worrying, lol! And I am enjoying the process - I can already see improvement now that I've been practicing the patterns and elements consistently. I used to be terrified of forward crossovers, but now I'm doing the figure eight without fear!

Thanks for the well wishes everyone!

cl2 said:

You should have some warmup ice assigned. When it comes time for your test, skate up to greet the judges, and they will tell you some basic instructions and smile at you. Make sure you memorize the order of the moves elements. For some mysterious reason, judges will ask you if you know the order, but not tell you want the order is.

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Well, if your answer is no, you don't know the order, they will tell you. But after pre-bronze/pre-preliminary, you really should make sure to learn the order.

Or if you're going through the test on your own and start to do a move in the wrong order, they will probably stop you and have you start the correct move instead. (That happened to me when I took the Bronze MIF -- I was so eager to show off my circle eight, which is my best move, that I started doing it 3rd instead of 4th. The judges told me to go do the real 3rd move instead.)

Depending on how your club tends to run things and whether there is anybody else taking the same test that day, they may have you test at the same time as another skater. In that case, they would make sure you both know what move comes next and where/when to start so you don't run into each other.

gkelly said:

Well, if your answer is no, you don't know the order, they will tell you. But after pre-bronze/pre-preliminary, you really should make sure to learn the order.

Or if you're going through the test on your own and start to do a move in the wrong order, they will probably stop you and have you start the correct move instead. (That happened to me when I took the Bronze MIF -- I was so eager to show off my circle eight, which is my best move, that I started doing it 3rd instead of 4th. The judges told me to go do the real 3rd move instead.)

Depending on how your club tends to run things and whether there is anybody else taking the same test that day, they may have you test at the same time as another skater. In that case, they would make sure you both know what move comes next and where/when to start so you don't run into each other.

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I've never answered no, so I didn't get to that point.

Good point about the "double parking". It might throw you off if there are two skaters testing simultaneously and you're assigned to do an element on an unfamiliar side of the rink. So, it's a good idea to practice the element in different parts of the rink. On the other hand, if you're the only skater on the ice, you'll get to choose where to place the element, and typically you or your coach will devise a strategy to place it in a way to hide any weak spots you may have. In general, you may want to do your weaker moves on the far side and stronger moves on the closer side to the judges.

Not sure how far away the August session is but if possible, can you go watch for about an hour as prep for your October test..

I did that before my daughter did her first test and I found it very educational.

I passed pre-Bronze moves in May. For spirals, keep working on them--I always did steps into it, which helped. Also work them off ice so you are comfortable.
For waltz 8, know where you arms have to be for each step (my coach was really strict with this). Also, if it helps, have circles drawn on the ice and follow the lines. And Bend. Those. Knees! Good luck! I did mock tests with my coach during lessons (including timed warm up) and wore a ballet top and black tights. Wish I'd had a warm-up jacket on, since the test rink was freezing. Bronze is so much more fun. It was a relief to get pre-Bronze over with--hang in there!

Thanks for all of your advice! I hadn't considered the thought of there being another skater on the ice with me, and I hadn't considered practicing the moves on the other side of the rink as well. My coach pointed out the spots where he wanted me to do each element so maybe I'm ok on that front.

And the test is the 26th! :eeking:

I don't want to look like I'm struggling so I may just wait until October and do what concorde suggested. It would definitely help with my nerves if I saw how things are run on test day!

At least with us, the test schedule is published about a week before the event. If possible, watch the pre-bronze MIF tests or lower non-adult MIF tests. I think by about Novice, skaters test one at a time.

Since you want a reference point, I would skip the freeskate tests since those are completely different from the MIF tests.

renla said:

Thanks for all of your advice! I hadn't considered the thought of there being another skater on the ice with me, and I hadn't considered practicing the moves on the other side of the rink as well. My coach pointed out the spots where he wanted me to do each element so maybe I'm ok on that front.

And the test is the 26th! :eeking:

I don't want to look like I'm struggling so I may just wait until October and do what concorde suggested. It would definitely help with my nerves if I saw how things are run on test day!

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It's probably not likely that there will be another skater, given that there are usually fewer adult testers at most rinks. They won't double up unless there's someone else testing adult pre-bronze. When they release the test schedule you should be able to see if there is anyone else, and ask about it.

jf12 said:

It's probably not likely that there will be another skater, given that there are usually fewer adult testers at most rinks. They won't double up unless there's someone else testing adult pre-bronze. When they release the test schedule you should be able to see if there is anyone else, and ask about it.

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Ummm, can't make that a blanket statement.

When I took my Adult Pre-Bronze I was on the ice with an Adult taking her Bronze. On practice ice, along with our coaches, we discussed how we would handle being on the ice at the same time with different moves. Since Pre-Bronze has the clockwise stroking, she had to wait until I passed her to start her second bronze move.
But at test time it was no big deal!

As long as were on this topic. . .

Renla - you can fool your mind a bit to be less nervous. IF you are on the ice with another tester you can pretend you're on a practice freestyle with only one other person.
And if it's only you on the test ice, you can pretend that you're on a freestyle all alone and don't have to worry about crashing into anyone!
Once I realized that the other tester was done, I actually had a good time on my test! I'm hoping for the same feeling when I take my Bronze in couple weeks.

Good luck to you!

renla said:

Thanks for all of your advice! I hadn't considered the thought of there being another skater on the ice with me, and I hadn't considered practicing the moves on the other side of the rink as well. My coach pointed out the spots where he wanted me to do each element so maybe I'm ok on that front.

And the test is the 26th! :eeking:

I don't want to look like I'm struggling so I may just wait until October and do what concorde suggested. It would definitely help with my nerves if I saw how things are run on test day!

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There were 6 of us testing pre-Bronze moves at the same time. We took turns on the crossovers and did spirals down the rink at the same time...

MiraiFan said:

There were 6 of us testing pre-Bronze moves at the same time. We took turns on the crossovers and did spirals down the rink at the same time...

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That sounds like a crowded but pretty test session!

It was fine. I knew one of the other people testing, so it was nice to have a friendly face, but everyone was nice and it was fine. Coaches had prepared is for this, so it wasn't a surprise...

sandraskates said:

Ummm, can't make that a blanket statement.

When I took my Adult Pre-Bronze I was on the ice with an Adult taking her Bronze. On practice ice, along with our coaches, we discussed how we would handle being on the ice at the same time with different moves. Since Pre-Bronze has the clockwise stroking, she had to wait until I passed her to start her second bronze move.
But at test time it was no big deal!


Good luck to you!

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Wow, sorry I'm wrong!! I've never seen this happen where they doubled up two different tests before! In any case, I hope they tell you ahead of time.

It really depends on the club.

If judges are scarce but ice time is plentiful, it may be most efficient to use only 3 judges, or only 1 for the lower tests, and run the tests 1 at a time. (But pre-preliminary and pre-bronze can be judged by any 1 judge, and preliminary and bronze by any 1 silver or higher test judge, so even if there are only 3 judges on hand for the whole session, those lower moves tests, and non-music freestyle tests, may be judged 2 or 3 at a time.)

If ice time is hard to come by and many skaters want to test, it may be more efficient to bring in lots of judges on the same day and run multiple tests simultaneously.

We will have 3 judges, and the testing will run from 7am to 1pm. There aren't many adult skaters that will be testing, I think. But I am sure now that I will just attend the session to see how it runs, then take my test in October. I don't think my coach will be too thrilled, lol, but he'll make do. I really want to make sure I'm prepared, even if it's just the first test!