Studying for Testing: How Tae Kwon Do Can Help with School! (Free Exclusive!)

Wanna know a secret? I was not always the best at school and doing schoolwork. Honestly, I was terrible at taking tests. Yet, I’ve passed (sometimes surprisingly) a whole bunch of Tae Kwon Do testings. When I think back on it, I’ve completed at least 30 Tae kwon do testings over the years (could be more, I’m bad at math!). Sometimes it’s felt like I’ve taken hundreds though. Regardless, I’ve noticed a few things. Not the least of which is that succeeding in Tae Kwon Do has helped me with succeeding in school.

Have you ever wondered why Tae Kwon Do testing or examination is called a “testing?” I mean, they aren’t just about answering questions that your teacher asks to recite the knowledge you’ve gained. I’ve found in my many years of Tae Kwon Do training that testing and Tae Kwon Do helped with school. Now, it didn’t help through anything obvious (I never broke a classroom desk with my fist, for example) but it did help with learning how to learn!

Just like any other student, martial artists studying hard!

So what do I mean by that statement? I mean exactly that. What goes on in the Tae Kwon Do classroom is not much different with what happens in the traditional classroom. You have a teacher who is trying to help you understand a certain topic in hopes of preparing you for a task later down the road (like a testing).

Ok, so the classes in the dojang and in high school are kinda similar. Big whoop. Testing is totally different though. My math teacher doesn’t require that I break a board or anything cool like that!

True, I never had a math teacher tell me that I could break a board. But my math teacher was asking me to show them what I had learned in their class. Wait… that sounds familiar…

Studying is helpful when you have a great teacher!

That’s because it is! When you go to testing, your instructors are interested in seeing you perform and show them what you’ve learned. They know what you’ve been learning because they were (usually) the ones teaching you. The question is can you demonstrate what you’ve learned? The same principle holds true in math class too. Your teacher knows what you’ve been learning because they’re (usually) the ones teaching you. They want to see if you can apply that knowledge.

That’s what a test (and a testing) is. It’s a demonstration of what you learned. Taking a Tae kwon do class and practicing what you learn is all in preparation for passing the next testing and progressing as a student. In math class, paying attention in the lecture (are you paying attention?) and doing the homework is a form of training too. You are training and exercising your brain in preparation for the final exam or project.

It’s a common thought to think that belt testing is about getting the belt. That’s only part of it. What it’s really about is seeing your progress in the program and what you need to work on. Just like a math test, in which the teacher wants to see how much you have learned from them in their class. Your instructor also wants to see how much you’ve learned. Has your kick improved? Are your forms strong? Can you demonstrate the application of the quadratic equation on the Cartesian coordinate plane? (Kidding, your Tae Kwon Do instructor probably won’t ask you about the quadratic equation.)

See? Belt testing and classroom testing have more in common then you think. So take what you learn about practicing in class to prepare for your next testing, and turn that into practicing for your next math testing.

So prepare and study for your belt test… and your math test! Work those muscles and those brain cells! You got this!