I sat for the godan test last night and failed.
Got hit squarely the first time without even a flinch, got a 2nd chance and while I dodged the strike the judans thought it was a little iffy and asked for once more, on the 3rd try I dodged correctly but didn’t move entirely out of the way and was hit on the arm – and failed. Afterwards several shihan told me that I obviously felt the strike coming but my ukeme was off and I needed to roll not just dodge. I told them I appreciated the feedback for sure, and it reaffirmed what I knew I did wrong. I’ve practiced rolling for years and knew exactly what I was supposed to do, and I didn’t do that. I was distracted, and then panicked. With the first strike there was a train passing the the shihan administering the test said to wait for it to pass, but then I started thinking about the train and that put me off which is why I got hit on the first shot. And then it was kind of over – after getting I knew I’d failed it, even if I passed it after that the first strike was a solid hit which is everything I didn’t want. And that was in my head and freaking me out and I completely forgot to roll. I’m not upset, a little disappointed perhaps but I half didn’t believe I could do it in the first place. So now that I’ve confirmed that I have to defeat it, and I’ll try again at tomorrows class and see what happens.