Ready to start testing? Onwards to the overpriced but cool Gold Medalist Jacket!
Here, I’ll go over the general direction in which you should start if you want to begin testing–from getting a coach to practicing to test-day readiness.
For what to expect on test day, check out Test Day Procedure.
Where do I start?
First order of business? Find a coach.
You probably started out in your rink’s group lessons, but now that you’re nearing the end, it’s time to graduate and start looking for a private coach. There’s really no other way to test–you can try to “self-study”, but it basically won’t work unless a family member or good friend happens to be qualified to coach you. Now how do you find a coach? Ask the parents of more advanced skaters, ask about coaches at the front desk, and, if your rink has a display of all coaches that work there and their qualifications stapled to the wall like my rink does, find it! You want to look for a coach that specializes in Skating Skills, since other coaches are stronger for Singles, Pairs, or Dance tests (if you don’t know about pathways, check out What is Testing?).
Once you’ve gotten the contact for a potential private coach, tell them you’d like to start testing Skating Skills tests, what you or your skater’s skill level is at (they’ll probably ask you questions to figure this out as well), and schedule a lesson with them. Private lessons can take place during public sessions in the very beginning, but they will usually move to freestyle sessions as your skater progresses (it’ll become impossible to practice test patterns on the horribly busy public sessions). Through the first few lessons, you’ll start learning a lot more about how testing works, what patterns you should memorize, and receive coaching for your individual needs! You can also start gauging whether or not you like your coach–unless you outright hate them from the beginning, I recommend spending some more time with them before switching coaches since you don’t have much of a feel yet for what makes a good coach. Now if the individual is rude, careless, or just outright mean, that’s another story–I’m referring more to how a coach teaches and how strict they are.
Next, consider your pathways.
Skating Skills is a prerequisite for so many things, from other pathways to competitions to synchro, so I recommend starting there. As you progress, however, you can begin considering testing other pathways in conjunction with Skating Skills. I tested my Pattern Dances when I was almost done with Skating Skills, so I flew through them in about a year, but most people will begin Pattern Dance fairly early and work on the two pathways at the same time throughout several years. If you test two pathways, sometimes (usually later on) it will be necessary to get a second coach. Your Skating Skills coach won’t necessarily be qualified to teach you Dance or Singles, so look into other coaches at your rink that can help you pass your tests in other pathways.
Routine: From starting to testing
Once you get a coach, they’ll start teaching you the patterns for the test. You might learn 1-2 patterns per lesson (usually half an hour once a week), and once you’ve learned all of the patterns, you’ll go through each one during each lesson and the coach will give you feedback. You might spend an entire lesson one week working only on 2 patterns, or, especially when you’re nearing your test date, you could go through the entire test twice to work on your stamina and familiarity with the order of patterns. In terms of corrections and what to focus on, let your coach take the reins. Your role is to practice practice practice! Getting in 3 individual practice sessions on different days is a pretty good balance. You’ll find yourself skating more (later) or less (early on) as you progress.
Signing up for the Test
When should you test? When your coach says so.
After however long a period of time, your coach will recommend signing up for a test. Usually, this is done 1-3 months ahead of time, but this time period can vary depending on when your coach thinks you’ll be ready, the availability of test slots at whichever rink is hosting the test, and holidays. Test slots often fill up pretty fast, so make sure to sign up when the coach advises it. Sometimes, the coach will specify a certain rink (since some are notorious for being harder to pass at while others are much easier), so make sure to pay attention to that as well.
To sign up, your coach will guide you along the exact process, but it usually entails finding the rink you want to test at and signing up for a test date (along with other information like your skater’s USFSA number, their coach, and your credit card number because yes you have to pay for it).
Leading up the Test…What do I do?
In the weeks leading up? Keep up your practice schedule but don’t overexert yourself–steer clear of injuries! Check out how many hours you’ll be able to practice before your test, and try to schedule your next sharpening so that the test date falls on an hour with the optimum sharpness you prefer. If you haven’t already, practice the entire test wearing what you’ll wear on test day. I recommend wearing a dress to test–it might not mean too much, but 1. it looks nicer and 2. you’re wearing tights which makes slightly bent or shaking legs less noticeable. For hair, try using gel to keep flyaway hairs out of your eyes. I recommend a bun, too, since it’ll stay in place (you won’t have to tighten it like you would a ponytail after lots of turns or twizzles) and keep your hair from hitting your face. For boys, I can’t really recommend anything since I don’t have experience in that field.
Key things to do the day before? Eat, sleep, and don’t stress out! Prepare all of your clothes and plan out how you’ll get to the test center AHEAD of schedule! Pack your bag the night before with extra tights/skating socks in case you find sneaky little holes in them.
Day of the test? I recommend getting there at least 2 hours early, since you want to have time for traffic, for you to change, for unexpected changes in the test schedule, and for a quick warm-up on an available rink if possible. Bring water too! Stay hydrated until the last second (but make sure to go to the bathroom before your test) and you’ll be allowed a sip of water 1 time in the middle of your test.