A grading is an examination by an instructor on their students to pass to their next belt or tag, also known as a kup. A white belt starts at a 10th kup and progresses through the belts. After reaching black tag (1st kup) they will progress to black belt (1st dan). Only a 4th dan blackbelt or higher can grade colour belts. The examination requires students to have learned the relevant theory and terminology in their syllabus booklet. This will include the Korean translations to techniques. Along with this, students will need to know their current belt’s pattern, along with the previous patterns they have learned. After a certain grade you will also be expected to do free sparring, two and three step sparring, and board breaking for your examination.

After completing a grading you must wait your minimum wait time before applying for your next grading. The time required to grade is halved if you train more than once a week. Please see the table below for more details. Before applying for a green belt grading you must have competed in at least one competition.

Students must turn up to the grading on time and wear the official ITF Taekwon-Do suit or they may otherwise be refused entry to the grading.