"Pass with honor" vs "Pass with distinct" | Page 2 | Golden Skate

"Pass with honor" vs "Pass with distinct"

cl2

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
I think you missed what(who)I was responding to. 3 months ago yet. Let it die.

I didn't even realize this thread was 3 months old, since it popped up at the top of the forums due to a recent response. Lol. Evidently, I'm super late for the party!
 

chiyung

Rinkside
Joined
Oct 1, 2017
I don't think anyone is dissing honors-worthy skating skills. Passing a test without honors now doesn't mean the skater will never acquire honors-worthy skills for that level in future, as he/she progresses beyond that test.

It's just a matter of whether she tests at that level earlier her career, when she is pass-ready, or later when she is honors-worthy. Whichever she chooses who depend on when she needs the test completed in order to advance her career goals.
Every family is different, and your words capture the situation for my family perfectly. Thank you!
 

cl2

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
I'm reviving this thread after having recently watched a couple of test sessions, in which some skaters who obviously could not complete the test requirements attempted and failed miserably. It didn't look like it was just a bad day; they looked like simply didn't have the ability to do it. Why would skaters attempt a test when there's no way they could pass? I'm aware that some skaters preparing to go to college try to push their tests as far as possible to bolster their college application. So my question is, rather than making futile attempts at a level they cannot pass, wouldn't it look better to try to pass with honors or distinction at one level lower? AFAIK, once you pass a test, you cannot go back to retake it, even if you're aiming for a better mark. Do you think it is merited for USFS to allow skaters to re-take tests to achieve honors or distinction?
 

hanyuufan5

✨**:。*
Medalist
Joined
May 19, 2018
I'm aware that some skaters preparing to go to college try to push their tests as far as possible to bolster their college application.

Wait... you can put figure skating on your college application!? Anyone got a time machine? :laugh:
 

cl2

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Wait... you can put figure skating on your college application!? Anyone got a time machine? :laugh:

You can put anything on your college application, no? You can write about how selling girl scout cookies taught you invaluable life skills, or how managing a lemonade stand one summer honed your business acumen.

Joking aside... I don't know if I'm mistaken that skaters put skating on their college application, but I was under the impression that it's fairly common for skaters to try to pass as many tests as they can before going off to college.
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
You can put anything on your college application, no? You can write about how selling girl scout cookies taught you invaluable life skills, or how managing a lemonade stand one summer honed your business acumen.

Joking aside... I don't know if I'm mistaken that skaters put skating on their college application, but I was under the impression that it's fairly common for skaters to try to pass as many tests as they can before going off to college.

Putting it on your college application would just get a oh nice you figure skated, but they wouldn't understand what tests you passed and the level of them or any of the technical stuff for it to even matter. Nationals, Worlds, Olympics will get a bit more attention, but otherwise they don't care. They would care more if you had skill in a sport that would bring them attention: Football, Basketball, etc...

And I say that from experience and in relation to some of the top schools in North America.
 

jf12

Final Flight
Joined
Dec 8, 2016
Most kids want to pass as many tests as they can before college because they won’t be able to skate so much anymore after they go.
 

cl2

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Putting it on your college application would just get a oh nice you figure skated, but they wouldn't understand what tests you passed and the level of them or any of the technical stuff for it to even matter. Nationals, Worlds, Olympics will get a bit more attention, but otherwise they don't care. They would care more if you had skill in a sport that would bring them attention: Football, Basketball, etc...

And I say that from experience and in relation to some of the top schools in North America.

Fair enough. Then, could you help me understand why a skater would attempt a test when he/she is nowhere near ready to pass? It's such a waste of time for everyone involved and it really boggles my mind what the motivation could be.
 

cl2

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Most kids want to pass as many tests as they can before college because they won’t be able to skate so much anymore after they go.

I understand. But even if they want to skate as much as possible before college, that still begs the question, if they had the option to retake a test, say Intermediate, and improve from a plain pass to distinction, wouldn't it be better than a multitude of failed attempts at Novice and never actually achieving it? At least in the former case, they would have something to show for their efforts.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
Then, could you help me understand why a skater would attempt a test when he/she is nowhere near ready to pass?

