Question 014: Judging

 When judging a student:

• First compare the student's performance to what a perfect performance should be.
• Then compare it to how well students in past testings have performed.
• Then compare it to how well students at the present testing are performing.
• Then consider how well the student performed considering any mental or physical limitations the student may have.
• And finally, if you are familiar with the student, compare the student's performance to other times you have seen the student perform in testing, tournaments, or in class to evaluate whether the student is performing up to his or her known capabilities.

Discretion is also used at national testings; the national judges consider input from the head instructors of testing students. For example, when the instructor informs the judges that a student has a physical defect that limits his or her abilities, the judges will consider that when making their decisions.

When judging at a testing, you may not agree with the final pass/fail decision, but if you make your best judgment considering everything you know and have learned and presented it to the head judge, then you have done your job. As to something telling you to change your scores, that is not recommended. A senior judge may question your criteria deciding on for the score and recommend you reconsider. If, after consideration, you decide to change the score, that is fine. If you still feel the score was fair and should not be changed, then that too is okay. If you are told to change your scores, then it up to you to decide what you should do. You could change or not change the scores and forget about it, or you could change or not change the scores and inform the head instructor of the situation.