Some possible reasons:

*The skater or parent really doesn't understand the process and believes incorrectly that MIF tests are just hoops to jump through but not important in their own right and resents the time and money spent training for them that takes away from what they consider "real" freestyle skating

*The skater or parent believes that passing as many tests as quickly as possible is a source of bragging rights (which could include college applications, although it won't make a significant difference in their acceptances -- but more likely just among peers at the rink)

*Synchro teams require certain tests to be passed by a certain date, so the skater aims to meet those deadlines so they can have a chance, or a better chance, of getting onto a team or to move up the next level along with their friends/teammates

*A less experienced coach may not have a firm understanding of the test standards and believes that as soon as a skater can get through each of the moves without falling or stepping down they have a chance of passing at least on a good day

*The coach does understand that the skater is not ready to pass but agrees to impatient skaters' or parents' insistence on testing sooner as a reality check or as a way to get feedback on what the skater needs to improve from a different source that the skater is more likely to listen to

*The skater and coach know that a couple of the moves are not up to standard but are hoping (realistically or not) that the skater's stronger moves will be strong enough that day to earn extra points to make up for the deficient ones

*The skater and coach know the skater is unlikely to pass the test as a whole yet, but the skater has been working on this test for so long that she just wants to get some feedback on how she's doing to measure progress in smaller increments -- Can she pass some of the moves this time? Can she get her scores closer to passing this time than last time?

*The skater is better at jumping than at skating and wants to be able to test up in freestyle to a level where she's allowed to use all the jumps she can do, or she wants to keep up with her peers in which level to compete at
 

sandraskates

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
I understand. But even if they want to skate as much as possible before college, that still begs the question, if they had the option to retake a test, say Intermediate, and improve from a plain pass to distinction, wouldn't it be better than a multitude of failed attempts at Novice and never actually achieving it? At least in the former case, they would have something to show for their efforts.

I've never met anyone that would backtrack once they pass a test. Even if it was a squeaked-by pass, it's still a pass (yay!); time to keep moving forward and not look back!

On another note, clubs can be pretty hard-pressed to get judges these days so having a passed-skater retake for "a higher grade" is likely not gonna be a high priorty.
 

Ducky

On the Ice
Joined
Feb 14, 2018
You can put anything on your college application, no? You can write about how selling girl scout cookies taught you invaluable life skills, or how managing a lemonade stand one summer honed your business acumen.

Joking aside... I don't know if I'm mistaken that skaters put skating on their college application, but I was under the impression that it's fairly common for skaters to try to pass as many tests as they can before going off to college.

I think it's more that if you pass at a senior level you can put gold medalist skater on the application (or a resume) which sounds VERY impressive and also shows the kind of ability to focus, perseverance, and tenacity that many colleges look for with students.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
I've never met anyone that would backtrack once they pass a test. Even if it was a squeaked-by pass, it's still a pass (yay!); time to keep moving forward and not look back!

Sometimes adult skaters move back and forth between the standard and adult tests (up to Juvenile and Gold), repeating the same moves on the different test tracks.

It can be a way of setting goals and getting a success (a passing test) at an interim point before being ready to pass the whole next test on the same track.

For those who only skate a couple hours a week, especially at older ages, progress can be slow, so mastering six new and harder moves might take years; confirming progress on three new ones and three already-passed ones might be attractive.

To some extent the same thought process might be true for teens who don't skate many hours. They're not old enough to take adult tests, but they might appreciate options to measure progress by taking a test to pass some moves before they're ready to pass the whole test. Or, in theory if the option were available, to pass all moves with higher scores than when first squeaking past the test, if being ready for the next test looks like years in the future.

Similarly, in ice dance some skaters might want to pass partnered standard-track pattern dance tests after having passed the same dances on the solo track (especially if they're now in a situation where it would become feasible to compete in partnered dance) . . . or adults might want to pass the tests on standard track after passing adult track, if they had improved enough to feel that possible but not enough to pass the dances on the next level.

But I doubt that retaking tests after passing them would ever be popular.
 

sandraskates

Final Flight
Joined
Oct 31, 2006
Country
United-States
gkelly - good points as always.
i do know Adult skaters that have passed all Adult tests and now working on the regular track track tests.

My comment / reply was really just regarding all the skaters that squeak by on one test, on one test track, and mainly the younger age to teenage skaters. Passed is passed! :)
 

Ic3Rabbit

Former Elite, now Pro. ⛸️
Record Breaker
Joined
Jan 9, 2017
Country
Olympics
Fair enough. Then, could you help me understand why a skater would attempt a test when he/she is nowhere near ready to pass? It's such a waste of time for everyone involved and it really boggles my mind what the motivation could be.

I agree with gkelly as they've summed it up for you below.

Some possible reasons:

*The skater or parent really doesn't understand the process and believes incorrectly that MIF tests are just hoops to jump through but not important in their own right and resents the time and money spent training for them that takes away from what they consider "real" freestyle skating

*The skater or parent believes that passing as many tests as quickly as possible is a source of bragging rights (which could include college applications, although it won't make a significant difference in their acceptances -- but more likely just among peers at the rink)

*Synchro teams require certain tests to be passed by a certain date, so the skater aims to meet those deadlines so they can have a chance, or a better chance, of getting onto a team or to move up the next level along with their friends/teammates

*A less experienced coach may not have a firm understanding of the test standards and believes that as soon as a skater can get through each of the moves without falling or stepping down they have a chance of passing at least on a good day

*The coach does understand that the skater is not ready to pass but agrees to impatient skaters' or parents' insistence on testing sooner as a reality check or as a way to get feedback on what the skater needs to improve from a different source that the skater is more likely to listen to

*The skater and coach know that a couple of the moves are not up to standard but are hoping (realistically or not) that the skater's stronger moves will be strong enough that day to earn extra points to make up for the deficient ones

*The skater and coach know the skater is unlikely to pass the test as a whole yet, but the skater has been working on this test for so long that she just wants to get some feedback on how she's doing to measure progress in smaller increments -- Can she pass some of the moves this time? Can she get her scores closer to passing this time than last time?

*The skater is better at jumping than at skating and wants to be able to test up in freestyle to a level where she's allowed to use all the jumps she can do, or she wants to keep up with her peers in which level to compete at
 

skatingbeast

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Country
United-States
While passing with honors would be great, my goal is to just pass at my skating club and to not test at a different skating club.

The skating club I’m a member of is notorious for being super difficult to pass tests at. Nearby test sessions at different clubs will have the same judges and they’ll pass a skater that they wouldn’t have at my club just because of the club name. So passing as many tests at my own club feels like an honor in and of itself!
 

skatingbeast

Rinkside
Joined
Nov 14, 2019
Country
United-States
I'm reviving this thread after having recently watched a couple of test sessions, in which some skaters who obviously could not complete the test requirements attempted and failed miserably. It didn't look like it was just a bad day; they looked like simply didn't have the ability to do it. Why would skaters attempt a test when there's no way they could pass?

I once took a test that I really wasn’t ready for. I thought I was, but afterwards realized my coach hadn’t been giving my moves the attention they needed and hadn’t given me the right corrections/feedback.

Even though in this situation I felt my coach had failed me. Failing the test allowed me to realize for myself how much work I still needed to put in and I passed the second time I took it 7 months later.
 

gkelly

Record Breaker
Joined
Jul 26, 2003
While passing with honors would be great, my goal is to just pass at my skating club and to not test at a different skating club.

Not the point you were making, but that makes me think of another reason why some skaters might test before they're sure they're ready: They may want to test at their own club, which may only hold test sessions a couple times a year, rather than having to travel if they live in an isolated area.

So they'll test when the judges are available close to home.
 

cl2

Final Flight
Joined
Nov 9, 2014
Fantastic insights from, everyone. Thanks!

gkelly: these were Free Skate tests that I watched, so I highly doubt it's for a requirement to be on a team, so I'm inclined to think that it was done due to pressure from one or more parties involved. But it's a good point that skaters sometimes take tests to garner judges' feedback.


I once took a test that I really wasn’t ready for. I thought I was, but afterwards realized my coach hadn’t been giving my moves the attention they needed and hadn’t given me the right corrections/feedback.

Even though in this situation I felt my coach had failed me. Failing the test allowed me to realize for myself how much work I still needed to put in and I passed the second time I took it 7 months later.

Glad that you eventually got the result that you were working for! A similar story of my own, even though I passed my Adult Gold MIF, but a judge had written a comment on my test form, "empty pushes". My then coach brushed it off, assuring me that my skating was fine and that the judge was just "too picky". That was when I knew I had to find a new coach. A bit drastic, I know, but I never looked back.

Fascinating how well-crafted judges' comments can really stir up motivation in the skater!
 

Sunshine247

On the Ice
Joined
Dec 17, 2018
Fantastic insights from, everyone. Thanks!

gkelly: these were Free Skate tests that I watched, so I highly doubt it's for a requirement to be on a team, so I'm inclined to think that it was done due to pressure from one or more parties involved. But it's a good point that skaters sometimes take tests to garner judges' feedback.


!

FS tests? Those are notoriously well below the skaters skill level. I didn’t realize you could pass with distinction and honors on those. I’m keeping that fun fact from my younger skater, the perfectionist.

I do know that my older skater will get super anxious and all of a sudden look like Bambi on ice during a test session. Literally. She skidded into the wall and couldn’t control her edges. :scratch2: Her coach does everything to help, including over preparing her. For her most recent MIF test she actually did worse the second time taking it. Nearly passed the first time and didn’t even come close the second.

And yes they are both in therapy. Looking at a sports specific one now!
 
Top